Yup, you can skate backwards in Future as well. I prefer Future over the original, but the original is still very much fun. Future is set up the way it is because it would not work any other way. In Future there are many, many points where you are tagging while grinding. There is no way you can perform analog motions moving at that speed. Like other posters have said, one button gringing keeps the fast smooth pace of the game. And the two games focus on challenge on a different way. In the first game, your main enemies were the timer and the random incarnations of law enforcement out to stop you from performing complicated tagging sequences. In future, the environment itself was your challenge. Getting from point a to b was a real challenge in some levels. Getting that last tag, or graffiti soul was where theyt focused their challenge efforts into.