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Special Feature
By Shaun McCracken
Ahh, as we approach the winter months (well, depending on where you live, winter
may already be here), it's a fine time to take a look at winter-based games. Now,
what exactally quallifies as a "winter" game? Well, I'm not including hockey games,
since there's so damn many of them, plus it's not outside. We're looking for more
of the outdoor fare in the snow. Don't worry, there's a lot of them. Unlike past
features like this, most games that have become a series will be lumped together,
but will be rated individually by game. But then again, some only had one game. Basically, I'll go over what each series
was/is about, then the individual games are ranked. And note, there is no specific
order.
Scores range from 1-5 snowflakes, 1 being poor and 5 being excellent. Oh, and it
may help if you have the Wingdings font. It should be in damn near every Windows system,
but I'm not sure how this would look to Mac users. You should see snowflakes, unless
you don't have Wingdings, then you'll see T's and s's.
Enjoy!
Cool Boarders (series)
This is pretty much the series you love to hate. Out of five games, not a single
one was ever a strong entry into the snowboarding genre. I'm kind of wondering
how Sony could never manage to mage a great snowboarding games with five attempts,
yet Nintendo's first stab was gold. The first game is just plain bad, with only
three courses and limited tricks. CB2 loooks like the first, but did have more stages,
but still not that good. CB3 had a terrible jump meter which made things a pain in
the ass. CB4 was pretty much CB3, and still no good. Cool Boarders 2001 was the first
PS2 CB, but proved to be the last in the series indefinitley. It was actually well
recieved by most critics, but it had to compete with the new SSX, which is a tough
thing to do. Should Sony continue the series? Probably not. 4 out of 5 times without a
really strong game is not a very good record. Although 2001 may have gotten the silver,
it has a long way to the gold.
Cool Boarders |
Tssss |
Cool Boarders 2 |
TTsss |
Cool Boarders 3 |
TTsss |
Cool Boarders 4 |
TTsss |
Cool Boarders 2001 |
TTTss |
Overall Series Score |
TTsss |
Sled Storm (series)
The first Sled Storm was released in 1999 by Electronic Arts for the PS1, and
it was one of those games that you wonder where it came from and why for a design
so great, it didn't recieve more attention. Well, it must have caught the eye of
quite a few, as it did become a greatest hit. The design was relatively simple,
almost borrowed from the motocross mold. You race and trick on snowmobiles in
a variety of mountain ranges. The first game looked a little rough around the edges
with a lot of pop-up, but it's very intuiive trick system and it's ingeniuos course
design with shortcuts and suprises, along with it's easy to grasp controls made
this an undeniable hit. It's also a design that was tough to match, as we've seen
done with Sno Cross, Polaris Snow Cross (yeah, two games with similar titles), Artic
Thunder and Whiteout. Sled Storm got a sequel in 2002 in the form of, well, Seld
Storm for the PS2 under the EA Sports big label. Why they didn't call it Sled Storm 2
is a mystery. While the PS2 Sled Storm does look better than the PS1 hit, it's
course design was much more complex, and longer. Sled Storm for PS2 almost took a
cue from the SSX games in terms of design, and even included SSX riders Zoe and
Psymon, but was not nearly as fun as the SSX games. The courses were way too long,
the AI was a tad too difficult (like Freekstyle), there were only 7 courses and
no places for a freestyle competition. Also, the trick list shrank. BUT, Sled
Storm for the PS2 still managed to outshine the competition. Too bad it wasn't
as successful.
Sled Storm (PS1) |
TTTTT |
Sled Storm (PS2) |
TTTTs |
Overall Series Score |
TTTTs |
Best In Series |
Sled Storm (PS1) |
Artic Thunder
While we're on the subject of snowmobile games, let's talk about Midway's
Artic Thunder, one of the most disappointing games ever dropped in a series.
Artic Thunder is supposed to be the sequel to HydroThunder, which was an excellent
and challenging arcade powerboating game. In 2001, Midway unleashes Artic Thunder
in arcades, and later on the PS2 and X-Box. Although it's a part of the Thunder line,
you really couldn't tell with all the gimmicky power-ups flung on the courses,
resulting in a Mario Kart meets snowmobile racer. It just doesn't work, not
to mention that the course design are even lacking when you compare it to
HydroThunder. It's miles from catching up to EA's Sled Storm, and it's sad
to think that this is last in the promising Thunder series.
MTV Sports: Pure Ride
The PS1 had a tough time coming up with a decent snowboarding game. I bet if
you ask someone what the best PS1 snowboarding game was, they wouldn't have an
answer. Well, maybe that's because many people never gave Pure Ride a try, which
is possibly the best snowboarder on the system, but not the best made. Pure Ride
is mainly about the tricks and the score, and for the most part, it did that right.
It was almost a taste of what the SSX series was, except by a different developer.
But Pure Ride really didn't go beyond the freestyle aspect of the game, as there were
no single player racing events. But there was a very challenging challenge mode
(I can't remember what they called it) that had you do things such as rail transfers,
pulling a specific trick or jumping huge gaps. The course designs were not that
bad, but not that long, either, so each stage you try to tackle was about a minute
and a half. But it was a fun minute and a half. Desptie the flaws in longevity
and lack of racing, Pure Ride was THE snowboarding game for the PS1, even if
other people didn't know it.
Sno Cross (Crave, Not Vatical)
On the PS1, there were two games that had the words "snow cross" in it, one
was decent, the other was not. This is the decent one, released by Crave in 2000
at a budget price of $9.99. While not the best snowmibile game made, it was decent
enough to warrant a look. Sno Cross was more about racing than freestyle tricks,
and it was a very tough game. The AI could be best be described as brutal. I don't
think I was ever able to place 1st in the game. If you are good enough, you can
buy parts and even new snowmobiles. Plus, it had a hill climb event and a course
editor. For $9.99, it was a pretty good value. There was a version released for
the Dreamcast, but it was not recieved well by critics. Plus it costs three times
more (at the time).
Dark Summit
Dark Summit was among the first batch of titles for the Gamecube and X-Box, but
was also released for the PS2, all in 2001. While not exactally up to snuff with it's current
competition at the time, SSX Tricky, Dark Summit was a little different from the
typical snowboarding fare. Rather than compete in events, you actually took on
missions and investigate happenings on a mountain that was once a place you rode.
The game itself was not terribly long, and didn't really have the graphical polish
as of other snowboarding games, but it was still an interesting diversion nontheless,
and garnered slightly above average praise from critics. Here's a little fact,
this game was developed by the same people who did Pure Ride.
Twisted Edge Snowboarding
Not a very memorable snowboarding game on the N64. Developed by Boss Studios
and released by Midway in 1998, Twisted Edge was hardly a threat to 1080. The
tricks were minimal, the courses were a tad bit boring, and the graphics were
not the best that Boss Studios was capable of. It was more or less thrown out
there six months after 1080, hoping that people who enjoyed 1080 will bite at
this one. Needless to say, they didn't.
Shaun Palmer's Pro Boarder
There are certain games where a certain engine will work well, and there are
other games where an engine just does not belong. In the case of SPPB, using the
THPS game engine and design was a less than stellar idea. Sure, having the famed
Hawk engine sounds great for any extreme sport, but snowboarding is different
from skateboarding. For one, skateboarding is pretty much done on flat land and does
not rely on gravity and force from going downhill. Also, having missions in a stage
is not a good idea if you cannot go back and pick up an item or clear an objective
you have not done. The trick system was not so bad, and even tried the manual system,
which probably was not the best idea. Sure, it was later done in SSX 3, but it was
done in a way where it would not result in so many bails or complication. Also,
unlike THPS, Pro Boarder never gained the successful sales that Activision hoped for.
Perhaps this is why the sequel was canned recently, even on the PS2.
1080 Snowboarding
In 1998, Nintendo suprised everyone by releasing a good snowboarding game for
any console. In fact, up until SSX, 1080 was the one to beat. It's mixture of
realistic environments, intuitive control scheme and gameplay made it a surefire hit.
It did have some problems, however. The game only had six courses, which was a shame,
because a game this good should have supplied us with more to see. Also, the
framerate was not very stable. But still, even with the lack of courses, there were
multiple game modes, including race, stunt and slalom. Plus, there were half-pipe
and big-air events. Recently, 1080 Avalanche hit the shelves, and from what I've
read, it really has not caught up with EA's SSX series.
SSX (series)
In 2000, EA released SSX, which was pretty much a good reason to pick up a PS2.
It's design of arcade-like controls and it's myriad of tricks made it an adictive
and exciting romp. In 2001, EA brought the SSX series multiplatform with SSX Tricky,
which may have shared many of SSX's original courses, but provided new characters
and challenges to keep us entertained for a very long time. In 2003, SSX 3 was released,
and upped the ante so much higher. Comparing the game design of SSX Tricky and
SSX 3 is like compaing night and day. While SSX Tricky took you around the world,
SSX 3 sticks to one huge mountain, and while it sounds limiting, you really have to
play the game to see how much depth it holds. The aspect of having the entire mountain
to ride on means that you can actually race from top to bottom in a single run, with
no interruptions. It will take you almost half and hour to do it, but you can do
it, and it's a great inclusion. But getting back to the series. I think what made
the series so great was the abillity to both provide racing and freestyle events,
and a good-sized trick roster to increase replay value. Just as 1080 was the game to
beat from 1998-2000, SSX is the series to beat today.
SSX |
TTTTs |
SSX Tricky |
TTTTT |
SSX 3 |
TTTTT |
Overall Series Score |
TTTTT |
Best In Series |
SSX 3 |
Well, that's all she wrote! I know I don't have every winter-themed game
on here, but really, do you expect me to do something all the way? Here are some
other snow-based games that I haven't gotten to, or even played:
Amped (X-Box)
Transworld Snowboarding (X-Box)
Whiteout (PS2, X-Box)
Snowboarding Kids (I think that's what it was called, N64)
Mad Trix (Ps2)
International Winter Sports 2002 (PS2, GC, X-Box?)
Evolution Snowboarding (GC, PS2)
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