Snowboarding Done X Games Style

The assortment of Snowboarding games on the market today has taken the sport from one extreme to the other. Activision has now stepped in and created another completely new direction for the genre, but the their Tony Hawk formula doesn’t quite fit the sport like it does skateboarding.

Tricked Out Gameplay

The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series is far from realistic, however there are some important elements of realism that make them the best skateboarding video games ever (sorry Skate Or Die). Analysis: Skaters spend most of their time street skating, unless they have access to a nice vert ramp or skate park. So they look to the landscape for the challenges that their urban jungle can provide: gaps, handrails, banks, stairs, etc. Most kids never get good enough to ollie down a set of stairs with more than five steps, so they (we) live out their fantasies with their PS2.

Just as in THPS, Shaun Palmer’s Pro Snowboarder offers a great career mode. You start out with access to just one map. Then as you complete the goals of that level you open up subsequent levels. The goals are rather creative including things like knocking over coffee stands and bonking wildlife. There are also the typical point based goals that require you to earn so many points in a three minute run. When you’re trying to meet these goals it’s important to string tricks together in big combos just like THPS. You even have a revert move, so you can combine a vert trick with a flat trick like a manual.

The tricks are right on. I was reading a review where the author complained about nose manuals, and how he thought that it was impossible to pull without catching and edge and digging in. I’m happy to report that not one move is impossible to pull off. I can’t pull them, but the pros do. The difference is, in the game you can string them together as impossible combos, and you go way bigger (50 – 50 on a Lift Cable).

One area I feel they should not have neglected was the racing. Unlike skateboarding, racing is a huge part of snowboarding competition still. I feel that would have benefited from adding boardercross, slalom, or some other gate racing in the single player career game. They did however add it in multiplayer. They have some multiplayer modes reminiscent of THPS like Freestyle and Horse. They’ve also added two racing mode, Palmer X and Push. Palmer X is a lot like SSX where you race your opponent, but you also pull tricks to get a boost. The cream of the crop is Push though. It’s split screen, but as you outscore your opponent, his half of the screen shrinks as yours widens. Pretty soon he can’t see his next line and he has no room to work. This mode really reminds me of multiplayer Gameboy Testris.

Level Design

If you’ve played THPS3, then you know exactly what this game is like, but don’t assume that it’s anywhere near as fun. The formula wins with skateboarding, but not snowboarding. The levels in THPS3 are packed with tons of stuff to pull tricks off of, like most urban spots. But when it comes to snowboarding, there are all kinds of ski slopes, but they’re mostly open forcing you to explore to find kickers and fallen trees. In SPPS, the levels are packed with obstacles everywhere. It’s sometimes tough to find a line because of all of the rails and quarterpipes in the way. This style of level design was necessary to promote the THPS style gameplay.

Besides being packed with things to trick on, the levels are also large. They really give you an opportunity to explore and find new lines. You never get the feeling that the map is guiding you down a particular optimal line like SSX. Since only a few of the level goals require you to get to the bottom under a time limit, you’re instead rewarded for finding the most creative route. The feeling of exploration will never match THPS, simply because gravity discourages you from doubling back. In real life I’ve rarely pulled my board off to hike back up and hit something again, usually opting to remember to hit it on your next run through. To make up for that, SPPS allows you to interrupt your run down the mountain by stopping at specified locations that will run you back up the mountain to various different stops. These locations might be lifts or snowmobiles. I really enjoyed that, because it’s much like real life. You rarely take a lift up and then ride to the bottom. You normally use various lifts to get you to the side of the mountain you’re interested in.

Thankfully the levels are based on real locations. This also adds to the realism, although I kind of doubt that Donner Ski Ranch has so many rails. Further adding to the realism is the ability to play as several big name pros.

Graphics

The graphics are good, but not revolutionary. Things look nice, but they look a little skewed. Similar to THPS, your character looks as tall as building sometimes. Beside the graphics being light on the effects, my major complaint is the camera angle. You can select between far and close, but that’s it. Neither one give an appropriate sense of speed, which is not good when you need to be setting up for something at just the right speed.

Another complaint of the fixed camera angle is the inability to look down the mountain. When you’re snowboarding, your vision is really important. You need to be able to tell the contour of the slope as well as see potential lines well in advance, so you can set up for them. I think widescreen support would have been nice, and might have helped this. It’s a hard thing to model, because in real life you have the ability to move your eyes and head independently of your board. It’s tough to allow a moveable camera that wouldn’t distract the player from actually controlling his character.

Sound

The soundtrack is good, but not great. It needs about twice as many songs. Usually if I tire of soundtracks, I just turn them down. And when you do, you’ll be treated to some sufficient sound effects. You’ll soon bore of them too, so you might as well turn on a stereo.