Supreme Snowboarding Review
Snowboarding is not a big sport here in the UK, and to tell you the truth the only place I have seen it is while channel hopping on TV and not being a fan of the sport, promptly turned over. This is not a sport for the faint hearted as bone crushing falls, huge leaps and spins just make me want to be sick just watching it.
But this is a game and if your like me and have not even been near a snowboarder or his/her board and don't even have a clue what a Backside Shifty :) is then read on, this game could be for you no matter what. But if you are a snowboarder and your looking at your snowboard with anticipation thinking what the hell is this guy on, then please read on, this game could also be for you!
Well it cant be hard can it, you stand on your board, aim down a hill, hit a little ramp, into the air and do some tricks or fall on your arse cursing. I am the latter, well I would be if I had the guts to go out there and try the sport, but no, I'm scared, weak, foolish, and like my unbroken bones too much.
That's where this game comes in, without actually having to fight the bitter cold, see the snow or even fall right on your arse, you can go snowboarding, cool, heh?
Well it is, yes, I liked the gameplay, its real easy to get to grips to, just as soon as you start, use the controls and aim to where you need to go and within a few minutes your doing tricks galore, or not. No, it ain't that easy, damn hard actually, its easy to just go from the start to the end, but as soon as you think, yeah, I'm going to do a 360 vertical spin, 540 horizontal spin, do a Japan, nosegrab then land perfectly with a 9.99 score, your going to fail miserably.
Its easy to start and when you can get the hang of the controls you can do some pretty impressive tricks, but most of the time you will end up crashing into a barrier, a tree or a nicely placed log. The crashes are nothing spectacular, there's no blood option, you don't get to see bones, broken legs or even red snow, they could have been more horrific and realistic but that's not what counts in this arcade type game.
Most of your skills will be honed on the practice courses. These allow you to remember a few combinations to work with, which can give you good scores, but most of the time you just end up being damn lucky and pull of a great move and you don't know how, but that's the nature of this game. The championship mode allows you to race over a number of races in differing tables pushing you up higher to increasing fame and glory in the hope of becoming king of the hill.
There are 9 courses throughout the game spread over 3 major places, Alpine, Forest & Village, each with their own differing course and hazards and with the aggressive computer players, bumping and nudging you all over the place you really need to be aware of what's coming up on each track.
The keyboard controls are surprisingly easy for the range of moves you can perform, with a few key presses and holding another few down you can end up spinning all over the place doing the best tricks ever seen. its just hard luck in real life you'll never get off the ground.
Requiring a 3D card, really makes this game look good on any machine, there are different textures for the types of ground you can snowboard on and also the different types of snow (normal, powder snow, ice and rock) They all offer varying feelings and friction for your snowboarding. The players models are also surprisingly good with only minor occasional clipping here and there. They also perform your moves with extreme smoothness everything moves like a dream even on my old calculator of a machine :o)
The sound in the game is another great feature, with the commentator shouting out the moves you do and saying WOW and Wonderful when you perform a really good move. The Music is all great with snowboarders type of music, it really brings the feel of the game home, the commentators do sometimes put you down at the end if you do badly but thats their job, so it just makes you want to better next time.
Supreme Snowboarding is a great game, with the varied jumps & moves you can perform and with the excellent tracks you have to race on, the game offers great playability and longevity with its fast paced & addictive gameplay. The added 8 player network option offers great multiplayer gameplay that makes the game last even longer.