Stoked certainly goes for realism straight from the start, just like the real thing it’s packed with the sounds, sponsors and boarders you would expect to see on the mountains. Before you actually get into the action you can go through the tutorials, this will allow you to learn the different moves and get you used to the handling of the game. The main aim of the game is to get your boarder known, since he starts the game with no sponsorship or any sort of reputation.

 

 

You start the game with the ability to explore three mountains, this allows you to explore the various ramps and grinds that are spread around and although fun at first it does start to get boring quickly given the lack of any goal. To really get the game going you have to acquire 66 fame points, this will then allow you to become a pro and get some sponsors. Until you do this though the game really does feel very lacking.

 

It’s not until the Sponsors start to appear that you will be offered more challenges and once this happens the game really starts to pick up, it’s a shame really because it takes a long time to build up your popularity and therefore before the sponsors appear you may be fooled into thinking that this game offers a fairly bland experience.

 

There are some great features which have made it into the game, for example once the challenges are unlocked a helicopter will take you to the top of the mountain, from here you can choose your challenges, then once you reach the bottom you simply get picked up again and re-chart your path to the bottom completing the challenges as you go. Since there is loads to do on the mountain this process is welcome and given that there is no waiting for loading screens either it’s a pretty smooth experience.

 

The main concern people will no doubt have is how this game plays and I have to say that it’s not too bad. Having played SSX and Amped for years I found the snowboarding in Stoked up to a decent standard, pulling of tricks is simple enough, however it’s a bit more difficult than it should be to pull off tricks using the environment. Stoked just doesn’t offer the same feeling that you get from SSX and Amped when pulling of environmental tricks and grinds, when you land on a log to grind sometimes you just seem to fall off for no real reason, there are also other issues in this area which makes using the environment for tricks practically no go area.

 

Players will be please to know that Stoked does have a online multiplayer mode, this allows up to seven players to take part in any of the multiplayer modes and given that there are around 40 different races to take part in this certainly offers plenty of variety. The multiplayer mode does feel unique from the rest of the game and is a great addition which works well.

 

 

Graphically Stoked is hit and miss, some of the details on the actually boarder look good like the snow sticking to his clothing and the like, I was also impressed by the weather effects such as the blizzards etc, however there does seem to be a general lack of polish elsewhere.

 

There will be people who are stoked for Stoked, it does offer a decent snowboarding experience and it certainly has some unique selling points, overall however it doesn’t really do anything that Amped or SSX don’t do any better, so if you are in the market for a snowboarding game then in might be better to look in their direction.