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SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING Posted by Joe Anderson on Nov 16, 2008 10:53 (Nov 16, 2008 10:53) |
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I have always enjoyed snowboarding games, however I must confess to knowing absolutely nothing about the sport, so when Ubisoft revealed that they would be releasing Shaun White Snowboarding for the Xbox 360 I did think to myself Shaun Who? Anyway in the interest of research I decided to find out about our friend whose name graces this game and I happened to find out two very interesting things, for one, Shaun White is one of the most successful snowboarders to have ever graced the sport and secondly? Well his surname is White and that just happens to be the same colour as snow, how’s that for coincidence?
 Each mountain is packed with events for you to take part in and best of all they are also free roaming, meaning that you can literally go anywhere you please , in fact Shaun White seems to be the first snowboarding game to actually let you get off your board and walk up the mountain, which is appreciated. You can also interact with the ski lifts meaning that getting to the top of the mountain has suddenly become a lot more convenient and if that’s not enough you can always set a marker in the area you currently reside and then when you want to go back simply press a button and then hey presto, your there. Finally you can also get to the top of the mountain in style by using the helicopter, talk about making an entrance.
The various events which are spread throughout the mountains really make this game what it is, you have your usual impress the crowd events where you have to pull of tricks and rack up the points as well as various other events, however my favourite is the Death Race where your mission is to finish first and knock down anyone in your path with snowballs, this is probably the most fun I had during my time in the game, after all smacking someone to the ground with a snowball usually does have hilarious consequences.
Unfortunately the game isn’t without it’s problems, for one, it just doesn’t seem to be as accessible as other games in the genre, when first playing both SSX and Amped I was easily able to pull of tricks and get a real feel of the games speed within seconds, however in Shaun White, it isn’t until you get a better board (which may take a while given that you have to earn cash first) that you really start to feel the speed of your boarder really pick up. At first everything really just feels very slow and tricks just don’t have the wow factor of the other similar games.
One of the most impressive features about Shaun White is that you can actually play through the whole game while being online, this not only allows for you to continue to collect the coins, but also take part and invite other people to play in events with you. This is a real fun part of the game and it works really well and although there were a few occasions when I was kicked out of the server, on the main it was a pretty flawless experience.
 Graphically it’s hard not to be impressed with Shaun White, especially when starting at the top of the games huge mountains, the game seems to capture the feeling of being at the top of a mountain pretty well, in fact it even throws in some avalanches should you be tricking a bit too hard. On your way down the mountain you will also be met with other hazards such as ice or even crevices that you either need to jump over or else fall in to your doom. The huge free roaming nature of the game does not come without flaws though with the occasional frame rate drop or pop up in the distance, however in general the graphics are top quality.
The soundtrack is excellent, there I said it and I’m not taking it back either, artists include Bob Dylan, Blue Oyster Cult and Run DMC as well as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Ting Tings. There is no doubt that when it comes to the sounds Ubisoft have got it spot on, there is nothing quite like boarding down the Alaskan mountain to the sounds of Don’t Fear the Reaper, quality.
Shaun White is certainly a decent and authentic attempt at a snowboarding game, my only real disappointment with it is that it could have been made more accessible straight from the beginning.
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