"Some fairly large problems make this game a rental, not a buy"

Dark Summit is an unfinished and unpolished game that had a lot of potential, and despite its problems, is still worth playing at least a little bit. The basic concept was fairly original, albeit not too enticing for anyone over 12 (essentially you're a secret agent who performs missions at a ski-resort while snowboarding), and although no specific aspect of this game is completely without merit, nothing about the game is really well-done either.

Graphics - 6

While Dark Summit certainly doesn't take advantage of the GameCube's power, there isn't much to complain about. The levels all look fairly unique, the characters have *enough* detail (although Dreamcast could probably pump out what this game pumps out), and all of the terrain outside of the Goo Gaps is acceptable. In addition, there are tons of objects to grind and jump off of, so while most objects are fairly bland, they don't get too repetitious.

Gameplay - 5

The controls themselves are fine and very easy to get used to (although 360s and the like were done better than the slow-responding flips). However there is a noticeable lack of accurate physics when doing tricks manually (which is odd because all the objects you can knock over roll and slide down the mountain after you with surprising accuracy), and this problem is greatly magnified when pulling off the automatic trick combos.

The Challenge system (various locations around each slope give you missions you must complete to unlock more slopes and beat the game) is done well enough, but since the same locations often give more then one challenge, you will have to visit them over and over. That's ok at first; the slopes are pretty large with multiple paths, so doing them each a couple times is fine. However, to really beat the game, you have to do every challenge with every character, meaning you'll probably snowboard every slope at least 20 times.

Sound - 6

The voices are decent. They echo down the mountain fairly realistically, and although some of the comments/characters are pretty goofy, thats how it was intended (they don't ruin the mood, it's a goofy game to begin with). The music is probably a step above the music of most games, although it gets repetitive when you restart any challenges you fail.

Plot/Story - 2

You're a young snowboarding rebel who does tricks to defeat evil skiers involved in a plot to release killer cows on the mountain. Even if it was satire (which it's not), it doesn't come off as funny in the game.

Presentation - 5

Decent and easy to use menus. The only complain I have is with the loading screens, which simply show different in-game characters with their quotes (which wouldn't be so bad if most of the quotes were good, but a good portion are cliched garbage that would only be considered cool to a 7 year-old).

Replay Value - 5

Well to truly complete the game you'll have to invest a fair amount of time into it (probably around 15 hours), but since the singleplayer game gets so repetitious, it's not so much replay ''value'' as something to do when you're bored out of your mind and have no other Gamecube games to play.

The multiplayer is a little better and has 3 modes:

Race to the Bottom: Simple, race to the end of the course.
Wrecking Ball: destroy as much as you can until either you get to the bottom or time runs out.
Half Pipe: essentially the guy that does the most tricks before he gets to the end of the slope wins. No time limit.

These modes provide a welcome diversion from the singleplayer and are pretty fun for a little while. However, the limit of 2 players instead of 4 and the lack of a level select make multiplayer seem like an unfinished feature and keeps it from providing as much replay value as it should. If there was a level select and a 4 player mode, you could probably play the game with friends all afternoon and not get tired of it.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/03