"A relativley disappointing sequel"

Announced prior to the Gamecube’s release, 1080 Avalanche is the sequel the 1998 best-seller. The original 1080 put snowboarding games back on the map and took the number one spot on sales charts for an unprecedented amount of time. Unfortunately the sequel to the popular title is less than impressive, and most likely will not be enjoying the fame and fortune of the original. Aside from the game’s incredible sense of speed, and a few innovative features, there really isn’t much here to keep you busy for any longer than a few hours.

As soon as the game boots up, fans of the original will be pleased to see the newest incarnation remains faithful to its predecessor. The ski lodge is back, where you chose the different modes of play and pick from an assortment of characters and boards. The character’s and their boards have different attributes that effect the character’s turning ability, speed etc. All in all, no matter who you pick, there isn’t much of a difference on the slopes. Once you’ve picked your character you’re introduced to a lengthy load time where you can choose to listen to the game’s music, which mostly includes indie rock and a little techno. I was pleased to see that bands such as Boy Sets Fire and Cauterize have made appearances. Strangely there aren’t many licensed bands in 1080, as most of the songs consist of no-name techno beats that come no where near to the quality of such favourites as Oakenfold and Fat Boy Slim.

Once on the slopes, it’s clearly evident that 1080 plays nothing like EA’s masterpiece, SSX3, or any other snowboarding games that have hit store shelves. The main difference is Nintendo’s focus on speed and not tricks. The sense of speed is overwhelming, and that’s a good thing. Speed lines fly by the character as his or her jacket, pants and even hair, violently blow around in the wind. The screen begins to shake and a fish-eye-view occurs, dramatically stretching the game’s environment, further strengthening the sense of speed. It’s too bad the Gamecube can’t keep up with the action on the screen. It’s not unusual to see the framerate dip below 30 fps when things get hectic on.

The races themselves focus purely on speed. It’s unwise to try any tricks during a match race as they greatly increase your chances of losing balance and falling
When a character does loose balance though, a nifty meter pops up on screen and the game slows down. You have to rotate the analog sticks in the direction indicated on the screen in order to recover the character’s balance. It’s a small, but welcomed addition to the series.

Some gamers may not even notice that there is a trick system in this game, but trust me, if you look hard enough, you can find it. Tricks are simple to pull off, a little too simple. No longer do you have to spend days learning how to pull off a 1080 like in the original, all you have to do is press a button and hold the analog stick in the corresponding direction. Then press the X button to grab and you’ve got yourself a combo. Not that this is a bad thing, but the trick system should be equally as important as the game’s speed. It would be nice to have seen a few hard tricks that require skill to pull off.

You can practice your trick skills in the trick mode, which includes a half-pipe course and an air-jump course, similar to the game’s predecessor where you must put a string of tricks together to try and get the biggest combo possible in a single jump. Venturing off into the game’s main mode of play, match race, has you speeding down courses in four difficulty settings (The fourth, extreme mode, must be unlocked first) where the sole purpose is the beat the other racer to the finish line. This would be fine if the races weren’t as short. Some of the races take less than a minute to finish, a far cry from the length of the courses in SSX3. This becomes an equally important problem with the game, as it can be completed easily in a few hours. The 15 courses in the game are quite varied, interesting and include many obstacles including snowmobiles and wildlife. The game will have you racing past ski lodges and even a lumber mill. The courses which include avalanches are entertaining yes, but are few and far between. It would have been nice if Nintendo had focused more on the natural disasters, which make the semi-interesting levels, more fun.
Other modes of play include time trial, gate challenge the trick attack, mentioned above. Gate challenge has you swerving in and out of gates while trying to get to the finish line without missing any. Time trial has you gathering coins on the course, which ultimately unlocks various boards and costumes for the characters.

It’s a shame that the character’s turn as though the have dozens of weights attached to their bodies. You don’t get the smooth curving sensation as in SSX3. Instead you are left with an unresponsive control scheme. The only reason some of the levels are difficult, is because the game isn’t responsive enough when you want to turn.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is fun, but is hindered by the lack of available modes of play and poor framerate. You can go online with this one, but each race is limited to four players only, so it’s nothing to get excited about.

Avalanche is a pretty game indeed. The environments and boarders are incredibly detailed, even more so than SSX3 in some cases. The subtle graphical changes such as snow sticking to the rider’s clothing are especially welcomed. The avalanches in the game are a wonder to see and the wind effects make this game quite easy on the eyes. If only the framerate was consistent, then avalanche would be a real beauty to look at.

Fans of the series, who have been anxiously awaiting this title are bound to be disappointed by the game’s weak trick system, lack of variety and overall length.
I guess it’s back to the drawing board for Nintendo.

Final Comments:

I’m thoroughly disappointed with this sequel to one of my favourite games. The unresponsive controls drive met nuts, and the length of the game (I beat it and unlocked most of the game’s goodies within a rental period) is strangely upsetting. It looks like the crown for best snowboarding title, is still going be worn by SSX3.

Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 8.0
Controls: 7.0
Gameplay: 7.3
Replayability: 6.8
Overall: 7.5

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04