Cool Boarders 2

"Gah..."

-Visuals 5/10-

For a PSX game, Coolboarders 2 doesn’t deliver the goods here. Giving you very blocky and pixalated characters placed on courses that have a general tendency to break up once you get close to a certain point in the level. Tricks and jumping look stiff and really quite poor when compared to any other snowboarding game out there on the market. While this may seem unfair, even the PSX is capable of something better than this.

-Audio 5/10-

Again, this is pretty poor considering the system that it’s on. The music for each stage is mis-matched, and really doesn’t belong in a game of this type. You’ll find yourself looking for a CD to play and something hardcore to listen to instead of this crap. The sound effects are even basic, in terms of thuds, grunts and the occasional thump of the snowboard hitting fresh powder. Again, this is pretty poor, and is one of those games that you can afford to turn the sound off.

-Control 5/10-

Gah, this is bad. The control is either way too tight, or non-responsive at all. Trying to pull off the tricks that are programmed into the game are a chore, and even then, they aren’t all that impressive anyway. You’ll be controlling something, the arc and pitch of the game as your throw it into the trash. The button configuration is set up at a near impossible setting, so you’ll spend some time trying to figure out just how to set it so that it’s worth even playing.

-Gameplay 5/10-

Snowboarding is generally a game of racing, or of speed and tricks. This one, isn’t either of them. Pitting you against computer controlled opponents that out-match you no matter who you use, you’re faced into a downhill race against the clock, and against a truly superior computer AI. Where the challenge is, it shouldn’t be, and that is in the tricks that you pull off. Forcing you to use serveal different buttons to obtain something as simple as a 360 spin, you’re faced with the daunting task of figuring out a ton of different button combinations just to have the move display, and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll land it and not crash.

This shows very little consideration for any novice gamer just starting out with a snowboarding game, and it shows that the programmers didn’t take the time to test this garbage before they packaged it up, and sent it out. Secrets and replay revolve around unlocking new tracks, new characters, and new boards. Any way that you slice it, you’re looking at a lot of work for very little reward.

-Overall 5/10-

This is a poor showing of a snowboarding game for the PSX. Even for its time, this game was mediocre and beyond that, the effort you had to put into it was more or less too much for a game of this type. I could see if this was an RPG, you could put the same kind of challenge in, but its not, it’s a sports game, and a very badly made one at that. Advice here is to run away from this game. If someone buys it for you, get the receipt and take it back. Anything is better than this…well…almost anything.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/00, Updated 12/21/00