For Somebody Who Doesn't Really Like Snowboarding Games This Game Wasn't That Bad.
Of all the snowboarding games I've played, 1080 was probably the second best, next to Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder. 1080 came out for the N64 about 5 to 6 years ago, and was enjoyed by many. When Tony Hawk's Pro Skater came out though, many other extreme sports games, 1080 included, became obsolete. Nonetheless, 1080 is still a fairly decent game. Here's why. Gameplay : Unlike most other snowboarding games, such as Shaun Palmer, this isn’t a game where you do tricks for points, it’s a racing game. It’s quite simple, all you do is race some other guy down an impossibly steep black diamond hill, all the while dodging houses, rocks, cars, and other various objects. There are some levels though, where you can go on a halfpipe and do tricks, but most of the game is racing. 1080 also introduces a new feature that we haven’t seen in any Tony Hawk game to date: the pain factor. The pain factor is basically a health bar like one you would find in fighting games. When you run out of health, the level’s over. As for control, the Nintendo 64 controller really isn’t the best controller for this game, and this is mostly because of the microscopic joystick. Other than that though, the gameplay’s pretty good. Has what you would call “medium challenge”, since it’s not too hard or too easy. The race levels are quite easy, but the levels where you need to score can be a little difficult. This is probably because 1080 obviously wasn’t intended to be a trick scoring game, so that particular area of gameplay wasn’t delved into that much. Like just about every sports game I’ve played, 1080 basically has no story. Sure a little storyline would make the game a little more interesting, but it’s really not necessary. Graphics : 1080’s graphics may be a little outdated now, but compare it to other games at the time. 1080 completely blows them away. The characters are nicely drawn out, and their snowboarding posture is surprisingly accurate. Also, the snow that is kicked up by the board is remarkably detailed too. 1080 scores huge on the graphics halfpipe. Sound : One thing 1080 lacks (besides a story), is a lot of sound. All the sound effects consist of are just a few various grunts, the sound of the snowboard as it glides across the snow, and a couple of other noises I can’t remember. As for music, well, all that’s in 1080 is one retarded, poorly edited song! If you get the chance to play 1080, it can become quite addicting, and you’ll most likely end up playing it for hours on end. One thing that may keep you from wanting to play this game is the fact that there are a bunch of more advanced snowboarding/racing titles out, like SSX Tricky, that may interest you more than 1080 will. If you’re a snowboarder, or just enjoy watching snowboarding, then I insist on getting this game. If not, at least rent this title. Who knows, you might enjoy it. 1080 is one of the earliest snowboarding titles I can think of. It was so well done that Nintendo moved it to the Gamecube console. Well, that’s it. All in all 1080 Snowboarding is an alright game, the difficulty of the game will shy away most newcomers but if you can look past some of the games many flaws then you will see a game that could have been great.
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