It’s all Electronic Arts fault. They made the SSX series which woos most with its pyrotechnics, eye-popping tricks and lavish looks. Actually the games are very good but it does mean people look at other snowboarding games for a few minutes and then say “I don’t like it” like Andy from Little Britain. At this point Lou would say a very sensible thing, “But you liked 1080 on the N64 and its emphasis on all-out racing against one tough opponent. You said it was style fused with substance.” Andy would then reply, “Yeah I know... I don’t like it.” The thing is, Andy is an idiot and so is everyone else that dismisses this game so readily. Admittedly the initial impressions aren’t that good - it doesn’t look as nice as Wave Race: Blue Storm and it seems to judder along as if the camera is controlled by an epileptic OAP. Usually Nintendo titles hook you from the word go but this one needs a bit more time to get used to. Within half an hour any worry about the gameplay should be cast aside, as the sheer sensation of speed overtakes them at lightning pace. Once you’ve mastered the technique of tucking you’ll be bombing down the slopes, undoubtedly with a big grin across your face. Tricks are secondary to the actual racing itself, consisting of a pretty standard collection of flips, twists and grabs. Pulling them off does help fill a special bar which can make you inflict great pain on your fellow racer if you collide into them. So much for playing fair! However, pulling off tricks can be awkward and if you’re off balance when landing you’ll need to rotate the analogue stick frantically to prevent yourself falling on your behind. Nintendo have added one major element this time round to spice things up - the avalanches of the games title. Though sometimes they occur during a course to wreak havoc and change the layout, each cup ends in a challenge. In the harder modes this involves you desperately trying to avoid being engulfed by the tonnes of snow bounding down the hill. While you thankfully get infinite tries, it’s a really exhilarating and tense set piece where more than one mistake means starting all over again. You’ll be bouncing off the walls with joy when you do the last cup before it unlocks a really hard extreme difficulty setting. Mother! To stand a chance in this hell, which coincidentally has frozen over, you’ll need to get some more boards and this leads to your exploration of other modes and each will keep you entertained for a number of hours. Time Trial is the ideal mode to find all the shortcuts or alternative routes on a slope, though there are also five fragments of a coin to find on each one and its a sizeable task to find them all, especially as your only clue to their whereabouts may be a slight jingle. Collect enough coins and you’ll unlock new boards that are vital to finishing Match Race. Yet you still won’t be done, as Gate Challenge requires precision and speed to unlock the secret and wacky boards, each complete with their own appropriate sound effects. The second board in particular will give all Nintendo fans a big smile, though these boards won’t save your results, so you can’t use them to do other Gate Challenges or Time Trials. Finally there is a Trick Attack mode perfect for hi-score challenges and the token multiplayer, though it now allows for four-player frolics rather than the measly two the N64 version offered. We have a few gripes about the gameplay. Once you do a challenge it gives you a password rather than just unlocking it in the options - are we stuck in the 1980s again? Its a bit daft to grab some notepad paper and pen again. Its a bit easy early on too. Good soundtrack of licensed music for once, mind. There’s certainly a lot to like about 1080 Avalanche and you’ll be playing it for hours. Comparing it with SSX 3 or Amped 2 is pointless as it offers a different experience to either of those - you wouldn’t buy Fifa and expect it to play in the same way as Pro Evo would you? This is a bloody good racing game with plenty of options to keep the single player occupied with and is worth checking out. It doesn’t contain any lame snowboarder speak either, which is good because ‘rad is bad’.
Lets see here i have to do this fast Gameplay-Too short if you ask me and probbley half of you would agree Music-Nice tunes to suit the game Graphic-Well i dunno what to say here. But some of the stuff goes thro... Read Full Review
>> 1080* Avalanche is quite possibly my favorite GC game, from an artistic point of view. It has this awesome indie feel to it. I don't think this game has been given the right amount of credit. >> What I pa... Read Full Review
