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MTV Snowboarding (PSX) ReviewBackground Info
MTV Sports Snowboarding offers a limited number of courses and riders. Like
all games, you can open up a few more courses and riders, but to do so is an
exercise in repetition rather than fun and challenge. And like the other
snowboarding games available, this one offers up some special tricks, although
in a smaller number than other titles.
Presentation/Graphics : 70
Rider animations are fluid, whether you are carving out snow or spinning in
mid-air. The racing events have a limited field of three racers including
your rider, so you can imagine the graphics keep pace with the action, which
they do. There is some pop-up in the distance, although it never affects the
gameplay. Jumps and rails never pop-up all of a sudden, so there is ample
time to plan your approaches.
The big problem in the graphics area is the camera. In some situations, the
camera, which only views the rider from behind, can't decide where it wants
to point from. The problem is especially bad in half-pipe events. If you
miss a jump on the half-pipe, you'll find yourself caught in the valley
of the pipe. For a few seconds, the camera flips back and forth, and you
lose your orientation. The same issue is found in some of the downhill
courses as well, and always seem to be present when you wipe out. Needless to
say, this graphics flaw significantly impacts the game's enjoyment.
Presentation/Audio : 90
The sound effects are secondary. As you ride down the course, a whoosh of the
snowboard over the snow is heard. There are no crowds to cheer you, but there
is audio commentary to keep you company. By default, the commentary volume
is set to zero, so you will have to adjust the volume setting. However, the
commentary is composed of pithy little statements like "Ouch," "I'm glad
I've got this helmet," or "Here comes superkid." If you don't like the music
in the game, you'll quickly tire of the sound effects.
Interface/Options : 80
Controls are uncomplicated in the game, with basic movement manipulated with
the digital or analog pad. The manual did a poor job describing the speed
control. Do I crouch like the Cool Boarders series by pulling back on the
stick? Nope. To crouch you push forward on the stick, although the manual
makes no mention of crouching whatsoever. Tricks are executed with
combinations of the circle, square, triangle and X buttons in consort with
or without the R2 button. There are only eight basic tricks, although there
are two "special" tricks that can be executed with the L2 button and the X
plus square or X plus circle button. In addition to button mashing tricks,
flips and spins are initiated with the control pad. So while the back of the
game's jewel case boasts of hundreds of trick combos, the combos are comprised
of only a few basic tricks.
My biggest complaint with the menus was that saves are confusing. Between
events in a competition, you have the option to exit or save and exit. Both
options net the same response from the game, that your progress will be
stopped. Well, I'm saving to save progress, right? In the end it does save
your current state.
Gameplay : 40
To score enough points to qualify for the MTV Challenge, you execute in-air
tricks off of ramps, hills, half-pipes, and rails. Once you get the hang
of the game, you'll notice that you can rack up points with one basic move:
jump, start a flip/spin, press R1 to increase the rotation speed, and
release with enough time to land correctly. That move is guaranteed to score
more points than pretty much every other move. Thus, there is little skill
involved with the game. Furthermore, preparing for a trick is as simple as
pressing the jump button. With no jump meter, the game is completely devoid
of a challenge. I think I may have pressed the X button in mid-air as
well out of instinct. So instead of just a quick spin and flip, I performed
a quick spin and flip with a tail grab. I could do that ad nauseam in every
qualifying event and score enough to make it into the MTV Challenge.
So was it a challenge? Not really. The MTV challenge is a five-event
tournament with two downhill racing events and three trick events. The racing
events have exactly the same format. Times from two heats are added, and the
top three riders race a final race to determine the winner. The loser's
bracket, comprised of the bottom three, offers fourth place as its prize.
Since the object is to get down the courses quickly, you won't want to perform
tricks. The courses themselves have wide lanes and few obstructions. With
such uninspiring courses, the excitement factor during the events reads
off-scale low. And to think that two of the five events are racing events and
that you get to race each course three times.
The trick events are not that much better. Recall the sure-fire method of
scoring points in the qualifying sessions. Using the same strategy in the
trick events, you are virtually guaranteed victory in those events. The
exception is the Big Air event, where you have three jumps on a short course.
Miss one of those jumps and your score will plummet. But wait, there are
two runs for this event, and only the best score is used. The half-pipe
event nets three tries to score big, and the slopestyle event allows two runs.
If you know your score won't be enough to place you first, you can always
restart the event before you cross the finish line.
There are a couple of bonus items to pick up along the way. For example, if
you place first in the MTV Challenge, you get to snowboard Alaska. Scoring a
certain number of points on that course is rewarded with a new rider. Now
I don't know if there are more bonus items available because the game started
getting boring. I imagine you can get more bonus items by winning the MTV
Challenge with another rider, but personally, I did not want to spend my time
on the same five courses and events. Each MTV Challenge is the same sequence,
the same courses, the same events. Absolutely no variety. Couple that with
a guaranteed method of success on the trick events, and you are left with a
game that boils down to two mediocre racing events. And don't forget about
the position-happy camera that gets lost at some times.
There is a course-create mode, so if you like to build things, I guess you'll
be happy.
Replay Value : 40
Overall : 56
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