7-Jan-2004 Arriving late to a party might make make you look fashionably cool, but the reality is that all the good booze is gone and there are only Marmite and anchovy paste puffs left to scoff.
Nintendo's big white hope for console snowboarding excellence is very late to the party indeed. In the time it has taken Avalanche to explode onto your telly there have been three spectacular outings for SSX, and two of the more serious Amped games, as well as so many copycat snow racers it hurts. You really hope that Avalanche will pull something teeth-shatteringly grand out of the bag to steal the other games' rolling thunder. It doesn't, but that doesn't mean it's cack either...
Sweet Small Packages Played in short bursts of insane arcade action, 1080 is all about feeling the powdery sprays of snow up your back as you cut a razor line down a mountain. Races are quick and tough. If you fail you lose a life and try again. Simple. It's a long way from the simulation style of Amped, and has little in common with SSX 3's freeform approach to taming the slopes. But it works. The feeling of battling the different textures of snow and ice beneath your board as you come clattering down the hillside is one of the biggest rushes available on GameCube. The use of a time-limited pre-wind jump adds some strategy to when you decide to pull tricks and the 'wobble-o-meter' (as we like to call it) where you frantically rotate the stick to regain balance if you land iffy, adds yet more screaming panic to the racing.
The sense of speed too is incredible, and while the visuals aren't as glitzy as SSX, this feels far faster- check the way the the screen growls and shakes as you hurtle toward the finish line. If 1080 doesn't necessarily impress with the amount or originality of play modes on offer (there are all the usual suspects of racing - tricking, time trials, plus multiplayer) then it definitely more than makes up for it in the way those game modes play.
Um, Look Behind You So 1080 isn't massively original, but it does have one killer gimmick in the form of avalanches. At the end of each cup championship you race a far deadlier opponent than your sworn snowboarding rival - you race against all the might of a thundering avalanche itself. Again, simplicity is key: get to the finish line before the timer runs down or the mountain eats you for breakfast. Boulders fall from on high, sheets of ice shatter beneath your board, animals scatter and buildings give way. It's mayhem, and a real challenge. Much like the rest of the game actually. And where else can you be thrown headfirst from a helicopter, tea tray lashed to your feet as a landscape collapses behind you? Great fun.
In no way revolutionary, but the avalanches are great and the racing so spot on that this could easily become your favourite 'boarding game. It's certainly close to being ours.
Avalanche challenges get their own dedicated stages in the game, but because Mother Nature is a vicious old PMT-ridden hag and her fury knows no bounds, you need to watch yourself during the standard race levels too. Set off an avalanche during a match race and you may slow your rival down, but you'll also need nifty boarding moves if you're going to make it out of the icy hell with your nutsack intact.
And before you know it, it’s raining boulders. Gah!
Grinding the rail sets the mountain all a-tremble
You spy a shortcut – but look where it takes you
// More Ways To Chill
While not as packed full of features as Amped 2 or SSX 3, 1080 at least has cool slalom levels played on the main downhill courses as the main game, as well as stunt challenges to muck about on. Best of all these extra ways to play are the Time Trial races, since these also help you learn the fastest racing line. Search every snowy crevice of the mountain for the hidden pieces of coins scattered about. Collect all six portions and you can use the whole coin to go towards unlocking better boards for careening down the hillside.
The huge scores from the Air Make ski-jump course are worth the chapped cheeks
Hunting down Time Trial coins unlocks bonuses and teaches you the quickest routes
Slalom through all of the gates in the fastest time in the Gate Race mode
// Know Thy Icons
As well as needing fingers so nimble they could pleasure even the baggiest and worn out of red-light ladies, you also need a keen eye in 1080. On-screen icons offer instructions and warnings - you need to recognise and act on them quick-time to avoid a mouthful of grubby snow.
If you land awkwardly or wallop an obstacle, you need to rotate the stick quickly to regain your footing
You can only pre-wind a jump for a limited period, so watch your timing
Keep the pointer in the middle of the gauge when grinding rails to stop you falling off. It’s like walking a tightrope…
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
