Game Review: 1080 Avalanche
1080 Avalanche is a Gamecube game
released on December 1st 2003 and is the sequel to the rather popular
Nintendo 64 game 1080 Snowboarding.
The gameplay is very racing
based, unlike other snowboarding games such as the SSX series where
tricks are the main attraction. The races take place on numerous stages
and pit you against another computer player or human player in a race
to the finish.
The races are divided up into a few different
difficulties and there is a fair number of tracks for you to race on.
There are also different characters with different attributes to choose
from. These characters also have unlockable snowboards and outfits.
Every character even has a special character with exactly the same
attributes that you can unlock. All of this is fine and dandy and some
people like me for instance might feel the urge to unlock every single
thing present in the game, but this plethora of stuff seems to be in
stark contrast to the actual length of the game.
This game is
short, very short. I breezed through all the difficulties and tracks in
one or two sittings. While you might think it would be remedied by all
those unlockable goodies, I don't think it is because most normal
people simply aren't going to be trying to get them. I just had to get
that out of the way quickly, as that is surely the game's worst point.
Anyway,
on to some more positive aspects of the game. The graphics are very
nice for a Gamecube game and the track design has lots of nice looking
scenic areas for you to snowboard around. Especially good looking is
the Avalanche. There are I believe 2 avalanches that you can encounter
in the game, the first one you might miss however ( I haven't been
playing the game in a while so if this isn't so, sorry ) and the second
one is at the end of the game. These avalanches are really exciting and
are a centerpiece for the game.
The sound is arguably even
better than the graphics. It has a pretty large soundtrack, filled
mostly with rock and alternative songs which can really get you pumped
up for a race. And you can choose which song you want to listen to
while at the loading screen, which just makes it better.
The
game controls well, and I didn't encounter any problems with that. The
whole "Spin the joystick when you lose balance" mechanic is kind of
badly made however. Basically when you land a bit off center you have
to spin the stick to get back upright, and this whole sequence is in
slow-motion. But the problem lies in the fact that not only are you
viewing this is slow motion, your character actually is in slow motion.
So if it's a close race a slightly missed landing can cost you the game
( Which, as you can guess is not very fun ).
The
trick system is rather dull, which is no surprise as the game isn't
centered around tricks but more around racing. You won't find much to
captivate you here. The reward for pulling off enough tricks is that
you can become invincible. Well, by invincible I mean that if you fall
you recover instantly and if you bump into an opponent you send them
flying into the air and then they will crash, which can be quite
useful. You will lose your invincibility after you do either of these
things though, and I found myself not really needing these powers at
all as the game isn't especially difficult.
So, if you don't
mind the lackluster length I think you can enjoy this game quite a lot.
It will also help if you are the sort of person who likes items and
unlocks and stuff like that, because if you do that will significantly
increase the length.
Overall: 4/5
