Ureview by: Eraser
Ureview points: 28
Ureviewer since: April 2006
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Reviewed On: Monday July 3, 2006
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 7 | Recommends product: Yes
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Introduction
1080 Avalanche is Nintendo's first in-house developed snowboard title for the GameCube. The game has lots of potential and it definitely shows a lot of good stuff going on. On other aspects it fails to score the big points though. Never having played any snowboard, skate or other extreme sports game before, it was all new to me and I might be more easily impressed than others.
Graphics
1080 Avalanche shows some great graphics coming out of that little Cube. The environments are richly detailed with trees, rock outcroppings, other wintersporters and even wildlife. All this is supported by nice effects such as snowstorms, fog, smoke, raindrops that hit the screen and lots of snow flying around. A nice detail is the snow that builds up on your character if you fall or spraying snow hits your character. Those that played Need For Speed Underground might be familiar with the motionblur effect that gives that added sense of speed when you go really fast. 1080 has that as well, but it's less obnoxious than with NFSU.
The game runs at a good framerate, although in one track you will witness a train that is derailed and has crashed into another train. There is a lot of smoke and snow which dips the framerate slightly.
Gameplay
It is clear that 1080 Avalanche is designed for speed and action, not realism. You'll go down that hill at insane speeds. Gliding straight through fences, tables and even windows of houses is no big deal in 1080. The game becomes really spectacular when the snow starts to shift. The avalanches in the game look truely impressive and small avalanches can open up alterante routes or drop large boulders on your path forcing you to take some quick evasive action.
1080 Avalanche features four different gamemodes. The first is matchrace, which takes you through three different sets of tracks, in total spanning 11 tracks. There's also a 4th set that can be unlocked with 7 tracks from the previous 3 sets but now mirrored. All these races are against a single computer opponent.
The second gamemode is gate challenge. This takes you through the original tracks but this time you're on your own. You have to reach the finish as quickly as possible but you'll have to pass through each gate giving you vital extra time and points.
The third mode is your standard time trial. However, in time trial mode there are 5 coin pieces scattered across the track. If you pick up all 5 of the coin pieces then you'll receive a coin which can be used to unlock extras.
The fourth mode is Trick Attack which pits you either on a ramp, a half pipe or a trick track with lots of jumps and poles to grind on. The idea is to get as much points performing tricks, but the system they've chosen to use for this is absolutely abysmal. You will have to gain some altitude by jumping then perform turns and grabs, preferably simoultaniously for extra points. Once a trick is performed and you're still in the air you have to wait quite a long time for your character to start blinking. Only then you can perform your next trick. So far, I've found it pretty much impossible to get anywhere near the scores set in the scoreboards.
Controls
The controls of 1080 can be slightly awkward from time to time. The controlstick is used both for steering (x-axis) and gaining speed/braking (y-axis). The L-button is used to tuck for additional speed. The B, Y and X buttons are used for grabs and the R-button (in combination with the controlstick) is used for spins. The A-button is used to jump which works slightly odd. When you hold down the A-button, a meter will fill up. If you let the A-button go your character will jump. The fuller the meter, the higher/further the jump, but if you wait too long, the meter will empty again and you won't jump at all.
The most annoying part of the controls is when your character loses balance. You are required to rotate the controlstick in either direction to regain your balance. However, while you do this it's impossible to steer so often if you lose your balance before a turn, you'll crash straight into the wall.
Characters & Boards
The game features 5 standard characters each with their own set of boards. When the game is first played, there's only one board to chose from for each character but more boards can be unlocked by collecting coins in Time Trials. If you beat the fastest Gate Challenge time you'll receive a trophy. Collect enough trophies and you'll unlock some wacky boards like a penguin or a paintbrush which leaves a brightly colored trail of paint. There's more to unlock but you'll have to figure out that for yourself :-)
Multiplayer
1080 features multiplayer for up to 4 players and it supports the GameCube's LAN adapter, allowing you to hook up to 4 gamecubes together to play full screen against your buddies. Unfortunately, there are only a handful tracks to choose from in multiplayer.
Conclusion
1080 Avalanche is a good game that's spectacular to play. I don't have much material for comparison so I can't judge whether or not this game is better or worse than games like Amped 2 or SSX. I do thorougly enjoy playing this game and it is worth it's money.
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| Pros: Lots of action, LAN support, Good graphics, Avalanches |
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| Cons: Not quite optimal controls, lousy trick system |
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