Shaun White Snowboarding Review

By Quintin Smith Published 14 November, 2008

Snow Crash.

Version tested: PlayStation 3

The internet is amazing. Look, here's what Wikipedia can tell you about Shaun White: "Shaun Roger White has been a notable competitor in professional snowboarding since he was fourteen... White was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect for which he endured two open-heart operations."

Wow! Now let's see what Shaun White can tell us about Shaun White, thanks to this interview on Heckler.com: "My perfect day would just be learning a new trick. That just makes the day. You know how it is, you skate a lot, if you try that trick all day and you finally make it then everything is sunshine after that."

Amazing! And hey, look at what I can tell you about Shaun White: turns out Ubisoft's Shaun White Snowboarding - hereafter referred to as Shaun White Waterboarding - completely blows. You might have been interested in it as a sort of snowbound Skate: a more weighty, precise alternative to Amped or SSX. It's totally not. It just blows.

Mostly this comes down to the control scheme and handling, two crucial parts of any boarding game. I can't speak for the Wii version (and Tom says it's a little better) but on 360 you're never given the level of control you want, and your snowboarder is alternately weightless and too heavy. When it comes to gaining serious momentum on slopes you seem too light, but when you're cruising along flats you decelerate far too quickly.

Similarly, when it comes to tricking, all it takes is a moderately steep downward slope for any player on the cheapest board to be able to ollie high enough to backflip- yet trying to maintain speed on a halfpipe is one of the hardest things in the game.

'Shaun White Snowboarding' Screenshot 1

It's the Assassin's Creed engine, you know. It's also a lot uglier in motion than in the screenshots...

But by far the most irritating aspect of the handling is the inability to simply make your board go where you want it to. It's something may not notice at first when you're simply cruising down one of the game's four mountains, just chilling and doing tricks as they come to you, but eventually the time will come where you try one of the events scattered across the piste. This is where things go wrong. When you only have a limited amount of time or space and you need to hit every ramp and every turn and avoid every obstacle, you'll see just how fiddly and frustrating the game is capable of being.

(Incidentally, there's a fifth mountain in the game if you buy the game from Target. As in, the American retail store. This exclusive content nonsense really has to stop.)

The handling is probably worst in the one event which isn't about tricking or racing, known as Collectibles. This has you thundering down the mountain trying to hit rotating guitars which are placed in a simple curving line, so you wouldn't think it would be that hard to hit them all, right?

Wrong. It's a nightmare. Whereas Skate gave us a concrete world, then politely told us the rules and asked if we wanted to master it (to which the answer was almost always "oh Lord yes"), nothing in Shaun White Waterboarding feels bolted down or finely crafted. Every time you carve to the left or right it feels imprecise, and correctly landing after getting some big air is worse. Over the last two days I've watched my poor character take 50 or 60 separate tumbles in the snow despite landing cleanly with his entire snowboard flat to the ground, and twice I've seen him continue on his way and snap back upright as if nothing was wrong after landing on his back.

A saving grace is that there are a couple of events in Shaun White Waterboarding which don't suffer these problems, namely the grinding and racing. Grinding's pretty good, because most of the time your board is magically drawn towards any rails, trees, boxes and the like which are lying around, enabling you to put satisfying combos together fairly quickly. Racing is adequate, because you're no longer wrestling with the controls - although it is a bit dependent on how expensive your board is.

Ubisoft Montreal also saw fit to include a rubbish snowball-throwing mechanic, which works by letting you press B to instantly snatch a snowball from the ground, then hold B to aim it at your nearest opponent and release the button to fling it. Anyone who gets hit by a snowball instantly collapses face-first into the ground. Think of an un-aimed snowball as a tiny green shell (though capable of rapid fire) and an aimed snowball as a red shell. And yes, that means that in first place, the AI pelts you with what might as well be rocks at all times.

'Shaun White Snowboarding' Screenshot 2

...except for the vistas anyway, which are consistently gorgeous.

A slightly better idea in the game is the way Shaun occasionally makes an appearance to teach you a new Focus Ability, something you can then use to access different paths down the mountain. The first ability allows you to shoulder-barge through walls of ice and certain fences, for instance. But the implementation of the system is half-baked. Instead of making you feel clever by letting you return to kick the ass of previously impassable obstacles, Super Metroid-style, the main use of the Focus Abilities is in letting you collect the giant rotating coins marked on your map, coins which then unlock... Shaun White teaching you the next Focus Ability.

A final feature is multiplayer, which does the Burnout Paradise thing. Using the d-pad you can get up to 15 people to join you on your mountain, or you can join them on theirs. After that there are a couple of multiplayer-only races at the top of each mountain the lot of you can access, though that's it. I guess you could just ride around and enjoy each other's company, or if the snowball throwing was any good you could have a snowball fight. But it's not.

'Shaun White Snowboarding' Screenshot 4

You can ride a chairlift if you want, but it's creepy. You can only turn your head far enough to see the motionless knees and hands of whoever's sitting next to you.

Let's at least end with something nice, since I've been so mean for all of this review. A substantial amount of time and money has clearly been spent acquiring all the tracks that make up the game's music, which is a nice mix of pop old and new, a bit of soul, dance, some classic rock and plenty of grunge that brings to mind the excellent Project Gotham Racing soundtracks. Though come to think of it, PGR lets you sort the music by genre, strip individual tracks from the playlist or listen to your own music, none of which Shaun White Waterboarding quite manages. Oh, snap.

4 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Quintin.

About Quintin Smith

Read more articles from Quintin by visiting the Quintin Smith archive page.

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Comments (81) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Santino #1 3 years ago

    ubisoft, i'm not surprised.

  • Vanmunt #2 3 years ago

    all those bloody banner adverts for this pile of shit... good work.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #3 3 years ago

    I could use a new Snowboarding game. Too bad this will not be it.

  • insincere_dave #4 3 years ago

    Wii version?

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    Youch!

    Just got this game this morning but not had chance to try it yet. Should have known better I guess than to order a game without having read any reviews yet but hopefully I'd be able to get *some* enjoyment out of it before I (inevitably?) trade it in against something else.

    I'm gutted to be honest... it looks great in the trailers and gameplay videos... :(

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #6 3 years ago

    Ouch!

    Well, I was more interested in the wii version anyway to try and justify 60 quid for my underused balance board. Can we expect a review of that, EG?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #7 3 years ago

    listen to your own music, none of which Shaun White Waterboarding quite manages

    Surely it has to let you listen to your own music on 360, that's a Microsoft TRC.

  • MasterNameless #8 3 years ago

    I liked the tag line at least. Snow Crash was a great book. ^_^

  • degville #9 3 years ago

    oh dear... still it only cost me 18 quid should get that back if it does turn out to be turkey

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #10 3 years ago

    Right...

    ...from NOW ON can all the twats that bleat on about the adverts affecting review scores kindly shut the fuck up!

    Thank you.

  • MasterNameless #11 3 years ago

    @SpaceMidget75

    +1000.

  • degville #12 3 years ago

    interesting to know if the reviewer has ever been snowboarding as downhill you do get light and snowboards don't travel far at all on the flat... you see i'm clutching at straws wonder how long my Amazon free delivery will take

  • darc #13 3 years ago

    I'm actually surprised. The TV ads looked incredible, and I couldn't care less about winter sports. Now... to actually read the review. (Should be fun!)

  • jonsaan #14 3 years ago

    A substantial amount of time and money has clearly been spent acquiring all the tracks that make up the game's music, which is a nice mix of pop old and new, a bit of soul, dance, some classic rock and plenty of grunge that brings to mind the excellent Project Gotham Racing soundtracks.


    Should have spent that money on polishing the core gameplay.

  • Darren #15 3 years ago

    Looking at the Edge scores, they gave Shaun White Snowboarding on the Wii a 7 yet this review claims that that version is "a little better" so that reads like an Edge 6 on that basis. That would suit me fine if it was so I've got my fingers crossed that I'm not so critical toward the game as Quintin Smith was.

    And, yes, I *am* clutching at straws here but can you blame me... I bought the game!!!

  • tobsen #16 3 years ago

    Shame shame shame. Looks like the N64 is still the platform with the best snowboarding game then.

  • insincere_dave #17 3 years ago

    Just had a look at this guy's reviews, he's not been trusted to review anything good so thankfully someone decent is reviewing the Wii version.

  • Rictor001 #18 3 years ago

    got this today, played about 25 minutes, made me want to find a copy of SSX tricky.

    @ degville - I'm a regular snowboarder (only a few weeks til my first trip of the season) and also play a truck load of games and I think I can clear this up a tad. It's not whether or not this is a realistic recreation of riding a board (which it isn't cos even riding a short box or popping your first ollie is way harder than in this game) - it's just a broken game, the camera is ropey and there is ZERO sense of speed even in a straight line.
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/08 @ 14:52

  • McBradders #19 3 years ago

    "It blows"?

    Is the bar for game reviews that low now? :(

  • BlueDot #20 3 years ago

    Arrgghh... I was so looking forward to this. Anyone knows whether the wii balance board version is any good ?

  • TitusCrow #21 3 years ago

    now can they kindly just make another SSX so we can have a real snowboarding blast again! do it DO IT!!!

  • samaran #22 3 years ago

    "Just had a look at this guy's reviews, he's not been trusted to review anything good so thankfully someone decent is reviewing the Wii version."

    GAMES REVIEWS: SERIOUS BUSINESS

    what on earth does 'trusted' mean? 'trusted' enough to have an opinion in line with metacritic? every single review on this site is the opinion and work of one person - and in this case, it's the opinion and work of someone 'trusted' to review god hand, which is the greatest game ever made. so! stop talking.

  • Super_Zee #23 3 years ago

    "Incidentally, there's a fifth mountain in the game if you buy the game from Target. As in, the American retail store."

    That's ridiculous. An extra outfit or something, fine, but a whole mountain? A whole new play area? What a pile of shit. I hope this bombs.

  • DFawkes #24 3 years ago

    Reviewed poorly, advert that looks awful and crashes my browser... somehow, I don't think I'd buy this. Or accept it as a gift. Or be bribed to take it.

  • captainrentboy #25 3 years ago

    I played it in work for an hour or so, and it was fookin' terrible!! it just felt so very slllllllooooooowww[link url=http://www.]http://www.[/link]

  • insincere_dave #26 3 years ago

    "what on earth does 'trusted' mean? 'trusted' enough to have an opinion in line with metacritic? every single review on this site is the opinion and work of one person - and in this case, it's the opinion and work of someone 'trusted' to review god hand, which is the greatest game ever made. so! stop talking."

    Good reviewers are assigned "big" games because more people will read the reviews and it reflects badly on the site if the reviewer is obviously not great at reviewing. If you need me to explain it more simply than that I suggest you give up reading.

  • joe90 #27 3 years ago

    And to top if off. it looks like Stoked is US bound only and not RF?? bah.. backed to the master that is AMped 2...
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/08 @ 16:13

  • Triggerhappytel #28 3 years ago

    And the worst thing is it'll still do well because it's got nice graphics, Ubi will market it heavily and I expect a lot of SSX fans will buy it trying to sate their snowboarding desires.

  • peterfll #29 3 years ago

    If the game doesn't sell and it means we don't have to suffer looking at the namesakes ugly bonce ever again then it's a good thing no?

  • Darren #30 3 years ago

    @Super_Zee - I suspect that the fifth mountain will eventually be offered to everyone who has the game as DLC in the form of an unlock key. And likely at extra cost too. I can almost guarantee it since it would be otherwise pointless the developers including an extra 20% of game content for only those people that buy it from one particular chain of stores. And in the US.

    And, yes, it does suck and Quintin Smith was quite right to criticise it.

  • Darren #31 3 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel - Well Ubisoft's tactics worked for me since I bought the game because I thought it "looked" nice in the videos.

  • Caer #32 3 years ago

    What the hell is this "oh, snap" nonsense that I keep seeing about the internets? Where'd it come from? Every time I see it I think of the card game.

  • samaran #33 3 years ago

    "Good reviewers are assigned "big" games because more people will read the reviews and it reflects badly on the site if the reviewer is obviously not great at reviewing. If you need me to explain it more simply than that I suggest you give up reading."

    so what in this article suggests the guy can't review, besides him slagging off a game you might have been looking forward to? he's played it, you haven't.

    really, you're just being obnoxious. grow up.

  • mazzl #34 3 years ago

    CAN WE PLEASE GET RID OF THE ADD NOW!!!!!

    THE STUPID POPUP ADD IS KILLING ME!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #35 3 years ago

    What the hell is this "oh, snap" nonsense that I keep seeing about the internets? Where'd it come from?

    It is the catchphrase of Joy, Earl's ex-wife from My Name Is Earl, although Urbandictionary attributes it to Tracy Morgan of Saturday Night Live.

    Apparently this Tracy is a man. I wonder is he has a brother calles Sharon, and both of their wives are in jail.

  • sneetch #36 3 years ago

    @McBradders
    ""It blows"?

    Is the bar for game reviews that low now? :( "

    Sadly it is, the only thing is for us all to to boycott the site, you go first, we're all right behind you.


    ...


    Is he gone yet?

    Can someone explain what's wrong with saying "it blows", particularly if it, in fact, blows?

    @samaran

    Yes he is.

  • ChaK #37 3 years ago

    *cries*

    I was soooooo looking forward to it, I guess I hoped for some king of new 1080 (which is by far my favorite)

    *cries some more*

  • mkreku #38 3 years ago

    @Mazzl: But why not just use Firefox and Adblock Plus?? I haven't seen an ad in years!
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/08 @ 17:25

  • Masarin #39 3 years ago

    @cabbadgecase: Yay! :-)

  • Chufty #40 3 years ago

    Does this mean an end to that godawful intrusive advert?

    The existence of adblock is no excuse.

  • Les #41 3 years ago

    "Right...

    ...from NOW ON can all the twats that bleat on about the adverts affecting review scores kindly shut the fuck up!

    Thank you."

    Why?! Because they set a signle example?! :p

    But seriously, I don't think EG is biased due to money being handed over. But stories like this will never die down. There will always be 'evidence' and creative ways to circumvent evidence to the contrary. A bit like with religion one could say. People keep coming up with stupid reasons to believe the unbelievable.

  • darc #42 3 years ago

    "If the game doesn't sell and it means we don't have to suffer looking at the namesakes ugly bonce ever again then it's a good thing no? "

    Eek ginger kids! :)

  • justMe #43 3 years ago

    Looks like the Wii version is the one to get. It's averaging 80% in metacritic instead of 60% for ps3/x360. Both with only 2 reviews, mind.

  • Dizzy #44 3 years ago

    Pity... then again only Amped has really come close to the real thing. In 4 months I am off boarding anyway ;)

  • browns #45 3 years ago

    To everyone saying that 1080 is their favorite snowboardgame:

    It was good - at the time - but it's awful now. I actually bought a N64 + 1080 on ebay a short while ago, because I wanted to play it again. I really shouldn't have.

    Check out Supreme Snowboarding for PC. THAT is the best snowboard game ever, by far. ;)

  • Ace_McCloud #46 3 years ago

    All my kids at camp in america used to say snap all the time (5 years ago). They were hoodlums from new york. Apparently it comes from rappers-a photographer released a book of pics of rappers called 'snap'... But it was getting fairly dated as a joke then, so who knows why it's cropping up now.
    On topic why cant they get this shit right. Amped 2 was close. We need skate like physics and free style skiing. When are people going to cotton on that skiing is as big as boarding and would be wicked in a game

  • Canyarion #47 3 years ago

    About 1080°: I really love Avalanche on the Cube. Yeah it was short, but all the levels were great. And it was so fast...

  • rogueJT #48 3 years ago


    Best Snow boarding game ever made was included with Final Fantasy 7.

    That mini game up at the Gold Saucer.

    Spent hours trying to perfect my scores there.

  • t8yman #49 3 years ago

    I thought it was poo, but didnt judge too harshly becuase I only played about half an hour. it would seem that the game gets worse the more you play it.

    would it be too much to ask for a big blue bar at the end of the review text - and before the score? I really like playing the "guess the score" game whilst reading the text, but always scroll to far down and try as I might, I cannot avoid seeing the number in that split second. Just me?

  • unmarked_one #50 3 years ago

    Eh, I'm looking for the 'B' key on my DS3 controller and I can't find it...

  • Slipstream #51 3 years ago

    ...The Ubisoft Rep showed me an AMAZING video for this game, I wasn't drooling over it, but I was happy to bear witness to what looked to be, the most promising snowboarding agme of recent times!

    Now of course, it sounds like trash, plus the Ubi-soft rep hates me anyway, I properly lay into him about the Imagine titles, heh heh heh..."Oh so what have you got for me today? Imagine Divorce Attorny?" xD

  • makeamazing #52 3 years ago

    Its a game about snowboarding... what did people expect ;)

  • Trigga_Tybalt #53 3 years ago

    (Incidentally, there's a fifth mountain in the game if you buy the game from Target. As in, the American retail store. This exclusive content nonsense really has to stop.)
    so so true.

    i feel a great amount of disappointment in these comments. everyone was hoping for a new decent snowboarding game. for me there hasn't been a good one since cool boarders 2. that was the pinnacle. the piste de la resistance. i could go on but i'm getting snow bored of these jokes... heh.

  • spongebob #54 3 years ago

    What a horrible review. What blows is the way Quintin Smith writes. And what's this 4/10 business? If I read the review correctly, the game is more like 2/10 or even 1/10.

    I have the game and while it is a bad one, it's not as bad as Quintin makes it sound. Controlling the snowboarder is a breeze while you get over the fact that the devs have unnecessarily reinvented the wheel. Why not just copy the proven controls from Skate/Tony Hawk/SSX? It would be much easier for people to get into the game not to mention the controls would be better.

    What actually almost blows is the fact that the devs have forgotten to guide the player. It's an open world game yeah, but it starts to feel really pointless after a while when you have absolutely no idea what to do to advance in the "bigger plot". It's not that fun to participate in the various events when there's no reason to do so.

    And about Quintin's review. The guy chose to write the review the easy way, which is to bash everything about it. It's harder to write a balanced review and analyse things that are not just bad or great. Now if you read Quintin's text it looks like absolutely nothing is right in the game. Here's how Quintin does it: just list one feature at a time, describe it and bash it. Wow. Some great critique that.

    I suggest that if you're thinking of buying the game you read some other reviews as well. Check Metacritic. There are some really accurate ones linked there.

  • StevieE #55 3 years ago

    Well, I actually quite like it. It is a little clunky but most of the complaints about it actually happen with real snowboarding anyway...

  • hokuto_no_rob #56 3 years ago

    Why so angry, nerds? In the reviewer's opinion the game blows - get over it.

  • Waldo #57 3 years ago

    Bring back Trickstyle!

  • cheese_man #58 3 years ago

    I think the reviewer really missed the best part of the game: multiplayer. I just spent the day playing on Live with my friends and it actually really is fun. I don't think it's fair to review a game when you don't even play half of it!

  • DaDon123456 #59 3 years ago

    Man Ubisoft is really flopping nowadays.

  • stoopidgreg #60 3 years ago

    heh, paid to do the video interview feature no doubt and then the game gets a shitty score, gotta love that

  • Curry_mad #61 3 years ago

    So, Mr.Quintin Smith...

    I can't speak for the Wii version (and Tom says it's a little better)


    Why is it better? Is it because of the balance board? Is it that the negative issues raised in the review aren't present in the Wii version? Or did your phone credit run out before Tom could tell you?!!

    I'm no journalist, but you need to quantify your statement of "a little better" in terms of fact, otherwise it doesn't have any substance. Yes?! Isn't that the whole point of a "review"?


    It is nuts that in this day and age of technology, that we can't get a Wii review of this game (or even a few paragraphs from "Tom" telling us why the Wii version is " a little better";). The game is out in the shops now.

    So how long do Wii users have wait for a review?

    Edited by 2 at 15/11/08 @ 23:56

  • Stickman #62 3 years ago

    I just received a text from Quintin Smith. It says "fuck you, I don't have to justify myself to the likes of you cretins. Christ, what a bunch of fucking pricks"

    What a meanie.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/08 @ 09:48

  • degville #63 3 years ago

    I've now playeds it for more than half an hour and whille som eof the gfx popin and glitches are annoyingy as they could so easily be fixed it is no way a 4 its much better than that, in fatc the more you play it the more like boarding it is and the free roaming of a whole ski resort really works well. Also the more i play it the more i think skate controls copied verbatim wouldn't work this is boarding not skate boarding and they are quite different in reality.

    *edit
    @stevieE my thoughts exactly the way you can catch and edge in it is just like real life and bloody frustrating.

    Also if you buy a faster board it gets much faster I really think this guy hardly played it I also bet he is a skier in real life.....but I'm not sure why i'm getting worked up by an interspazz review so i'll go hit the slopes and calm down ;)


    I'd give it a 7 which is a shame as with a bit more work and polish it could of been an 8.

    And uyes i bought it so maybe you think i have to justify my purchase which would be wrong conclusion to readch as I said before I paid 18 quid for it and I could get that back and more right now if i traded it. But i want to keep it, I also have the adantage of a friend with it and the online is noway as poor as the review suggests.



    Edited by 1 at 16/11/08 @ 10:57

  • jonbwfc #64 3 years ago

    Just a thing : If I read the manual correctly, it looks like the EU version has the fifth mountain unlocked for everyone. Wonder what the reviewers opinion would be of journalists who cock up their research?

    Jon

  • NBAoz #65 3 years ago

    I'll still be picking it up this week despite the poor review and make up my own mind. After all, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder received a 3 out of 10 from IGN and I thought it was awesome. I have been waiting for a great snowboarding game ever since Amped 2, but all we have really got since then is Amped 3 and that sucked.... So it will come down to either this or Stoked (if it ever comes out in Australia). I'll post again with my impressions of Shaun White later this week for any one that is interested.

  • smelly #66 3 years ago

    this review is completely out of kilter with the ign one.. im confused now as to whether its good or not..

  • smelly #67 3 years ago

    or was that just the wii version?

  • 3william56 #68 3 years ago

    Haha - the ad may not buy the review score, but the review certainly seems to have killed off the ad. Which for everyone apart from EG's accountant is a good thing.

    Someone getting sent a message?

  • Darren #69 3 years ago

    I've just watched the GTTV review and in comparison to the EG review it is much better at summing up the game's good and bad points IMO. Having played the game over the weekend and thought it not too bad myself, I can't help wondering if the reviewer either played a different game to me, or that he was expecting it to be SSX. I mean in terms of feel this game is a lot like Amped and that's a good thing in my book. The speed is absolutely fine as are the controls: I had no trouble turning whatsoever and the pace is realistic. I don't what the reviewer was complaining about there. It's a lot of fun just snowboarding down the mountains and checking out the different routes. The graphics are OK, the framerate isn't terrible high and the shadows draw in too close but the overall effect is pleasant. Sound is as you'd expect for a snowboarding game although the music is better than I expected.

    This is a good rather than poor game IMO which is why I concur more with GTTV's review than EG's. So far after a few hours play and no noticeable bugs I'd give it 7/10.

  • kangarootoo #70 3 years ago

    @insincere_dave

    "Just had a look at this guy's reviews, he's not been trusted to review anything good so thankfully someone decent is reviewing the Wii version."

    I fail to see the relevance. He's clearly not a regular writer, and EG obviously don't hire in non-regular freelancers for the bulk of their reviews, so your points doesn't really hold any water.


    Look everyone, I wanted this to be good to, but it wasn't. Its a pity, but lets just move on. Insulting journalists and going on about the Wii version isn't going to undo what has been done. This is bobbins, its a shame, but accept reality and take solace in there being more other to play that don't suck.

  • kangarootoo #71 3 years ago

    @insincere_dave

    "Good reviewers are assigned "big" games because more people will read the reviews and it reflects badly on the site if the reviewer is obviously not great at reviewing."

    Where on earth did you get that nugget of wisdom from? Here is an alternate version of reality for you.

    EG have regular staffers, who work for them all the time, and get to choose to some degree what titles they review . When they have more games to review than regular journo hours in which to do the reviewing, they will hire in freelancers, who because they aren't regulars will review what ever they are given.

    You clearly know nothing about the magazine business, yet come out with prattle such as "If you need me to explain it more simply than that I suggest you give up reading.", like you are some kind of expert.

  • kangarootoo #72 3 years ago

    @Curry_mad

    "I'm no journalist, but you need to quantify your statement of "a little better" in terms of fact, otherwise it doesn't have any substance. Yes?! Isn't that the whole point of a "review"? "

    Well, it might be the point of a Wii review, but this wasn't a review of the Wii version was it. So frankly, any info about the Wii version should be seen as a bonus. Do you complain if a God of War review doesn't give you enough info about Ninja Gaiden?

  • jlaakso #73 3 years ago

    And here I was waiting for something to finally top Amped 2. I'll check it out anyway - I played it for some time at a convention and didn't find it bad at all, despite the weird (different, not bad) controls.

    Why oh why did they botch Amped 3. And regarding Supreme Snowboarding: yeah, that was a cool game back in the day. Someone told me that Transworld by the same guys who did Supreme would be good as well, but I never played it.

  • kangarootoo #74 3 years ago

    Transworld was worth a look way back, though if you have played a lot of Amped 2, TW is unlikely to give you much more.

    Amped 2 basically pinched TW's control system, and pretty much tightened everything else up along the way.

    Edit: and I agree about Amped 3. The day I played the demo of that game was a sad day indeed. The sales of that (or lack thereof) probably killed the franchise :(
    Edited by 1 at 17/11/08 @ 16:03

  • EricTWS #75 3 years ago

    In my opinion, this game is no where near as bad as the review makes out. It has its problems: there is too much pop-up, too many boarders getting stuck and the radar is annoyingly difficult to use effectively.

    As for the handling, at first it is very difficult. It doesn't take long, though, to learn the rules and I like the fact that you have to have some skill to really get the most out of the game. The overall size and presentation of the mountains I find really impressive, and there is variety to the game play dependant on your chosen event. That said, just exploring the mountain can be great fun, and the sense of speed really increases as you trade up to faster boards.

    My opinion may be helped by the fact that I only paid £18 for it, but I have already had three nights of intense learning curve and do not feel anywhere near ready for a break from it yet.

    Remember: reviews are opinions and you are allowed your own.

  • NBAoz #76 3 years ago

    I have played both the Xbox 360 and PSP versions of this game and I think they are both above average. I have also picked up the Wii version, but have yet to play it so cannot comment on that one yet.

    The only criticisms of the PSP version that I have are that the courses are too short, too narrow and that the challenges are a little too easy, but other than that everything else appears to be fine (graphics, frame rate, sounds, gameplay, etc).

    The Xbox 360 version is not as bad as this review makes out (I know that this is the review of the PS3 build, so am assuming it is very similar). It's certainly no Amped 2, but it is still way better than Amped 3 which means that this is currently the best snowboarding game you can get on this gen of consoles (unless Stoked turns out to be better).
    The sound is fine except for the annoying voice overs and offers a decent soundtrack. The gameplay is very responsive, however a little jerky in the animations when making sudden movements. Landings seem to be quite lenient but not enough to ruin the challenge too much. It is very easy to ollie onto a rail, however you don't feel as though you are magically locked on as your board can easily slide off if you don't follow the direction of the rail just like what happens in real life snowboarding, so in that respect they got the grinding right. Performing rotations in the air seems to be quite difficult to do when you try and attempt a forward or backward flip as you just seem to meet the ground too quickly and hardly ever complete the rotation as it happens too slowly. Oddly, this problem doesn't occur with left/right rotations. This might get better though as your boarder improves. Sense of speed seems to be a little on the slow side but not enough to cause too much grief. Again this could improve as your boarder gets better or you buy a faster board. Level design is pretty good with wide open runs and lots of places to explore. The snow effects are cool, but could be better by representing powder, ice etc a little more convincingly. Graphics are great and more realistic than Amped 3. The gameplay actually reminds me a lot of the Tony Hawk games more than anything else which is not exactly what I was hoping for. I would have rather skate controls. Snowball throwing is lame, but again better than Amped 3's inclusion of this pointless activity. I have yet to test online functionality so cannot comment on that yet. The whole collect em up nature of this game is a little disappointing as I was hoping that this game would be more like Amped 2 with score challenges, photo shoots, sponsor events, etc and as a result there just doesn't seem like there's a real lot to do in this game which is a pity. Another thing I must mention is that it doesn't look or feel right when your boarder lands a trick as I feared from watching many of the gameplay previews. there just doesn't seem to be much weight or momentum displayed as the rider makes contact with the snow after a hard landing. All you get is a camera shake and your rider just keeps their legs almost straight as though they never even left the ground. I really like that fact that you can get off your board at anytime and I like the inclusion of the animation your rider performs when on a flat where they do a sort of crab like walk animation with the board still strapped to their feet.

    Anyway, in summary Shaun White Snowboarding is a slight disappointment, however still worth getting if you are into snowboarding games and have been yearning something close to the Amped series after the abysmal Amped 3. Let's just hope that Destineer sees fit to release Stoked in the UK and here in Australia. From what I can see by watching the gameplay trailers, it is shaping up to be the spiritual successor to the Amped series and looks very realistic with awesome weather and snow effects. The graphics don't look quite as nice as Shaun White though, but I don't really mind as long as they nail the gameplay.

    Overall, the PSP version gets a 6/10 from me and the XBOX360 version gets a 7/10.
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/08 @ 03:36

  • flipReverseIt #77 3 years ago

    People don't believe this EuroGamer review. I got my Xbox 360 copy of Shaun White a few days ago and as a real life snowboarder I think its really good. Its basically what I expected. It feels realistic and gives a good feeling of being on large mountain resorts.
    Overall I would give this an 8/10.

    I don't usually post but I felt I had to as this reviewer has done a big injustice to the developers in slating this game when its actually good fun and a great replacement if you can't get on the slopes for real!

  • Curry_mad #78 3 years ago


    Like others who have already posted, I agree that the game isn't that bad. It could have been much better though (maybe it was rushed out? I know it required an update via PS3).


    @EricTWS

    Remember: reviews are opinions and you are allowed your own.

    Great point - This should be a disclaimer at the end of every review.

  • banjolar #79 3 years ago

    Well that was a lame review to say the least.

    Play the game long enough to get the right board and it's kicking! I don't think this game was meant to copy SSX or Skate btw

    And the reviewer mentionned you can't put your own music in the game...WRONG, the Playlist in-game quick menu recognized all my HD residing music playlists on both the Ps3 and 360. I got like hundreds of songs to ride to without ever leaving the game.

  • Dogstar060763 #80 3 years ago

    Hmmm. I'd say this is a 6/10, based on my weekend's experience of playing it on 360. It's no 1080 (no snowboarding game ever has matched N64's seminal snowboarding title, imo, not even their own sequel on GC), but it is a fairly serviceable and enjoyable game in its own rght - if you can get past the frankly annoying snowboarding 'sub culture', Shaun White's own ridiculous presence in the game and a raft of poor gameplay/design decision by the devs.

    There is fun to be had in SWS, but most of it will be of your own making - the devs didn't seem to be too interested in creating any real sense of structure in the game - none that is immediately apparent. Having built their open world mountains I suspect they placed far less emphasis on crafting a cohesive set of reasons for the player to inhabit them, so instead the player is left, for the most part, to make their own fun in these virtual winter playgrounds.

    But you will have fun - once you get a grip on the controls and start making 'sick air' and pulling off a few 'rad moves' the game starts to grudgingly admit it isn't bad at all and you'll delight in the myraid routes and byways down each massive mountain. Just a shame you have to work pretty hard to start getting the game to spill it's secrets.

    The fifth mountain available only to 'Target' buyers is a disgrace imo. I make no excuses for Unbisoft in this respect - it's a dreadful way to treat your other customers and it'll be interesting to see if they now have the barefaced cheek to try and squeeze a DLC fee out of their customers or have the simple good grace to offer it up for free...
    Edited by 1 at 01/12/08 @ 09:56

  • septimus #81 3 years ago

    Late comment, but just picked this up for the 360 in the sales for £15. Well worth that price. This review is pretty much bullshit.