Shaun White Snowboarding Comments by Quintin Smith

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

...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

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

(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.

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.

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

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

Bring back Trickstyle!

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!

Man Ubisoft is really flopping nowadays.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

or was that just the wii version?

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?

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.

@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.

@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.

@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?

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.

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 :(

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...

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.