1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo 64) (Pre-Played - Game Only)

Description

Product description You're taking a Tahoe 155 snowboard down a steep, bumpy incline at night and you're about to top off an Indy Nosebone with a 360 Air, and you haven't even left your living room! You're playing 1080 (Ten Eighty) Snowboarding, a game so intense you'll be brushing the snow off your goggles. With five different boarders, eight different Lamar snowboards, more than 25 tricks, a Half-Pipe and six different courses, this is as close as you'll get to the real thing without hopping on the next ski lift. desertcart.com One of the best snowboarding games on any platform, 1080 Snowboarding faithfully recreates the mountain experience with beautiful graphics, realistic character and environment physics, atmospheric sound effects, and addictive gameplay. Players compete on a variety of unique tracks ranging from a half-pipe and long jump--both devoted to trick-happy boarders--to long descents that offer plenty of environmental obstacles, including jumps, deep powder, ice, and thick stands of trees. On several tracks, simply reaching the bottom of the hill is an accomplishment in itself. Much of the game's appeal lies in the finely tuned player controls. As in real life, learning the basics--turning, jumping, carving--is a snap. Honing one's skills to smoothly land a jump, pull off complex in- air tricks, and negotiate tight turns and steep descents, however, is very challenging. It's this appealing combination of skill learning and track mastering that promises to entice players back to the slopes season after season. Extra kudos to the designers for the beautifully realistic sound effects--scraping along icy sections of the track is, literally, a tooth-grinding experience. --Eric TwelkerPros:One of the best snowboarding games on any platformGorgeous graphics and environmental sound effectsRealistic character and environment physicsCons:Game engine slows down in graphic-heavy sectionsOpening "locked" tracks requires advanced 'boarding skills, patience, and a love for the sport P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review 1080 Snowboarding is one of the best snowboarding games available on any system. It's an exhilarating-looking game with a great combo-driven trick system and tracks that are actually fun to race. It also requires a lot more skill than most of the competition. Graphically, 1080 delivers smooth, evenly scrolling downhill tracks and half pipes. There's little, if any, polygon dropout in the riders, the backgrounds, or the tracks. Each of the tracks is stylistically different, too, from Crystal Mountain's dense fog, thick powder, and realistic snow and ice effects - it's actually snowing onscreen, and it looks great - to Golden Forest's clear skies, narrow trenches, and warm mountain treescapes. The most striking visual element of the game is the undeniable sensation of speed. 1080 looks and feels very fast. The track really blurs by, and you feel every turn. The only visual shortcoming is in the slowdown that occurs when you race through on-track trees, which is a great effect and a hair-raising test of skill, but causes a noticeable lag. Control is thoroughly involving. The crouch move alone - which makes for supertight turns - makes this fun to play. The physics model is very solid throughout. 1080 Snowboarding features five different riders and eight different boards. The inclusion of a balance statistic in the riders' profiles makes for many different styles of play, and control varies throughout, depending on the rider and board combination selected. Riders range from cute little folks who don't move too fast but can really cut up the track, to Dennis Rodman-looking giants travelling at 120mph who can barely stand up. Unlike a lot of snowboarding games, landings are not automatic, so you've really got to earn those big jumps by learning how to finish them without crashing. This brings us to the issue of skill. From Indy nosebone 540's to stalefish to mute grab 720's, all the usual tricks are here, but this time around they require a lot more skill in execution. Though a lot of the grabs are simple, two-button moves, the big rotations are executed with combos. That is, unlike a lot of snowboarding games, in which the angular prowess of each jump is decided simply by the length of time you've held down a button, in this game, you need to master a fairly intricate combo to pull off the big payback 1080-degree spins. In addition, the tracks vary in powder thickness, which has a big impact on speed and maneuverability. Some tracks have ice on them too, which is a much more dangerous surface - with refreshingly realistic physics. Since the game features a damage meter that can pull you out of a race after one too many falls, 1080 Snowboarding's varying terrain, coupled with the skill required to land after the more grandiose moves, requires a higher degree of finesse than most of the competition. Unlike a lot of snowboarding games, whose half pipe modes are their only real thrill, the 1080's downhill races and time trials are great. The tracks are treacherous, and each is different from the last. Moguls, giant drops, and impossible curves are littered throughout. When time limits are imposed, it's not with occasional banners and 45-second bonuses, but through slalom flags, each of which doles out a two-second bonus. While initially this is frustrating, it does add tension to the trial, and it's a much better use of slalom flags than simply throwing you out for missing some predetermined and arbitrary number. Initially three tracks are offered, but an additional three can be unlocked by winning races. 1080 Snowboarding is the best snowboarding game around. Control is some of the most involving in racing - check out the impact crouching makes on your turning. If it weren't for the slowdown caused by the onscreen trees - why do designers always go for that one last feature that messes things up? - the graphics would be perfect. Innovative level design and gameplay that requires skill and rewards you for seeing your death-defying tricks through to completion, rather than just knowing the move, add up to one of the best values in both sports and racing gaming. --Josh Smith --Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review See more