Shaun White Snowboarding Xbox 360 Review

Shaun White Snowboarding

Xbox 360 Review
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment
Released: November 16, 2008

Ubisoft has released Shaun White Snowboarding on the Xbox 360, a game which tries to capture the excitement of snowboarding on the next-generation platform.  Snowboarding games have enjoyed a great deal of success with Amped, SSX, and other releases.  Ubisoft has come back with their own twist on snowboarding, Shaun White Snowboarding.

Ubisoft’s goal here is quite clear, to completely engross gamers in the idea of being a part of the sport of snowboarding, and on many levels they actually do succeed.

Interestingly, the game was built using the same engine that was used to create the hit adventure game from a year ago, Assassin’s Creed.  This is a good thing though as you will see the engine pulling off some fantastic work with many of the big areas you will be thrown into.

The level of scale in some of these areas where you will be snowboarding are so vast that you may sit there with your jaw open just looking around.

The whole idea behind the game is to try and allow you to explore anything you want, as you are free to go pretty much anywhere.  All of the areas you will be going down on your snowboard are filled with all types of variation of nature, and are spread along different areas of the world.  The whole idea of freedom and realism is backed up in that you can actually hop on a ski lift, talk to other riders, etc.

The visuals continue to impress with some great details, in regards to the way the snow moves as you cut through it with your board.

In regards to the sound presentation, the soundtrack is definitely over-the-top in a few spots but fits with the whole snowboarding culture.  The audio aims to try to keep you pumped throughout, and succeeds in key areas.

The game up to this point sounds absolutely fantastic, but things unfortunately begin to fall apart a bit once you get into the actual controls of the game while on the snowboard.

You have the ability to pull off all types of tricks and get very creative in what you do with some fluid animations.  The problem though is that there is never this fluidity to the tricks where you feel like you are in full control of your boarder.

The way in which the tricks are pulled off feel almost forced in a few spots.  Once they are implemented the animations and such showcasing them are impressive.  Getting to those points though just does not feel natural enough with the control scene.

There are some pretty basic game modes you will be taking part in, such as races, trick competitions, etc.  You can even throw snowballs while riding down the slope.

As you progress through the single-player game, you will be able to upgrade a variety of things such as your equipment, tricks, and more.

The game has its issues though and loses a great deal of realism in the collecting that you have to do during the rides, as they want you to pick up these big coins in order to advance through and collect more stuff.  This sounds fun at first, but after awhile takes away from the freedom and enjoyment of just snowboarding and being creative.

In regards to the online aspect of it all, you can go online with up to 15 friends at once snowboarding on a mountain, very fun.  You can also compete with up to 8 people on a slope, throwing snowballs and pulling off tricks.  The online is clearly the best aspect of this game!

Shaun White Snowboarding is a solid snowboarding game from Ubisoft as it gives a great deal of freedom and should definitely warrant a sequel.  The online experience is highly-addictive, while the single-player is fun but can get monotonous with all of the collecting it asks you to do.  Snowboarding fans will not be disappointed with this one though!

Graphics: 8.8 The mountains look absolutely gorgeous, tons of fantastic details and the vastness is highly-impressive.

Sound: 8.2 The audio does a great job of keeping you pumped up during your rides.

Gameplay: 7.8 The game captures the enjoyment of riding a snowboard fairly well, the implementation of the tricks is a bit clunky though.

Replay Value: 7.5 Collecting coins can get monotonous, but for the most part single-player is pretty fun.  Online though is where it is at!

Final Score: 8.0

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