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Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The Tony Hawk series has done obscenely well since it first hit the scene, so then we get Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, a tasty little extreme biking number, and now we finally see the snowboarding scene represented in Activision's new O2 line of games focused on extreme sports. A decent title, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder (SPPS) holds its own quite well with the other titles in the O2 line, with solid controls, interesting course design, and nice visuals, but it would be remiss not to compare it to the current king of the snowboard gaming hill, the SSX series. Here SPPS doesn't stack up as well, as the title just doesn't have that raw, adrenaline pumping fun factor to it. The excitement level is simply nowhere near that found in SSX or SSX Tricky. Nonetheless, it is still a very well made game that can and will provide a good amount of fun to those looking for a change of pace from the more off the wall antics of SSX.

The course designs has a far more spread out, open-ended feel to them than other snowboarding titles, offering players more choices in how they want to tackle a slope. It's unusual because it doesn't really act as a shortcut because many of the tracks are freestyle events, so the focus is on doing the tricks, racking up a good score, hitting goals, and generally not making an ass of yourself on a run. Just like the Tony Hawk games there is just no way in hell that a player will be able to do all of the goals in one run, they'll have to pick what they're going to try and achieve, accomplish it, then move onto the next goal. One thing is for sure though, the goals for each course are far more difficult to achieve than in Tony Hawk 3. Just the way the boarders handle is enough to bring greater challenge to the game, all of which is welcome considering how easy Tony Hawk 3 was. The types of courses that players will have to navigate are both of the freestyle and competition variety like in Tony Hawk 3, where players must meet a certain amount of goals before they can move on to the next level. It does provide some familiarity, for those who have played the Tony Hawk games and puts a slight spin on the gameplay, not just focusing on either freestyle or competitions.

Pulling off the tricks while making your way down the courses is much like that of the Tony Hawk games in that they are very intuitive to pull off, and it is largely greed and judgment that will determine whether you plant the chain of tricks. It's all really a delicate balancing act, be too conservative and you'll plant the trick but not get many points, get greedy trying to chain too many moves together and you'll be landing on your face faster than Tazman at Happy Hour. What's also nice to see when getting air is that reverts, the new feature added to Tony Hawk 3, was also included in SPPS allowing players to chain together multiple tricks and go back to previous ones in the chain for very high-scoring maneuvers. But overall, the gameplay largely falls under that much sought after description of "easy to learn, tough to master". Whatever the catch-phrase though it is fun.

 

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On the aesthetic side the game is well done, by no means spectacular, but still quite good. The detail on the slopes is reasonably high, but nowhere near that of SSX, but still on par with those found in Tony Hawk 3. Lighting effects are very much worth mentioning though as they are particularly nice to look at, offering a nice, warm ambience, not the usual in-your-face lens flare and such. What irks me about the presentation of SPPS is that it doesn't give a good sense of speed, there's no feeling that 

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I'm soaring down the mountainside at a ferocious speed, it's all really quite sluggish. All of this puts a huge damper on the excitement levels while playing. There's supposed to be heart pound, adrenaline pumping action in these sorts of games, and yet I'm getting none of this because it feels like I'm moving so slow.

At least the music is fast though. If you're into current metal at all then the soundtrack on this game will have a lot to offer with bands like Powerman 5000, Static X and others, plus some old school Pantera to boot. However, the sound effects are lacking somewhat. The wooshiness of the board cutting through the snow, the sounds of mechanical obstacles, and so forth are all artificial sounding. It's not a terribly distracting problem, but it's still there and that is a pity.

Despite some minor technical problems, SPPS still provides more than enough fun to keep many gamers satisfied. If you're stuck having to choose between SSX Tricky and Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, then go for SSX Tricky. If, on the other hand, you aren't too keen on the SSX universe, or already have the games, but are hungry for more snowboarding on the PS2, then SPPS is worth looking into.

- Mr. Nash

(December 26, 2001)

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