Gaming Target - Xbox: TransWorld Snowboarding

Written by Leigh Culpin on December 16, 2002

Full Review: Board your heart out.

TransWorld is the latest snowboarding game on Xbox, and it's also one of the best. While it doesn't try for a storyline, as Dark Summit did, and it has a brand new trick system that takes a fair bit of getting used to, it certainly is a huge game full of hours and hours of play that will keep you happy for quite a while, in addition to the usual replay value one finds in such a game.

The first thing you'll notice about this game upon plopping it in your Xbox disc tray is the absurd number of albums this game features music from Ц in fact, it's hard to remember a game with such a huge library of built in music tracks. There's even УthemesФ for each course, which you can edit and add your own music to at your leisure. The soundtrack is a decent one too, not full of a bunch of junk that's unrelated to the game genre, and generally helps quicken the pace of the game since the music is generally pretty up beat. An interesting feature is that you can use the white and black face buttons to scroll through tracks, so you don't need to pause every time you dislike a song or want to play one you just heard again. This is actually a good use of the two buttons since the trick system doesn't actually require any face buttons at all.

Though perhaps the most original aspect of the game, the trick system is also the hardest feature to get the hang of. However, once you do get a grasp on it, it's actually quite innovative Ц the right thumbstick controls your tricks, with each of eight direction performing a different trick, and you can even push in the thumbstick before moving it to perform the more complex grabs, all of which take a little longer to perform but are worth the wait as far as points and visuals go. You can also use the left thumbstick to add spins and flips to your grabs, which you can end up with some pretty impressive results. Between the spinning and the use of the right stick rather than face buttons for tricks, you can easily and fluidly perform numerous jaw dropping tricks without having to mash the heck out of your controller (once you get used to it that is). Additionally, you can link tricks together using the shoulder buttons, although they can be a but unresponsive at times, so assuming you get the hang of hitting them at exactly the right time (before you land) you can link numerous runs of tricks for a big score. In fact, to achieve many of the point-based goals in the game, you'll have to link your tricks.

That brings us to the next point Ц as with most other sports games that have you riding some sort of board or bike you have a series of objectives to complete in addition to tricking and racing opponents (which only occurs in some levels). Things such as Уmaking the TransWorld coverФ (which is a cool feature, but you have no control over the pictures the photographers take in contrast with games like Hoffman's Pro BMX 2), Уperform a perfect _____Ф (often basic grabs early on), and Уgo through these gatesФ or Уgrind thisФ are what you should come to expect. Basically nothing out of the ordinary, but the game manages to keep from feeling to repetitive by varying these objectives and the level design, which is excellent I might add. The courses are all varied and based on real-world locations (Go Banff, BC!!!) and consist of one of a few different types, such as backcountry, basic slopes, straight jumps, half pipes and boarder rallies. All of these levels are unique and feature lots of cool features such as highly explorable areas, some destructible items, plumes of fire that let you ignite the ends of your board (which looks rather cool on TransWorld Covers), and even wildlife and snowmobile riders (both of which you can hit). Though you might get tired of completing every single goal on some of the levels, there is generally enough variety to keep you going. Levels and boards are unlocked by completing goals, so you'll want to do so as much as possible, but you needn't complete every goal of every level to get the full gameplay experience.

The multiplayer is also some of the best on Xbox yet Ц with a variety of modes, you can go for head on head racing or try to be the trickiest of up to 3 other players and win by points. However you decide to play it, you're going to have a lot of fun playing with your friends, as the graphics are nearly as good as they are in single player mode, which is something to say the least. The frame rate barely suffers and the draw distance is actually very impressive. Unfortunately novices may not have a terribly difficult time keeping up with you in some modes, since its nearly impossible to bail Ц aside from actually trying to do it, I think I might've crash landed maybe half a dozen times over a week long period of playing. While it's not necessarily a huge issue, it does take away some of the realism while simultaneously being somewhat of a relief from other games in the extreme sports genre that find you crashing quite often, even if it really looked like you should've landed.

Speaking of the graphics, TransWorld is easily the most visually impressive snowboarding game on any platform, with loads of detail, a great variety of levels, and excellent textures and character models. The animations are all well done, and the snow sprays and trails are very impressive. Your rider's clothing will even ruffle in the wind as you gain speed and if you decide to equip yourself with goggles they'll go flying if you somehow manage to crash. Speaking of riders, there's nearly a dozen of them to choose from, all with well-balanced stats which can be further increased by the use of one of the many different boards. The game designers even took the liberty of telling you which board is best for which type of track in case you're conflicted about choosing one, and it's those little extras that can stand out in one's mind.