1080° Snowboarding

Written by Matt Swider  on June 22, 2000

Review: Wave Race with snow, a board, and a hell of a lot more cold weather!

Tweet

Comments

The gameplay is both realistic and entertaining to every snowboarder and non-snowboarder out there. The one problem is, that every snowboarder and non-snowboarder may not be able to pick the game up so fast and start playing. It will take a while to actually get the feel of how to use the controls, and a little longer to master them. This is mostly due to the fact that the landings seem hard to get used to at first, making the learning curve steeper then most of the courses in the game...its not a smooth ride down unless you know how to land.

On a good note, the game offers great playability after you get those controls down of course, with some the very cool modes like half-pipe and air make, a very big jump. The other, more common features are enjoyable to play also. They include, Match Race, Time Attack, Trick Attack, Contest, 2P vs. or Training, which explain themselves. Contest features a number of courses where you compete by earning as many points as possible in the end. The two-player mode is definitely worthwhile, especially when you come in contact with the opponent and try to knock them down by running into them. All this sounds fun, but you can't really enjoy it to the fullest until you both work on mastering the controls, and especially learning how to land the board without falling on your ass every time.

1080° Snowboarding features a great two-player mode, excellent rumble pak support, and EEPROM to save directly on the cart, so you don't need to use your memory pak and take up all the space. Although there is a lack of courses, the ones that are on there are very well designed and just fun to play and there are numerous modes of play to choose from. The game features five different boarders, each with their own attributes, and a number of snowboards to choose from. There are quite a few tricks to learn and complete, and different things left to be unlocked. The lack of tracks really affects the game, but it makes it back up in quality of what it does offer.

The replay in 1080° may be strong considering that fact that it's the best of the few snowboarding game available on N64 at this time, and one of the best when comparing it to games on most other consoles, which makes it higher in replay, because you won't be playing anything better on the snow. The game is different from any other N64 racer, except for maybe Wave Race, and will offer a different experience then any of them. This will leave you coming back for more, that is, if you can master the controls before giving up.