Stoked - Snowboard Game for Xbox 360

Not many know that there were two snowboarding games scheduled for release this year; the Tony Hawk inspired, pseudo-realistic "snowboard superpower" based Shaun White Snowboarding and another called Stoked. The brainchild of Destineer games and Absinthe Films, Stoked is the first snowboarding game of its class.

Stoked mixes EA Skate inspired controls with a specialized in-game weather system to shatter what we've been bred to believe a snowboard game should be. Far from the kiddie style of its predecessors (Amped, Shaun White, SSX), Stoked is all about real-time style and a true-to-life snowboarding experience.

Real-Time Weather

The key selling point for Stoked would have to be its dynamic weather system. It pretty much demands that you mix it up as you either chase the sun to exotic destinations or chase the storms to where the real powder lies.

Real-time Weather Explained...

The storms are epic; whiteout days with wind howling through the trees--you can actually see the trees move from the force of the gusts. It feels like you really are one of the crazy idiots that goes out riding when the Mother Nature clearly says, "Don't go riding or I will kill you."

Even more amazing is that if it snows in Stoked it really snows. You can keep track of which mountains have the best snow conditions by checking your in-game cell phone. As I understand it, you can cause avalanches on some of the stormier more snow-packed mountains... but I haven't quite gotten there yet, and you'll find out why later on.

360º Mountains

Oh, so you think there should more to a mountain than just one face? Well Stoked is a snowboarding game that answered a long awaited call. No more being restricted to a single face of the mountain, each level in Stoked features a fully rideable, 360º mountain! You can cut across, cut across and cut across without ever running into loading screens or invisible barriers... as long as you have speed, you are riding.

Graphics

The graphics for Stoked are pretty stunning considering the games retail price of $29.99. Only a few places were noticeably lacking, but there is a little bit more involved in running this game since the detail is in the environment; meaning the 360º mountains, remembering all of your tracks (and effectively "tracking out" your features, forcing you to move on) and of course the real-time weather system.

Gameplay

The controls for Stoked are very similar to the controls for EA Skate but lacking a few key ingredients. The stick is not pressure sensitive, one flick does all; its how you time your jump that affects your height. This isn't a fatal flaw, and its a vast improvement to the ridiculous control scheme of Shaun White Snowboarding--I only have so many fingers for so many buttons!

You can't nollie or any variation and the tail-press is your only butter move. I'm not sure if they decided not to incorporate these features because they couldn't, or because since the game takes place in deep backcountry powder settings you really wouldn't be able to pressure towards the front of your board. If due to the latter, I'd say it's an understandable flaw.

The game is very realistic in that in order to get the most huck out of your hit, you need to prewind. Prewinding is always the opposite the direction you want to spin, this is true in both the game and real life. The game keeps you on your feet, constantly on top of which way to prewind depending on riding normal or switch. This having any effect on your riding is debatable, but hey, here is a game that isn't as mindless as "hit button to jump".

In terms of missions and the like, if I had to say anything about this game I'd say it's educational... Basically, the missions and things to are a variety of pop quizzes to test your snowboard know-how. It's not as simple as scoring x-amount of points in x-amount of time; if you are told to do a shifty to backside 360 mute, that's what needs to be thrown in order to move on--you can't even overspin and have it count, in other words any spin except a backside 360 fails. There is a handy grab bible to let you in on the grabs you can't remember. All in all if you were someone who has trouble naming grabs and spins this would be like your "Hooked on Phonics".

The only flaws in gameplay are that it gets a bid tedious and this in part due to a huge lack of variety with obstacles (mostly straight logs, rocks and a few ledges--all just the same obstacles copied and pasted); I think they could get more creative with a backcountry game like this, nature makes some pretty crazy things.

Customizable Features

In terms of features in the game such as boards, gear and settings I'm not exactly impressed...yet. The game starts out with only one board that is OK looking, and looks seem to be all that matters as there are no board specs or anything like that. There are plenty of hats, hairstyles and facial features to play around with though, and maybe that's all that really counts?

Basically in the beginning of Stoked there is a tremendously limited choice in snowboards, bindings and outerwear to customize your character with; I expect I will unlock more as I progress through the came since I see names like Burton, Rome and Lib Tech plastered all over the game interfaces.

On other insteresting customizable on this game is that you can set up your binding angles and stance width. I haven't played with these to see if they change how your spin/jump etc. but I doubt they do, and if they did it doesn't seem like something altogether necessary.

Audio

Well the Shaun White Snowboarding soundtrack earned the mute button not long after it was played. Teenie-boppers I'm sure loved it, but I was ready to shred my hand up in a blender after hearing the same songs loop through after playing only half an hour.

Stoked features a pleasant--or not so pleasant, depending on your tastes--variety of ambient beats, european club tracks and other such soothing melodies associated with Absinthe and the European big mountain riders featured in the game, plus a few popular favorites just to even things out. The soundtrack seems long as I have not felt like I have heard the same song twice yet, even with quite a few hours of playing time logged.

Stoked Video Game
4/5 Cacti

Stoked is a snowboarding game I can get behind. First of all it's only $29.99, which compared to other Xb0x 360 games at double the price is in itself a deal-maker. On top of that, Stoked emphasizes a very different aspect of the snowboarding world and does one hell of job doing so. The mountains are surreal, the environments astounding, the control schem is highly user-friendly and the overall experience thrilling. This game is perfect to feed the need during the long summer stretch, cold winter white-out days or anything in-between.

I hope they continue the series, though Shaun White Snowboarding virtually silenced the existence of Stoked altogether...lame. If they do decide to make a sequel though, I would like to see the addition of pressure sensitive flick controls and incorporation of nollies, as well as a greater variety of missions and features. Those are the only areas where the game lags, and not having them really doesn't take away from the experience.

If a big part of your summer plans involves quality time with your Xbox 360, why not have the best of both gaming and snowboarding with Destineer Game's Stoked?