n the five years that Nintendo has kept the 1080° series frozen in ice, the very nature of video game snowboarding has changed completely. After spending a week with Avalanche (which is about six and a half days too many), I’m beginning to think that someone didn’t give Nintendo the memo.

If the SSX series never existed, I’d begrudgingly play Amped. If Amped somehow never came to fruition, I would play Tony Hawk – pretending that the asphalt was snow. Are you catching my drift here?

Whoever designed Avalanche’s trick system obviously got his or her doctorate in stupidity. Rather than just busting out one trick after another, players are forced to wait until the game prompts them to initiate the next move. You’ll have to sit back and wait until your boarder flashes red in color before a move can technically be linked. As you can imagine, this system is way too mechanical and lacking all the things that make games of this caliber great.

As disappointing as the trick controls may be, it does a great job of delivering an intense sensation of speed for the racing segments. The screen shakes violently as your speed increases; your garments ripple under furious winds; and snow particles zip by in the blink of an eye. As you traverse the terrain, you can’t help but hang on for dear life. This is one of those games that achieves such a level of realism that you will freeze up or gasp when you squeeze through narrow passages. NST also implemented scripted events such as crumbling bridges and full-on avalanches to rattle your nerves and keep you on your toes.

Unfortunately, most of the tracks are incredibly short (one or two minutes tops) and are repeated throughout Match Race, Time Trial, and Gate Challenge modes. The game doesn’t really embody the essence of competition, either. The Match Races are only one-on-one heats (just like the Nintendo 64 game), and you can usually blow by your adversary in no time flat. I would perform one trick at the beginning of the race to max out my power bar (which in turn raises your boarder’s overall speed), and would just bomb the remainder of the hill without hitting any jumps or rails. That’s all you need to do.

As you can probably tell, the single player experience really holds no thrills. Therefore, the only redeeming quality that Avalanche has is its four-player split-screen and LAN support.

Looking back, I gave the original 1080° title a 9.25 out of 10 and can fondly remember many sleepless nights with it. This follow-up wowed me with its visual splendor, but ultimately made me go back and play SSX 3 again.

Nintendo fans may get a kick out of some of the extras (a large ice statue of Mario and an NES controller snowboard), but I have a feeling that everyone will have trouble getting into this game’s confusing trick system and lackluster single player experience.  

MATTHEW KATO   6.75 Whether Encino Man or Blast from the Past, this game is very Brendan Fraser – it’s seriously out-dated. Stationary while series like SSX blow past it on the snowboard evolutionary scale, 1080° Avalanche can’t compete. I give props to it for its sharp and meticulous graphical quality, sense of speed, and ambient life; but it shoots itself in the foot with its repetition of courses and boring modes that get older quicker than a Celine Dion record on repeat. This game has its priorities all wrong. First, it makes it too easy to gain speed during races by using the crouch button – almost negating the need to do tricks. Then developer NST turns around and makes the combo system of the Trick Attack mode itself so slow and anemic that it’s worthless and no fun. The game’s called 1080°, but that’s the last thing you’ll be doing here.