We Ski & Snowboard – WII – Review

Let me just start by saying that I’m
an avid snowboarder. I’ve held two years worth of season passes at my local
mountain resort; yet this year with the busy schedule that I had, I haven’t been
able to get on the slopes and carve…so, any opportunity to have fun doing
anything snowboarding I’m going to jump at. We Ski and Snowboard is just such an
opportunity. Released just a year after the successful We Ski and by adding
snowboarding and two new mountains to the game, Namco Bandai has improved upon
the previous title, but not quite as much as I hoped.

The original release of We Ski was
met with mixed, but positive reviews, saying that the game was accessible to all
players and utilized the balance board well for the first third party release to
tackle the new peripheral. With the release of We Ski and Snowboard, Namco
Bandai has addressed a few of the complaints by adding snowboarding as a game
play mode and giving the player two larger mountains to explore. They didn’t,
however, add significantly to the gameplay or controls.

We Ski and Snowboard is primarily
controlled with the Nunchuk and Wii Remote, and can be played with the Balance
Board as well. The Balance Board only controls your turning left or right and
the difference between skiing and snowboarding is merely rotating the Balance
Board 90 degrees so that it sits perpendicular to your television instead of
parallel. Speed control and tricks are accomplished by button/flick combos on
the Nunchuk and Wiimote. Sometimes remembering all the combos can be a bit much
for novice players, so executing all the available tricks is a nice added bit of
difficulty. Technically this game is pretty sound, the Balance Board allows
players to experience a small taste of what real snowboarding and skiing can be
like, without the painful crashing and bruising that can occur!

The gameplay is very good for such a
basic premise as skiing and snowboarding. The player can choose to use one of
the predesigned avatars or use their Mii to tear up the slopes. The drawback to
using your Mii is that you cannot equip any of the myriad goggle/headgear pieces
on your Mii, but that really doesn’t come into play until you get some of the
unlockable content later in the game. There are plenty of options as far as
outfits, gloves, goggles, boards, etc. and a good selection of different colors
in each, so customizing is very easy.

After selecting your character you
can choose to enter Ski School, which is highly recommended because that is
where you learn the basics of how to turn and execute tricks like riding switch
or backwards and doing flips or daffys. There is no real difference in controls
for skis or snowboards other than the turning of the Balance Board 90 degrees.
The Balance Board is very responsive on turns though and the mechanics of having
to take longer turns when you are going faster is built into the gameplay very
well. Ski School is worth it to learn the essentials, just don’t get frustrated
with the over-abundant text bubbles or load windows between each and every piece
of the lessons…it will take a lot of time, but is worth the effort.

After hitting the school, you are
free to roam the two mountains available from the beginning of the game.
Jamboree Snow Resort is just that, a groomed run, trick-fiesta with short runs
and lots of jumps and boxes to do tricks on. There are also lots of NPCs that
you can “buddy” up with to take with you while playing single player. There are
some mini-games (like slalom or fetch quests) that can be triggered by talking
to specific NPCs located at the bottom of the mountain. This area is really
basic and became a bit repetitive due to the shorter runs and sometimes
overwhelming stunt pieces. You can get top to bottom on Jamboree in about 6
minutes. Mt. Angrio is also available at the beginning of the game and is the
better terrain. This hill reminds me much more of other snowboarding games that
I have played, with wide open runs of deep powder, lots of trees, and a good mix
of very steep and shallow runs. I found exploring on Mt. Angrio much more
rewarding and fun and challenging than Jamboree.

There are competitions that you can
participate in like Downhill Races, Slalom, Trick Parks and Half Pipes. I found
the downhill races to be the most rewarding personally because you have to know
the available paths down the hill and which are faster and slower to really
succeed. There are also a few fetch style quests where knowing terrain and
landmarks on the hills can come in handy. The Album mode also allows players to
keep photos of their big moments or beautiful scenery shots in a viewable album
from the main menu.

Graphically, We Ski and Snowboard is
good. The mountains are open and have varied terrain available for boarders and
skiers, from powder to groomers, from icy curves to rocky backcountry. The speed
effects are nice once full speed is reached and the design of both mountains is
nice, although I liked Angrio more. I think the gem that most players might not
utilize as far as graphics go is the replays. Reviewing a race in replay is
really entertaining and the camera angles are very similar to angles you might
see on a television competition for skiing or snowboarding.

There are certainly a few
improvements available with We Ski and Snowboard over the previous We Ski;
however, if you are looking for some drastic difference, or you already own the
previous game, you may pass on this title. We Ski and Snowboard is definitely
the better of the two games though, so if you haven’t purchased the original,
you should pick up this game for the fun experience of a carving up a mountain
(especially if you’re like me and have been itching all Winter for an outlet
from Valley life). As with many other Wii games of this basic nature, the more
you give yourself over to the game, the more fun you are going to have. Really
leaning and tucking in addition just going through the motion of button combos
will both give your legs and funny bone a workout with this title. I would have
like to see more with the Balance Board instead of just lean-turns, and perhaps
some longer runs, but overall this was a good follow-up to We Ski.

Review Scoring Details for We Ski & Snowboard

Gameplay: 7.0
We Ski & Snowboard is an enjoyable addition to the Balance Board family of
games. While it is only a slight improvement over We Ski, the addition of
snowboarding to the mix is nice for those of us who gave up riding planks years
ago. The level design is unique and the two new mountains that you can ride have
diverse landscapes that will appeal to any type of rider. The controls can be a
bit testy, as with most other Wii games that have a variety of moves you can do,
you have to precisely flick the nunchuck and wiimote in order to do trick moves.
The lack of difference between playing as a snowboarder vs. skier is really
slight and left a bit to be desired.

Graphics: 6.7
Although not as amazing looking as other skiing and snowboarding titles, the
design of this game is nice. Anytime you can use your Mii to go downhill skiing
is cool. The mountains are both varied in graphic appearance and are done well.
The limits to graphics come into play with multiplayer and the limited view that
each player receives.

Sound: 5.0
I found the music to be lack luster at best in this title. With so many
other winter sports games on the market embracing the popularity of riders
listening to music while riding, it is disappointing to play a game in which the
soundtrack is computer generated and uninteresting.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 6.0
There aren’t a lot of improvements over the previous We Ski title other than
the snowboarding addition and multi-mountain layout. However, adding the
snowboards is merely a nice twist because the control schemes are the same
between skiing and snowboarding, and this snowboarder found it more fun to just
ski down the slopes…They could have added more to distinguish the two styles
of riding, either in controls or in overall feel. Another nice addition would be
unlockable areas to go along with some of the gear you can get later in the
game.

Multiplayer: 5.5
No online play available in this title. When using the Balance Board, three
players can play together in split screen mode; without the board, four players
can play together. The trouble with multi-player lies in the restricted viewing
areas that each smaller screen has. Much of the beauty of the game is taken
away, along with seeing what kinds of terrain are ahead. Multiplayer can add to
difficulty in navigating the slopes instead of adding to the fun.

Overall: 6.1
We Ski and Snowboard is a good follow up to We Ski. The addition of
snowboarding is good but doesn’t really add anything to the overall gameplay
experience except being a nice perk. The larger mountains are a good addition as
well. Previous owners of We Ski might not need to purchase this title, but for
new players, this title is worth the play.