UbiNintendo: Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage
posted:
7/11/2009 3:49:00 PM
After the breakout success of the first Shaun White game on the Wii, Ubisoft has brought the carrot-topped gold medalist back to once again give you something to use your balance board for besides weight loss placebos. Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage promises to be a much bigger experience than last year’s Road Trip, with 8 playable characters, multiple control styles and three main modes.
This expansive attitude is even reflected in the hub world; while Road Trip featured a tour bus, World Stage has your ‘boarders hanging out in an airport. White mentioned during development that while on tours he and his fellow competitors practically live in airport lobbies, so as the game progresses your characters will take over the airport and fill it with trophies, souvenirs and a host of other unlockables. In accordance with the game’s title the airport gives access to several international venues, including Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. 25 licensed tracks from modern and classic artists play in the background, and can be switched with a press of the 1 button.
As I hopped between Columbus, Chicago, OrangeCounty, Denver and back to Columbus on my trip to and from UbiNintendo in SanFran, I couldn’t help but feel some irony about spending so much time in an airport.
But enough about me, you want to hear about the gameplay! The three main gameplay modes are downhill, which tasks you with completing an obstacle course and earning the highest score; half-pipe where it’s all about doing tricks and jumps before you reach the bottom; and race which pits you against seven other boarders in a downhill dash to the finish.
Developer Stephane Blais demoed the three modes for us with precision skill, and after some hesitance on my part (I didn’t want to fall on my butt and make a fool of myself) I stepped up to the balance board. I’m pleased to say that now I’m a believer in the Wii balance board, at least in terms of snowboarding. Wii Fit always looked like a huge expensive gimmick to me, but SWS takes Nintendo’s glorified bathroom scale and gives it something worthwhile to do.
You control your character by turning the board sideways and standing on it like it was a snowboard, your body oriented toward the TV. By simply shifting your weight you can control your direction and even speed; tilt forward/rock back to turn left and right, lean toward the TV to speed up and shift weight to your back foot to slow down. This is quite different than simple analog control, especially when tight turns are required—if you’re leaning in to go fast, you must pull back to orient your body for a tight turn.
After all those years of playing games where I wished I could do some of the cool moves my character was performing onscreen, SWS finally brings some of that immersion home. The balance board can be used in all three modes, by itself or with a Wii remote; the remote lets you do some tricks and activate special powers granted by your following cameraman. The remote and nunchuk alone can control the game but after using the balance board I’d never want to go back. It’s just a shame that the Wii only supports one balance board—there’s support for 4-person local multiplayer but only one board can be used at a time. Supposedly SWS will also utilize WiiMotion Plus to add better precision to the tricks, but the game controls well enough without it as it is.
My demo with SWS World Stage has gotten me hooked on the series, and I’m eager to hit the powdery slopes when the game launches this winter.
This expansive attitude is even reflected in the hub world; while Road Trip featured a tour bus, World Stage has your ‘boarders hanging out in an airport. White mentioned during development that while on tours he and his fellow competitors practically live in airport lobbies, so as the game progresses your characters will take over the airport and fill it with trophies, souvenirs and a host of other unlockables. In accordance with the game’s title the airport gives access to several international venues, including Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. 25 licensed tracks from modern and classic artists play in the background, and can be switched with a press of the 1 button.
As I hopped between Columbus, Chicago, OrangeCounty, Denver and back to Columbus on my trip to and from UbiNintendo in SanFran, I couldn’t help but feel some irony about spending so much time in an airport.
But enough about me, you want to hear about the gameplay! The three main gameplay modes are downhill, which tasks you with completing an obstacle course and earning the highest score; half-pipe where it’s all about doing tricks and jumps before you reach the bottom; and race which pits you against seven other boarders in a downhill dash to the finish.
Developer Stephane Blais demoed the three modes for us with precision skill, and after some hesitance on my part (I didn’t want to fall on my butt and make a fool of myself) I stepped up to the balance board. I’m pleased to say that now I’m a believer in the Wii balance board, at least in terms of snowboarding. Wii Fit always looked like a huge expensive gimmick to me, but SWS takes Nintendo’s glorified bathroom scale and gives it something worthwhile to do.
You control your character by turning the board sideways and standing on it like it was a snowboard, your body oriented toward the TV. By simply shifting your weight you can control your direction and even speed; tilt forward/rock back to turn left and right, lean toward the TV to speed up and shift weight to your back foot to slow down. This is quite different than simple analog control, especially when tight turns are required—if you’re leaning in to go fast, you must pull back to orient your body for a tight turn.
After all those years of playing games where I wished I could do some of the cool moves my character was performing onscreen, SWS finally brings some of that immersion home. The balance board can be used in all three modes, by itself or with a Wii remote; the remote lets you do some tricks and activate special powers granted by your following cameraman. The remote and nunchuk alone can control the game but after using the balance board I’d never want to go back. It’s just a shame that the Wii only supports one balance board—there’s support for 4-person local multiplayer but only one board can be used at a time. Supposedly SWS will also utilize WiiMotion Plus to add better precision to the tricks, but the game controls well enough without it as it is.
My demo with SWS World Stage has gotten me hooked on the series, and I’m eager to hit the powdery slopes when the game launches this winter.
