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Glide down the first of many snow-covered mountains in Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip and you’ll experience a sense of immersion with the Wii almost exclusive to Nintendo developed titles. As you whip in and out of thickets of tress and massive blue towers of ice, snow lashing against your boarder, covering his thick clothes and sticking to your camera, your toes positioned firmly against the Wii Balance Board, you’ll be hard pressed to keep a smile off your face. You don’t just feel like you’re snowboarding in your living room. You have fun feeling like you’re snowboarding in your living room. There’s a big difference, and it is what separates Shaun White from the far lesser Skate It and other Wii titles that employ the Balance Board.



SWS:RT successfully exhumes the mechanics that made Tony Hawk Pro Skater and SSX mainstream successes but have since been all but abandoned. The Balance Board refreshes this innovative design from a decade ago--an extreme sports title with controls and combo systems more akin to a simplified arcade fighter than a complicated sport sim. While the player must still remember move sets and employ them with precision and timing to build combos, the inherent difficulty of navigating a 720 or a melon with the balls of your feet prevents the hardcore over-complex mega combos that populate the more recent Tony Hawk titles. Some may call this decision catering to the casual, but that would be to mistake SWS: RT. This isn’t a game about achieving the highest possible score (though that’s possible, and quite enjoyable too), but about the experience, the sensation of videogame snowboarding.



If you want to land a 900 you don’t just hold up and press ‘B;’ you maintain your balance, rocking onto your toes, then sliding your front foot forward into a safe landing in the powdery snow. Since players must gracefully position themselves from one move to the next on the Balance Board, the combos feel fluid. Ubisoft Montreal smartly kept combos simple and forgiving. If you abandon a trick mid-way through, your character slowly maneuvers their hand, feet and torso to an upright position. Grinds, which could have been a nightmare, snap-to from nearby jumps and, if you approach the rail from dead on, occur automatically. These design choices allow an experienced player to manage triple back flips, and a casual player to bust out a front flip after a few trips down the mountain. To offer my highest praise: Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip is the best pick up and play sports title this year.



But is it worth the price tag? Find out after the jump…



Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip Flurries



Obviously, there’s more to the game than the Balance Board. Control-wise, the Wii-mote option plays just as well, and works for tougher challenges for players intimidated by the Balance Board’s necessary physicality. For both control options, the ‘B’ button allows players to cut sharp turns at the cost of speed, and pressing ‘A’ on the Wii-mote and leaning forward for the Balance Board gives the player a speed boost at the cost of sharp turns. Both are useful and make for easier trips down the slopes.



The visuals, while not the stunners offered by the 360 and PS3 SKUs, stand above other Wii fare. The architecture, which includes clear landmarks give the player a sense of geography necessary for high-score runs. Distinct visuals, like scrappy bridges and passing trains prevent the landscape from devolving into a series of white hills pocked by the occasional tree. They also subversively (subtly?) express the levels geography: the bridge means your half way through the level; the train means you have one final jump.



And if you like to play with others, the game offers co-op story mode. You can only use one Balance Board, and your progress can’t be transferred over from single player, but carving a hill’s even more fun with family and friends.





Some gamers may take issue with the younger story and cartoony visuals, which most remind me of Tony Hawk’s Down Hill Jam, but like Downhill Jam, they’re unobtrusive and occasionally smartly written. They also string together your trip across the world and present each location and new boarder you discover as a well-deserved reward.



SWS:RT put a smile on my face during the busy, stressful Winter season. With so many doom and gloom and murky M-rated games, this Wii title can’t come more strongly recommended for the whole family. Or just for you.



Score: A-




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