Review: Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip

Shaun White Snowboarding has just dropped in a shelf-filling seven flavors (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2 and PC.) With home video game consoles the Wii is in many ways the runt of the pack, lacking the raw horsepower of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 (both powered by the award-winning Assassin’s Creed engine). Usually with large multiplatform games like this, the Wii version ends up being a crippled and relatively neglected cousin of the other larger versions.

With this title the Canadian developers at Ubisoft Montreal rethought that typical move and instead made a custom game variant for the Wii, compensating for the shortcomings of the console by capitalizing on the unique possibilities the hardware has to offer. Shaun White Snowboarding – Road Trip is not just an attempt to cram a large power-hungry game in to a small and relatively weak console but instead a differentiated stylized experience which shows both consumers and other developers that with a little creativity you can make multiplatform games which take advantage of what each platform uniquely has to offer.

Stylization
This is not the same Shaun White Snowboarding you’ll see elsewhere. It’s much more cartoony and stylized. This not only helps the game in the graphics department but also suits the Wii’s demographic a lot better who aren’t typically as concerned with realism. If Ubisoft tried to do on the Wii what it is doing elsewhere with this title it would end up looking crippled and ugly. With the cartoony stylization instead the game looks sharp and fun without the player feeling the absence of some of the realistic effects seen elsewhere. Sure it doesn’t look as realistic or amazing as the Xbox 360 version for instance, but by intentionally sacrificing that, it ends up one of the most visually pleasing Wii games to date. Ubisoft’s experience with the Wii is really evident here.

Controls
It’s hard to talk about this game without a discussion of the controls. They have really gone the extra mile here and this is what makes this version of Shaun White snowboarding stand out so much amongst the other six versions. You can of course use the Wii Remote to control your avatar as your zoom down the mountain performing various tricks. The controls with the remote feel tight with accurate response. It’s very intuitive too but what’s more: you have options beyond just the remote controls.

If you got Wii Fit then you’ll know all about the Wii Balance Board for use with it. There haven’t been too many games released to use the board even though it’s been out for half a year now. If you have one of those Balance Boards you owe it to yourself to get this game too. Players have the option of augmenting their controls with the Balance Board and it feels even better. Some may complain that its less accurate than just using the remote but it is in fact much better and makes it more immersive. It feels like this is what the board was made for in the first place.

Multiplayer
This is where the game starts to fall apart. This isn’t so much a failing of the game though as it is a failing of the Wii’s online presence. Having a drop-in drop-out world like on the other platforms would be wonderful but it’s simply not something the Wii makes a reality. Ubisoft tries to add some co-op possibilities and an accumulating virtual entourage as you board down the mountain side but it’s pretty much a solo affair here despite that. It’s hard to suggest what could be done to remedy this situation though so it’s hard to fault Ubisoft at all. If you want a richer online multiplayer experience you should try this on another platform.

Soundtrack
Shaun White (Olympic Gold medalist) was pretty involved in the making of this game rather than just licensing away his name for the franchise. It really shows across the different versions on the various platforms though perhaps not as evident in Road Trip. “Shaun really wanted the player to experience his vision of snowboarding and show what snowboarding is for him” says Louis Lamarche, Producer.

“To do that he was involved in the work the OST, the animation, the way you interact with other players and plenty of other things that infuse the game with Shaun’s vision of the snowboarding spirit.” The original sound track (OST) for this game is pretty good with tracks all hand-picked by Mr. White. The tracks span a nice eclectic mix of genres from Bob Dylan to Faithless even including a few Canadian artists in to the mix.

Conclusions
If you have a Wii and a Wii Balance Board you owe it to yourself to get this game. Odds are you probably already have an Ubisoft Wii game on your shelf so you’ve seen the quality they’re capable of. This title probably exemplifies it, really showing their Wii development experience to make a game that feels so natural and looks so good you won’t miss the compromises the Wii itself necessitates. The bottom line is that despite having to forgo some of the bells and whistles of the Xbox or Playstation versions of the game. This one is possibly more fun just by virtue of the Wii Balance Board integration showing that a multiplatform title does not necessitate shoehorned downscaling but can instead be as or even more fun than the more powerful alternatives.