Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Wii) - Review by LesThom

Introduction

Growing up in Colorado necessitated being on a snowboard from time to time and cracking your ass on the ice can be painful. Shaun White for Wii is a lot like that sensation. It's a bit too puffy, straightforward and narrow for snowboard aficionados; and set only to help the casual gamer get along.

Gameplay

The game involves traveling the globe, with one gimmick after another masquerading as gameplay. You'll start off with two cartoony snowboarding hipsters and head to Canada to learn the ropes; and what you're getting yourself into. One picks up the flavor of Road Trip rather quickly, to its detriment. As you complete time trials and other goals, you plop to the next map and add a new boarder each time. With each new playable character, rewards for tricks increase. These are not profound and do nothing to advance an otherwise simplistic treatment of the sport.

The one-dimensional controls leave most of the gameplay to the Wii itself. Once you set a trick into motion, the Wii takes over - boring! The only tricky tricks are off the rails, but once learned, they too become repetitious and overly controlled by inside forces. Whether beating time records, earning respect points or collecting items, the treks are too short and the game looses steam fast.

The competition mode, with up to four players, is where the game shines and you can find some subtlety. But this too plays up to the fact that the game falls more into the category of party/casual rather than extreme sports.

Controls

You'd think for a big name franchise touted to sport the Balance Board, there would've been more care put into this method of control. It lacks sensitivity with a learning curve that isn't worth it once attained. Using the Balance Board entails placing pressure on each of the four quadrants, leaning and pushing your feet in different combinations. This method of control has its moments but slows your ability to speed down the slope; not a problem with the Wii Remote.

The use of the Wii Remote is surprising fun and melds better with the campy quickness of the game. The Wii Remote works so well in comparison that you instantly lose sight the game supports the Balance Board. What's more, the Balance Board also requires the occasional use of the Wii Remote's 'A' and 'B' button; the double duty just isn't worth it.

Graphics

Did I mention puffy earlier? Perhaps poufy is the more appropriate description here. The cartoonish and poorly textured characters and environs are enough to make one laugh. The divide in this generation's systems smacks like a brick of ice, leaving a sense of gimmickry and simplicity that one hopes subsides, especially in extreme sports games for the Wii.

You might even think a snowball has hit your goggles, and yet a snowflake would be enough for a daze here.

Sound

The character voice acting keeps up with the cartoonish plainness of the game. The soundtrack gives Road Trip a much needed boost, replete with tunes from the likes of Modest Mouse and Chris Cornell.

Final comments

Road Trip is too fractured to worry about getting one on the slopes. All the casual game window dressing is here, so don't worry about dressing for the cold.

Pro: Casual gamers' snow angel, Tasty soundtrack, Competition mode works for all levels of player
Con: Poor Balance Board support, Game does too much of the work for you, Overly cartoonish graphics
Final score: 5.5

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