Stoked GSA Official Review

garymason72 Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:35 pm

Stoked

A Bongfish game

Whenever I think about snowboarding games I always think about EAs classic SSX series, so when I heard there was a new snowboarding game coming to the 360 I was looking forward to pulling on my Snowboarding gear and hitting the slopes.
The game starts with you having to create your character choosing from a range of faces, body styles and clothing. There isn’t a massive range of clothing to start but you will unlock more as you play. After creating your ‘border’ you move into the tutorials showing you each of the different move types and also introduces you to the first problem with the game, the voice acting is terrible while learning the moves, he only has about 3 phrases, it wouldn’t be too bad but if you're anything like me you will be hearing them a lot while getting to grips with the controls.
Stoked is trying to do for snowboarding what the ‘Skate’ franchise did for skateboarding, taking the genre out of an arcade style and putting it firmly in the ‘sim’ category, with a very detailed control system with loads of moves and variations, instead of using the face buttons for ollies and tricks, a forward flick of the right stick will perform an Ollie, you can also preload the Ollie by holding down on the stick and flicking it forward giving you more air. All the grab tricks are performed using the left and right triggers to control each hand then using the right stick will choose which grab move you want to do. Again you can preload your spin moves as well by holding either of the trigger before you jump, allowing you to get more spin in the air.

The aim of the career mode is to raise your fame by completing challenges, there are 400 challenges in total spread over 5 totally free roam mountains. As you complete more of the challenges you will unlock other events like media events (competing to get your face in a magazine) or pro challenges (one on one with a pro), with such a massive number of challenges and events you would think that there would be a lot of variety but you would be mistaken, unfortunately there are only 2 types of challenges Score (where you have to get over a set score) and Trick (where you have to do a set trick). I think the developers really missed a trick here, the inclusion of some races would have added another dimension to the game play.

Despite the lack of different challenges the media and pro challenges more than make up for it. In the media challenges you will have a film crew set up a stills camera or a multi-shot camera and will shout out specific moves that they want to see as you jump through the shot, the multi-shot events will require you to pull off a selection of moves one after the other in a single combo, some of these can be really difficult to get done so be patient. After completing either of these events you are given the a chance to see the photo that has been taken, in the case of the multi-shot these look really cool with each of the photos made into one, showing your complete trick in one photo.
Now for the good stuff, the controls are good despite seeming really complicated at first after playing for a few hours they feel really natural, so it won’t be long before your pulling off massive flips and grabs like a pro. There are loads of unlockable items from over 30 real sponsors including Oakley, Billabong and Quicksilver. You can also unlock a free flying helicopter allowing you to fly around the mountains and start at any point on the slope, each of the summits has a guestbook for you to find and sign this helicopter comes in very handy when looking for them as they are usually at the very top of the mountain, upon reaching and signing the guestbook, identified by a monument usually a cross or in the case of the Alaska mountain a crashed UFO the time and date in which you signed it is recorded on a leaderboard with each new entry coming in the bottom.

There is also a good photo feature which allows you to take a photo at anytime during the game by holding the RB button and pressing A. But if you want to take a more detailed picture you can use the camera mode and take photos of the fantastic scenery featured in the game, again this can be used at anytime during play. It’s just a shame there is no way to post the photos you take to the internet this would be a good
addition to the game.

And now for the bad there isn’t too much wrong with this game as it is, it can get a little repetitive before you start unlocking the more advanced events and there is no instant rewards it takes a good 4 or 5 hours before you really start to get into the game so it is a real slow burner. I have noticed some graphic glitches while playing like getting stuck in the wall of a building or stuck hanging in the air forcing you to restart and lose your score and also the grind tricks are very difficult to get right due to the rails (fallen trees)being too wide so it is very hard to get you board lined up correctly I found I always ended up doing a nose or tail slide when trying to do a boardslide.
Unfortunately when trying to play online I found it very difficult to get a game and even the online leaderboards only have 1 or 2 hundred entrants.

Overall Stoked is a decent game, it is definitely one you will need to invest some time in to get the rewards, with massive free roam mountains and awesome scenery it is one to keep in your collection. Despite its problems stoked is a really fun and exciting game giving you a good sense of speed when going down the mountain and with its really fitting soundtrack it is a game I will keep coming back to.

I give Stoked an Extreme 7/10, so get kitted up and hit the slopes.

Guest Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:53 pm

Nice review Gaz, well done mate.

**Tricky34** Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:09 pm

Great review mate, I used to really enjoy the SSX games too.

I'm not sure if i'll pick this up yet.

Will probably wait till i see it going cheap somewhere.

**KENT HAMMER** Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:41 pm

Radical review dude! afro

Ba5sett Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:35 pm

Nice review mate, I had seen this game around and was unsure whether to pick it up, I am a snowboarder myself and haven't had a decent game to play since the SSX series finished!

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