The Ultimate Snowboarding ExperienceFREEDOMExperience for the very first time in a video game the sensations of a pure FreeRide session. Enjoy complete freedom to make your own way down the slopes.ACTIONPerform every trendy trick from the basic grabs (Method, Stalefish, Mute) to radical flips and spins (Rodeo Flip, Mac Twist...). Catch Air and Style in radical Half Pipes or over fat jumps. Rip the snow in wild downhill races...EXHILARATION3 different environments with realistic landscapes, various weather, lighting conditions, and riding surfaces.
- The most realistic snowboarding simulation on PC:
- Real time 3D graphics with volumetric lights and shadows, skeletal character animations and parametric curve surfaces...
- Play with up to 7 other players on a local network!
~ from the back of the European box
Housemarque has become something of a cult favourite developer in recent years, but right from the beginnings as Bloodhouse and their Stardust game, they've mainly been known for high-octane shoot-'em-ups. Arriving in 1999, Supreme Snowboarding (or Boarder Zone in the US) is something of an anomaly in their back catalogue, despite having two more entries in the series (buried on X-Box and N-Gage). The Finnish studio partnered with Infogrames to give us - in their own words - "the first real snowboarding simulation" on PC.
At the time, Extreme Sports was a prolific and profitable sub-genre. Cool Boarders, 1080° Snowboarding and SSX all flooded the marked at around the same time, and with arcade tone and rock soundtrack, it's that last one that makes me draw an instant comparison. The game offers three distinct environments - Alpine, Forest, and Village - each containing three tracks ordered by difficulty. Like SSX3, they all take place on the same inter-locking mountain, but unless you truly step out of the route the game sets for you, you wouldn't know this. The maps aren't just barren expanses of snow either. They twist through icy caves, railway lines, rooftops, and open powder fields. Beyond straight-up arcade racing, you there's also the time-honoured time attack and championship modes, plus Pipe and Air events that focusses solely on big jumps and gnarly tricks.
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"Keith Glint" is one of the best riders. I guess the folks at Housemarque love The Prodigy (left).
Your choice of boards affects handling, as does your Stance though it will inevitable change during the race (right).
The gameplay sits somewhere between the arcade excess of SSX and the simulation of something like Steep. The physics model is fiddly and unforgiving, but not broken. You'll have to pay attention to the terrain type and landing angles to get that perfect run, especially if your attempting flashy tricks. These are performed by holding the Trick button (default: Alt) while in mid-air and tapping a direction. Jumping (Ctrl) at the right moment with give you plenty of air to perform the move, but tapping it again with break it to give you more time to land gracefully. I rarely did during the time I allocated myself to it, but I was gradually getting the hang of it. Most of my screenshots saw me in 6th place because I tended to not use the Boost button (Shift). It didn't seem to do anything. That's because its main function is that other verb in the Control Configuration Menu - Sharpen. Holding it will sharpen your turns on the ground while in the air it will help you angle your rider to guarantee a smooth landing.
The roster of riders adds a surprising amount of personality. Not quite SSX levels, but enough cool factor to rival the weather. Each apparently has different speed and handling stats hidden from you, so you'll have to play to figure out which ones are best. By my research, Akiko is the solid every-woman, while Vincent and Keith are known to be a little faster. Personally, I felt no difference regardless of character, but the choice of board - with stats actually shown to you - did. The standout character, of course, is Keith Glint, an obvious likeness to Keith Flint (R.I.P.) of The Prodigy. It made me want to rave out to their music again.
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Each track can be played in one of four weather conditions. Clear skies, snowy, sunset and sunrise (left).
The nighttime peaks really show off the engine's lighting capabilities (right).
Speaking of music, soundtrack by Parisian sound designers Knocking Boots Productions (KBP) is pretty darn good. It's a mix of energetic pop-punk and thumping techno-rock that often seems inspired by The Prodigy as well as Primal Scream's electronic phase. I also get a faint smattering of Jon Spencer's Blues Explosion in one of the tracks too. Not much is known about KBP. From what I can tell, the company was founded by Dimitri Bodiansky, former member of the long-running and insanely popular French pop-rock band Indochine (in 2011 they became the best-selling French band of all time, though this was long after Bodiansky left in 1989). His other gaming credits consist mostly of Microïds adventures - most notably Syberia and Paradise - so he was definitely channeling his rock-star career when composing this soundtrack.
As good as the soundtrack is, it's in the track design where the game truly shines. These slopes are not simple corridors, but branching pathways that reward exploration and experimentation. You can veer far outside the marked paths and alternative routes provided by the map on the bottom right to carve out your own path to the bottom of the mountain. Sometimes, this will get you a huge gain over your competitors, but there is a catch; you must pass under the checkpoint banners. Mastery the layout and you master the slopes.
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An Air Exhibition asks you to perform a huge trick-filled jump (left),
while Pipe Exhibition has you showing off skills in a snow-built half-pipe (right).
Rather surprisingly, Supreme Snowboarder has garnered a small yet robust modding community. This is probably because the game is rather easy to tinker with. Nearly all assets are referenced through plain text files, making the game's technical machinations unusually transparent for its time. With a little editing, you can unlock every board and track from the outset - a far better way to experience the full breadth of content in my opinion. Fans have reworked track layouts, customised and added to the song playlist, and re-skinned characters. Using these mods tends to overwrite the originals files so I haven't included them, but you can find them here.
In the end, Supreme Snowboarding stands as an overlooked gem. It was a looker in its day, being too much for the PlayStation or Nintendo 64 to handle (though a GameBoy Color de-make does exist). It was reportedly headed for the Dreamcast before that console's premature demise put an end to that plan, which feels like a missed opportunity given SEGA's appetite for extreme sports. Console competition may have stolen the spotlight, but on PC, this remains one of the most distinctive snowboarding games of the era. Well worth booting up again and hitting the slopes once more.
To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses dgVoodoo to run the Enhanced Edition on modern systems with with IMG Drive Portable used for handling CD ISOs. Manual included. Soundtrack included as a separate download. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.
File Size: 346 Mb. Install Size: 606 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ
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Supreme Snowboarding (aka Boarder Zone) is © Infogrames
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me
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Please add "Dreamkiller" 2009
ReplyDeleteWhat a blast from the past, one of my first pc games thanks to some cheap magazines we had in Brazil, was fairly strange to kid me since it feels more like it tries to be a sim than an arcade one, but I still had a lot of fun trying to land the big tricks.
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