Many arcade fans will be familiar with the Alpine Racer
series, this being the third game and which you get to choose from eight characters
including an unknown one to be unlocked later.
There's a bog-standard "Cross Race", which sees you and three CPU opponents
going for the finish and a slalom that's just for one, plus an "Extreme Winners Cup",
in which you start small with no money and basic skis, then move on by spending
your winnings to bigger and better equipment, including snowboards. Don't
spend all your money though, since when you need to re-run a face through
failing the first time, it'll cost several thousand dollars to go another time.
Graphically it's a reasonable game, giving you what you'd expect from the
arcade but you find that it's a road we've travelled all too often and
one that gets very repetitive after a while. The sound is similarly
unpredictable and will garner no surprises.
And then on to the gameplay, which is what will determine how much you stick
with this release, but this is where things begin to go downhill (ahem), as
apart from steering left and right, you feel like you have little control over
your character.
It's annoying the way the third-person camera cuts to a side aerial shot
watching you in the air only, as you go over a steep jump, since it adds nothing
to the experience and just detracts from the enjoyment and breaks your
concentration as you're thinking about landing and would rather see the course
in front of you.
In fact, the way the camera follows you is also rather poor at times, as
you leap over a jump and the camera angle looks down on you too much, rather
than looking forward to the course in front, thus limiting your visibility.
It's also annoying when bumping into part of the scenery and finding you
can't get straight up again, instead bouncing off other things like the ball
in a pinball machine, before getting back to normal, thus wasting valuable time.
And another moan - why is it in games like this where, if you collide with another character
on the course, it's always you who ends up worse off while they speed along?
I could say that this simply hasn't got the longevity of SSX Tricky
and some would say that's to miss the point because it's an arcade game, but
at least in the arcade you got a proper cabinet to shimmy left and right to
and, for me, a lack of longevity brings about boredom.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Graphically it's a reasonable game, giving you what you'd expect from the
arcade but you find that it's a road we've travelled all too often and
one that gets very repetitive after a while. The sound is similarly
unpredictable and will garner no surprises.
It's also annoying when bumping into part of the scenery and finding you
can't get straight up again, instead bouncing off other things like the ball
in a pinball machine, before getting back to normal, thus wasting valuable time.
