• Insane Snowmobile Racing.
• Rated "E" for everyone..
• 1-4 players.

Product description ------------------- Insane Snowmobile Racing. A New Racing Challenge. More than 40 Insane Tricks and Combos: 14 Tracks Through Hazardous Terrain, Race Open ain & Snocross Circuits, Upgrade & Customize Sleds, 2-to 4-way Multiplayer Action, Slammin' Sounds of Rob Zombie, Econoline Crush, Uberzone, E-Z Rollers, Dom & Roland, and more. .com ---- Rev up your snow-hog. Electronic Arts is speeding off the asphalt and into the tree line with its latest racing title, Sled Storm. Snowmobile racing may seem like a last-stab attempt at creating a new racing game for the PlayStation, but the result is irresistible and addictive. Sled Storm lets players control their riders' turns by leaning them right or left to take sharp corners without flipping over the mechanized beasts. The game does a fantastic job of depicting the weight of these vehicles as they careen off jumps and plummet like boulders. Stay off the brakes, seek out shortcuts, learn trick moves to earn extra points, and plow over anything on the course that looks suspiciously cute--such as snowmen or bunnies (for bonus points). Point totals at the end of the race can be converted to cash for sled upgrades. That's about all you need to know to compete. With songs by goth-rock god Rob Zombie, Sled Storm offers a winter wonderland full of racing fun. A four-player split-screen mode is the best way to play the game, but the artificial intelligence (AI) in the one-player games is realistic enough to give players some decent competition. Forgo your inhibitions and ride, baby, ride! --Jeff Young Pros: * The first snowmobile racing experience on any video game platform * Deep one-player championship mode encourages many hours of playing and replaying Cons:* Not very original--another racing game for the PlayStation P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review ------ First skis, then boards, and now snowmobiles: There's something about slippery surfaces - and the very real possibility of bodily harm - that gets extreme-sports fans juiced up. Of course, few have the machismo to risk life and limb and actually hit the slopes, which probably explains the rising popularity of snow-related video games: all the fun without the pain. That's an ideal description for Sled Storm, an arcade racer that has stellar gameplay, smart track designs and a challenge level that will keep gamers addicted. This snowmobile-based game features two types of tracks. Eight are "natural" ain tracks, each filled with shortcuts and jumps, while six are more conventional racing tracks with sharp angles and plenty of ramps to catch air. In addition to one-player practice and championship modes, there's multiplayer racing for up to four and a time trial mode. The game offers six snowmobilers with different racing profiles, plus hidden characters to unlock. What makes Sled Storm so fun is that it's filled with gameplay that'll make racers say, "That's such a great idea! How come no one's thought of that before?" To beat the game, you must finish first. What makes this task fun is the amazing number of shortcuts on each track. Not only do you get bonus points for finding certain shortcuts first, but you must use them to have a chance of placing first. Furthermore, since many shortcuts require tough jumps, some racing skill is involved. At this point, it's already an enjoyable challenge to find and use shortcuts to win. But to steal a line from an infomercial: But wait, there's more! Not only must you finish first, you must also generate enough money to upgrade your snowmobile - a task that deepens the gameplay immensely. To get money, you must find shortcuts, as well as run over objects such as tree sings, snowmen, and the occasional forest critter (morbid, but well worth it) for a bonus. However, to really earn money, you must perform impressive-looking tricks off jumps. The easy-to-learn tricks can be combined in many different ways, resulting in additional bonus points. In total, you must perform an intriguing balancing act to beat each track: Finish first while "wasting" enough time to try big-point tricks. Thanks to the many shortcuts and bonuses - and a very challenging AI - the tracks hardly get tiresome. Furthermore, the speed, control, and graphics seem to strike an excellent rapport with the gameplay design. The game runs at a crisp frame rate throughout the track, with never any slowdown (even in split-screen mode). For the most part, pop-up is kept out of view. The control feels very fluid, and it seems programmers made sure to eliminate points on a track where gamers could get stuck or glitch up - a malady of poorer games in this genre. Even more important, improvements made to snowmobiles actually have beneficial effects that you can feel in the control. The graphics overall look solid, and some lighting effects are rather impressive - notably in later stages when night racing becomes available (another challenge gamers must adapt to). As for its audio, Sled Storm gets good marks for getting real-life "extreme-sports-worthy" artists - such as Rob Zombie and Econoline Crush - to populate its soundtrack. Their musical offerings blend in well with the game's intense racing mentality, while the sound effects and racer t-talk seem adequate enough. If this review sounds more like an infomercial to you skeptical gamers, it's because this writer tried long and hard to find flaws - and they were few and far between. The challenge might be a little high, since you get only three lives to complete a championship. Fortunately, there's a nifty option to turn off automatic catch-up by computer racers, which evens the odds a bit. Some of the forest textures looked flat on some tracks, and it would've been nice to have an option to play your own music CD during a race - but frankly, these complaints hardly affect the bottom line: For any gamer looking for a uniquely fresh adrenaline rush, Sled Storm makes for one very worthy purchase. --Nelson Taruc --Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review See more ( javascript:void(0) )