StokEd [Xbox 360 First Impression]

Took a while to get StokEd on to European shores, not sure why, but who cares as it’s here now and I’m able to give my First Impression (before the review of course). I may seem a bit excited and you know why? It’s because there isn’t much in the way for decent snowboarding games to come out. When Shaun White came out I was disappointed at the PS3/Xbox 360 counter-part, but the Wii version was solid enough despite it being very arcade style much like Amped. I enjoyed Amped, but I did want something more in the way of realism. And before that it was only SSX for me although there was Cool Boarders on PSone and 1080 Snowboarding for the N64… Snowboarding Kids? That was like Mario Kart for snowboarding and it just didn’t work for me.

So here we have a snowboarding game that opts for the realism rather than the arcade style taking to it similar controls that Skate uses. You could say it stole the flick controls from Skate, but this is only one move, which is the ollie in both respects, and that’s it. Of course you can’t do the same tricks on a snowboard as you can do on a skateboard as your feet are strapped in – don’t be fooled by SSX. So all you can do is flick the right stick up to jump up. Once in the air you do the logical step of grab the board using the triggers; right trigger for right hand grab, left for left hand and both for both hands. Simple.

All sounds easy, but the first play though you are introduced to a tutorial that does make it all nice and simple to pull off, but once you are dropped onto the mountain you realise that there is a lot more to contend with and it all goes to pot. Sounds like this should suck, but it’s depending what you are about. See, this is what real snowboarding is about that it’s difficult to string stuff together so you have to choose what you do wisely, and if you can do them is another question!

StokEd comes across as something you need to practice with and be patient before you can start to be super awesome and cool, stomping pickle reverts and busting fab 540s (sic. The Simpsons). That maybe not for everybody, but then again car racing games that show realism may not be for everybody but they do appeal for a mass market. There is instant satisfaction to be honest from the first 2 hours I played of StokEd; the fact that you pulled off an awesome move is always a good feeling and that what keeps you playing. I suppose the real question is does it get better or does this appeal run it’s course quickly?

To give a quick idea though and somewhat of a quick comparison, StokEd is better than Shaun White on the PS3/Xbox 360 initally and Shaun White isn’t that bad, but wasn’t that good either. So StokEd is getting a good run already.

Related posts:

1. Stoked to be Released in Europe
2. Fuel [Xbox 360 First Impression]
3. Dead Space Extraction [Wii First Impression]
4. WET [PS3 First Impression]
5. Forza Motorsport 3 [Xbox 360 Review]