Hands-on: Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage
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Ah, snowboarding in the middle of summer -- well, on a screen and using a Wii Balance Board at least. Our recent trip to Ubisoft provided a brief opportunity to get our feet snowy with the Wii-only sequel to Shaun White Snowboarding and, well, the experience was familiar.
The biggest difference: new events in various parts of the world. One we were able to take a crack at was a half-pipe run in New York City's Times Square. The Balance Board control felt great, apart from the act of jumping, which required us to quickly dig our heels into the board rather than, y'know, lifting them off of it. The game really didn't like it when we tried that.
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The next run, also in the USA, was purely focused on accumulating points by performing tricks on the downhill run. It was a pretty sparse environment, save for some rails and -- for whatever reason -- a school bus to grind on. Still, the sense of speed was good. We wrapped up our time with a standard downhill race against a number of opponents. It was thrilling, and was made even more so by leaning forward on the board. The cornering felt good and we were able to make it through with a respectable finish.
Ubisoft didn't go into much detail about the game's structure, or the sort of "sidekick" mechanic where players will be able to choose a camera person for each event that will bestow them with various "powers" once an on-screen meter is filled. Hopefully we'll get to play a more built-out version of the game soon, once our legs have recovered from the solid workout they got.
