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1080 Avalanche Review - Gamecube

Released shortly before Christmas 2003, 1080 Avalanche was set to mark its place not only in the snowboarding world as a successful sequel, but also as the best snowboarding game on the GameCube. With huge spins, awesome flips, and some great looking grabs, 1080 Avalanche has everything a normal snowboarding game should have, and then some. It does however have a lot to live up to, and a huge series commonly known as SSX to compete against. Lets reintroduce ourselves to Ricky Winterborn, and take an inside look at 1080 Avalanche.

Gameplay

1080 Avalanche is without a doubt an awesome snowboarding title. It has a great pick-up and play approach, and will keep any gamer entertained for many hours. The only major aspect it lacks is depth. What seems like such a huge game on the outside ends up being able to be finished from start to finish on Match Race mode in a little over an hour, if you don't screw up at all. There are however a few other gameplay modes, including Time Trial, Gate Challenge, and of course, Trick Attack. Let's briefly go in to the quirks of each game mode.

Match Race mode consists of 3 difficulties, as you complete each one, the next harder one becomes unlocked. The first difficulty, Novice has 4 races, and each difficulty after that increases the race count by just one. This makes all up for 15 circuits in the whole game, as the same circuits are used in the other gameplay modes. In Match Race mode, just like the original 1080 Snowboarding, you race against one other person to the end. As the difficulty gets harder, so do the opponents. This was really a great reflection of the moments we loved from the original game. Completing each circuit will see a new circuit unlocked for Match Race, and all other modes in the game, including multiplayer.

The Match Race mode works on a '3 strikes you're out' system, where you have 2 continues before its game over and you have to start the event again. Losing, Retiring, or hurting yourself enough will see one of the continues being broken in half, before going back and giving you another shot. On the interface there is a bar down the bottom left of the screen which shows how injured you are. Once you use up all the blocks, you're out - but don't worry, it's fairly hard to get completely wiped out unless you try.

Time Trial mode sees you cruising down the slopes by yourself, trying to beat the clock. There are also five gold coins to collect as you go on your way, and if you can collect them all in one go, you get a full gold coin which can be used, when tallied, to unlock new snowboards. Subsequently, as you get more gold ... (continued next page)