Stoked (Xbox 360)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.5 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Tom Shea
• Reviewed on: 03/05/2009
• Released on: 02/26/2009
• Originally published on GameSpot: Stoked (Xbox 360) Review

Stoked is what you get if you strip away all of the superfluous features that serve as a distraction in other snowboarding games and offer some pure boarding action. There isn't a poorly constructed backstory to make you care about your rider, there are no super moves to unlock, and certainly no coins to collect as you glide down these open mountains. Its unrelenting focus on performing wicked flips and wild spins means that it has nothing to hide behind if the gameplay falters, but the diversity of your tricks and the euphoria of landing a particularly difficult move make this an often exhilarating experience. There are some moments when the landing physics do not behave as they should, and the first few hours that serve as an extended tutorial tend to drag, but once you begin your career in earnest, Stoked is a fast, satisfying snowboarding game that fills the void for digital boarders left in the cold with past games.

Your first task is to select a gender, race, and nationality for your soon-to-be snowboarding champion. Your options are limited, though, because you can't actually tweak your facial features, but at least you won't have to stare at your ugly mug during actual gameplay. Once you get on the slopes, you control your body with the left stick and the board with the right. Flicking the right stick up makes you jump and, once in the air, you perform various grabs by moving the right stick in conjunction with the triggers. Depending on the direction in which you're holding the analog stick and which trigger you're using, you can pull off dozens of real-life moves. The biggest problem is landing a jump. Most of the time, landing requires only that you line up your board to the ground, but sometimes you will inexplicably wipe out for seemingly no reason. Although the diversity of tricks is certainly welcoming, it can be difficult to pull off an exact move during the heat of competition before you fully come to grips with your massive repertoire. The learning curve is steep for people not already immersed in snowboarding culture, but the action in Stoked feels realistic and, most importantly, fun.

After going through a brief tutorial, you are free to explore any of the massive mountains at your leisure. Though this sounds like a great idea, the lack of any clear objectives out of the gate leads to an unfocused experience. The open-world mountains are all too sparse, with huge gaps between ramps and grindable objects, which makes it boring to explore them without any goal. Each side of the mountain has 10 events that you can enter, but these feel meaningless as well. You are told that you need 66 fame points to get your professional license, but given that it takes hours to accrue that much popularity, the beginning of the game drags before things get interesting.

Thankfully, the pace picks up once you earn that arbitrary number of points. Once you become famous, sponsors will court you to wear their products, and media members will set up elaborate runs so they can get footage of you performing a fancy spin or just eating snow. Most events boil down to performing a specific trick off of a certain point on the map or trying to get a high score, but the huge assortment of moves at your disposal, and the devious ways in which these runs are laid out, make for some thrilling and often painful-looking snowboarding. Events can be immediately restarted if you make a mistake, so failure serves as only a minor delay before you dust yourself off and try again. It's immensely rewarding to pass a challenge that seemed preposterously difficult at first, but the smooth progression ensures that you will slowly build up your skills as you become more famous, so even the most challenging events can be overcome with a little practice.

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Where to buy

Stoked (Xbox 360): $19.99 - $29.99

store	price	in stock?	rating
	$22.04	No
	$19.99	Yes
	$29.99	Yes

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