Snowboard Riot Is Less About Snowboarding And More About Weapons

Snowboard Riot may look like an alternative for the now abandoned SSX series, but trick combos are not the core of the game. Shooting other players with weapons and blowing by them with speed bursts is. Snowboard Riot is sort of like Mario Kart with snowboards or WipEout on ice. You can still do tricks and these give a moderate speed burst, but when I played Snowboard Riot I was more focused on trying to hit other players with my weapons. What about the players I was targeting? They have defense items like shields to deflect a storm of rockets. The weapon system still favors attackers and should result in last minute comebacks.

Surprisingly, Hudson didn’t implement motion control into Snowboard Riot. You play the game with the nunchuck/remote combo. Since you don’t have to tilt the remote to turn it’s easier to slide around tight corners. Instead of waggle Hudson put balance board control in Snowboard Riot. You still have to hold the remote/nunchuck while on the balance board to shoot weapons and do tricks, though. Balance board control is mainly used for carving.

Once you master shifting your weight you can show off your balance board skills online. Snowboard Riot supports four player online play over Nintendo Wi-Fi. However, only two people can play the game locally. This might sound disappointing at first since Snowboard Riot is designed as a multiplayer game, but after playing the two player mode I see why Hudson couldn’t make Snowboard Riot with four players. When you play the game in two player mode the screen is split vertically and you miss out on seeing obstacles and other racers. If Hudson squeezed two more players in Snowboard Riot everyone would only have a tiny box to stare at.

Snowboard Riot comes with four tracks, four players, and plenty of support from Oakley. Hudson made a deal with Oakley Japan to use their goggles, jackets, and snowboards in the game. This deal will carryover in North America. Another partnership wrapped Japanese electronic group 80kidz to make some of the music, but I’m not sure if this partnership will carry over or if Hudson USA will release the game with their own soundtrack when it comes out in North America sometime this winter.

Images courtesy of Hudson.