We Ski & Snowboard

A tiny improvement over last year’s game

Posted 4 years ago By LuxDraconis - William Bobola

Released last year, We Ski was the first third-party game to make usage of the Balance Board and introduced a new way to play ski games, even if they were pretty much non-existent. Now, almost a year after, Namco Bandai released a new version of We Ski and thrown snowboards to the mix. The result: We Ski & Snowboarding, a serious attempt from the developer to fix a few things and make the game better and more fun.


Gameplay

From the easy interface, to the simplicity of getting your character ready for some action, We Ski & Snowboarding is always about how and when you want to do your thing. You never have the feeling the game wants to shove all these objectives, collectables and/or unlockables down your throat. You can either enjoy going down the slopes and explore the two huge mountains available or simply have fun pulling tricks by practicing at the Family Ski & Snowboard Fun Park, go into races against other virtual opponents or compete from a varied list of challenges scattered around the mountains. Non playable characters (and even your Mii’s) can also be recruited in game as tour guides or to keep you company by skiing or snowboarding with you as long as you want it. Basically, the game experience stays besides you all the time and never goes away from its main objective: enjoy the game with no hassles. If you had the intention to play the game in groups, you will be happy to know that the game allows up to four players gameplay capabilities through split-screen.

In a game like We Ski & Snowboarding, controls are the most important thing if you want to have success. Why? Because every Wii game replay ability and fun level relies on how efficient the controls are. Thankfully, the whole control scheme (with or without the Balance Board) works and feels great this time around. Sure, the balance board controls are a bit behind of what Ubisoft did with Shaun White Snowboarding and feel almost like a cheap addition but Namco has solidified its controls and offers now a way more balanced and responsive game. If you don’t have a balance board, the Nunchuk /Wiimote combinations also respond well to every of your actions with no issues…besides the wires but that’s just a tiny detail. I rather prefer to have to deal with the wires at some point during the game than actually trying to fight with the game so my moves respond the way I want it.


Is there anything else to say? Not really, the game does offer a few sparse unlockables in the manner of new clothing and/or other accessories but the full experience is available to you from the first seconds you boot up the game. Nothing complicated; everything’s ready for you. Does it hurt the game? Not at all because the game has one mission: make you play it and enjoy it. Sure, hardcore gamers will complain about what the game does or doesn’t do. Truth is (and don’t take it personally), Namco isn’t going after you.

Graphics & Sounds

We Ski & Snowboarding doesn’t shine much in this department but does deliver something solid. The character cartoony renderings look nice, the slopes are well designed and the day/night visuals are surprisingly good but nothing is groundbreaking or extremely surprising. The graphics capabilities of the Wii are well-known of players right now so you won’t be surprised if we tell you that the game won’t win any huge awards. Nonetheless, the visuals are solid and smooth.
As for sounds, we could hear some gibberish chatter and other environmental sound effects but nothing stands out and left me unimpressed and annoyed. The game’s soundtrack is also boring and feels almost useless to a certain point. Overall, the sound/music parts are certainly the game’s weakest point.


Value

Whomever possesses We Ski might ask if this game is worth picking up. To be honest, if you own or did not like We Ski, picking up this up might not give you enough reasons to shed 40$ for it since it does not bring huge changes to the franchise. On the other hand, if you haven’t bought or never played We Ski and you are looking for an easy and accessible game to play either alone or with the family, then We Ski & Snowboard would be worth checking out because of the improved controls, period. Certainly, a few more interesting additions like online play and the ability to use up to four balance boards would have helped the game because I felt like playing We Ski all over again...

Conclusion

While the balance board controls are actually well implemented this time, there’s no doubt in my mind that the game could have been so much better for those who like more complex, complete and challenging sports games on the Wii. On the other hand, Namco Bandai clearly wants to go after the younger crowd and the rest of the non-gaming masses and make them play without caring about other stuff than having fun...but that doesn’t mean to put a game and slap a snowboard mode and make me believe that its a full new game either. However, it would stupid of me to nail this game because this because they actually fixed what went wrong with the last game. We Ski & Snowboarding has very little incentives to make hardcore gamers spend hours playing the game but newcomers will sure appreciate it.

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