I didn't like that I had to make an Ubisoft account just to play the game, but once that was done and I was in, the game was actually pretty good and fun.
I love the graphics, the music, the challenges, and the voice acting/narration. I also like that on the slopes you run into other players and see other people doing tricks or going down mountains live. That's a cool touch.
There is a little bit of a learning curve in figuring out where everything is, how things work, and what everything does, but I think with time and practice it becomes easier.
My MAJOR gripe/issue with this game is the controls/gameplay when trying to do tricks. It's not an exact science, or a smooth responsive, and easy experience each time. Sometimes I can land a cool trick, sometimes. But, half the time, even when pressing the right buttons at the right time- nothing happens 😒. My character just jumps, or flies off a cliff and...nothing. Sometimes the character gets "stuck" inbetween rocks or tight spaces and it's annoying as hell to get out 🙄. It's just...*aggravated sigh* annoying things like that.
I like the style of the game, as I said the graphics are cool, but a part of me wishes doing super cool tricks like what you'd see in the SSX universe- or "Tricky Madness" for Steam- was a part of it. In Steep you can't even do a railslide. It's mostly flips, twists, and grabs- if the game recognizes your button input 😕. You also can't recover if you stumble/fall. You just flail wildly around, tumble down the mountain, bang into rocks and trees, wipeout, then your character slowly comes to and you can start again. Through all of this, you're losing time to keep going and enjoy the track/try again without having to start over.
So, if not super (and admittedly) unrealistic cool tricks- but then again, there's a talking mountain in this game and monster snowmen...? 🤔- then at least EASIER and more reliable/responsive controls/gameplay. This was found in the SSX games, and is in Tricky Madness as well. I just wish we could do combos and have more control over what kind of trick the character does.
This game feels and acts annoyingly glitchy asf at times, and not as responsive as I would like, or as it should be. Especially for an extreme sport/snow game. I hope the developers improve this and fix it in an update, or something.
Another annoyance is that there isn't a Pause feature. If you try to pause, you're forced to start over. Another thing I feel is missing is a History of where you've been in this open world, or a way to Favorite places you like so that you can easily return--- versus hunting and searching a mountain for it. Also, the font for locations on the mountains are really small, as well as their descriptions. I have to squint to read most of it.
That aside, I still recommend the game because it is fun. Just glitchy and frustrating in ways that I think can be avoided/improved on with some tweaking.
But if you want to play another fun snow game that is strictly snowboarding, and you were a fan of the SSX universe--> crazy tricks, fun, easy enough controls/combos- give Tricky Madness in the Steam Store a try 👍. It's still in Demo/Beta mode, but a lot of fun for quick gaming.
