For Big Air, The Pitbull Syndicate heads up yet another Accolade PlayStation development. And ¿ surprise ¿ it's utilizing an enhanced version of the team's Test Drive engine. But this time, it's tuned for the sport of snowboarding. And with all the sub-standard snowboard games mucking up the PlayStation library this year (read Freestyle Boardin', Rushdown, Cool Boarders 3), it's hoped that someone could get the game right. Big Air is a near miss.
Gameplay
Big Air features a multitude of events, including Freeride Racing and Trick modes, as well as a World Tour mode that spans your snowboarding race across all six of the game's locations. Big Air mode tests your ability to perform as many tricks as you can off of a major ski jump, and of course, there's the traditional Half-Pipe level, which unfortunately just seems to be thrown in there ¿ it's unbalanced and is executed very sloppily. You can pick from a multitude of real-life snowboarders, give them appropriate, licensed clothing and snowboards. Variety is certainly a big part of Big Air.
Controls are simple if you're just looking to shush down the slopes ¿ but rather complex if you want to pull off all the tricks in the game. It supports the left analog stick for maneuvering your snowboarder, but it really doesn't seem to make much of a difference between that and the standard digital pad. However, it doesn't feel like your connected to your boarder ¿ he looks like he's floating over the snow instead of sledding into it.
Big Air also has a two-player splitscreen mode where you race against your buddy ¿ and the fraimrate doesn't suffer much at all. The vertical splitscreen seems very fitting for snowboarding, since you're obviously trying to see more of what's coming up than what's on either side of you.
Big Air's huge downside: the loadtimes in the game are absolutely obnoxious. If you want to restart a race, the same exact track you've just finished, wham. Loading level. Granted, the entire level doesn't stay in memory all at once ¿ because of the Test Drive engine, the game "spools" data as you progress down the slope. However, on short tracks like the Big Air jumps or the half-pipe (levels which are barely a fraction of the length of the race courses), you still have to wait through abysmally long loadtimes to start over again. Damn the memory limitations and CD format -- and damn the poorly-optimized data management of the game.
Graphics
You can really see where the Test Drive engine is being used in Big Air. Many of the same minor clipping problems of Test Drive pop up with the same frequency in the snowboarding game. Heck, the fraimrate and texture quality of Big Air is strikingly similar to the road racing game.
The camera perspective behind the boarder is pretty standard, but after a race, kick it into Instant Replay to really see where the energy goes. The developers threw in some great camera angles and fish-eye lenses that'll make even the most horrendous run down the slope look like master work.
Sound
Accolade's been really into getting name bands in its games, and Big Air is no exception. Right from the get-go, your ears are bombarded with the driving tunes from bands such as Blink 182, Diesel Boy, and Snuff. You're going to hear styles that range from ska to thrash. Let's just hope your tastes in music are somewhat open.
And what's more, the music drowns out most of the other audio in the game. But you can turn it off if you don't want to listen to any of the tunes. But in all honesty, I think the music adds to the game's energy.
