Snobow Kids Plus – Review

Not many people know about Snobow Kids Plus. You may have heard of Snowboard Kids on the Nintendo 64. This game is a Japanese only Playstation port of the first game with added extras. So without further ado, let's get to the review.

--Gameplay-- 6/10

Unfortunately, Snobow Kids Plus falters a bit when hitting the slopes. The first thing you may notice when playing the game is that it's incredibly SLOW. When you are playing by yourself in Time Attack, the framerate is fine, but when four boarders are on the track the game slows down quite a bit. The game usually runs at 20 fps, and is choppy and slow. The saving grace here is that the Snowboard Kids gameplay is a lot of fun, and even the slow pace doesn't deter the fun gameplay of SBK+. You still get two different items to use against your opponents, an offensive and defensive, and one item (the bomb), has the added feature of dropping it behind you, like a short fuse mine. Very cool.

--Graphics-- 5/10

The graphics here are a mixed bag. The bad news is that races don't look great. The characters are low poly and don't animate well. I mean, their bodies often separate from their feet! It looks awkward and choppy. And 'choppy' is how I could best describe the races: there's draw in everywhere, often within a few feet ahead of you. It's kinda sad to see the walls being cleaned up as you race by them. The low poly count also spreads into the background, which doesn't always look great.

On the flipside, the game obviously has it's strange style (and trademark long noses) going for it. The 2d skits are all very well drawn, and the intro FMV is excellent. Most of the 2d artwork is very well done, even if some of the material is recycled.

All in all, this area disappoints.

--Sound-- 7/10

With the move to CD I figured we'd see a big leap in the sound department. The music in the game turns out to be more like a remixing of the older themes. This isn't a bad thing, mind, you, it just wasn't what I envisioned. Even so, the music is all very well remixed, and sounds different enough from the original tracks to stand out. The sound effects are all appropriate, and have all (with the exception of Tommy) been re-worked, and sound good. My favorite music track is the credits, which is this loud, upbeat tune that perfectly matches the style of Snowboard Kids.

My one big complaint is the boring, elevator-like music that plays through the skits. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the only track during these skits. Aw well, can't have it all right?

--Extras-- 9/10

This is the big reason you should own this game if you're a fan of Snowboard Kids. Period.

The customation features (such as changing your board color) is back, but there are more options this time around. Now you can purchase different outfits (5 for each character) and change everyone's hair color. This goes a long way to let you mix up the otherwise same-old races. Did I mention there are two new board designs? Sweet!

The biggest addition, however, are the various skits in this game. Once you beat the final race (or start a new game), you are treated with a skit, a slideshow-like movie that shows what happens with the characters. This goes a long way to round out the characters and their personalities, and also gives you a good reason to continue playing (After all, those movies aren't going to unlock themselves!).

--Final Comments--

All in all, Snobow Kids Plus is an average racing game that fans of the series won't want to miss. If you are a rabid fan of the series, I'd recommend picking this up. Otherwise, I would stick to the domestic N64 releases, which I consider to be better gameplay-wise over this.