COOL BOARDERS (Japanese version)

By: UEP Systems Inc.
SLPS 00456
Released: Late Aug. 96 (Japan)

Genre: Sports.. "SNOWBOARDING"
Single Player
Standard Controller Support
Mem Card: one slot

RATING: ( from 1 to 100%)

GRAPHICS:          95%
GAME PLAY:         85%
CONTROL:           80%
SPEED:             90%
"REPLAY"ABILITY:   80%
SOUND:             75%
DIFFICULTY:        90%

OVERALL SCORE:     85% ( which means.... GET ONE!!)


GRAPHICS:
The graphical quality of this game is VERY good considering how fast 
the player goes at some points in the game.  You definitely get a 
feel of speed with this game.... unlike "THE NEED FOR SPEED",  the 
scenery and backgrounds flow smoothly throughout the game.  The look 
ahead view is very far and clear.  There is little or no noticeable
break up or drop out of polygons.. and if there is... it isn't annoying.  
The snow textures and side areas are all polygon and are nicely shaded.  
As expected the colors are generally all white, gray, brown (dirt).....
There are not too many colors present, considering the player is on a
mountain and not in Super Mario World. In the Intermediate level there 
are nice "snow falling" effects.


GAME PLAY:

The game has ( 3 ) different courses.. Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert 
+ Bonus Fourth and Bonus SnowBoards. My one and only complaint is that 
you don't snowboard with any CPU players.  You are on your own. (You can 
race with another boarder. More on this later) You can choose 1 of 3 
courses... Male or Female boarder. 6 Snowboard types (ie Freestyle, Alpine 
etc) 4 Snowboard colors.  And 3 diff. Snowboarder outfits. SIX diff BGM 
choices. Individually adjustable levels of BGM, VOICE (annoying 
commentator), and Sound Effects.

The  game is structured so that you earn trick points in order to PLACE 
in the race results... thus this game is more of a technical game than a 
racing style game... When  I say technical ... the game judges you on your 
tricks and the difficulty of the tricks that you perform... ie ( Board 
grabs as compared to 180 Mistys, fakies, 360's or Backflips etc.) The 
player is always heading downhill, so there aren't any spots like halfpipes, 
to do simple slow stunts.... There are a lot of possible stunts/tricks.. 
( haven't figured them all out yet)
After you complete a race.. There is an OPTION to race the same course 
again but with a GHOST snowboarder (a la SEGA RALLY) so that this may help 
you to do better tricks and to find a smoother line down the mountain.

CONTROL:

Depending on which snowboard you choose.. the controller response varies..
Overall its easy to control the boarder BUT the tricks are hard to pull
off... errrr... Its easy to land on your head instead of the board.

SPEED:
(weird category ... I know :) )

The game speed is Excellent considering how fast the player flys down the 
course. Again the foreground and backgrounds are very detailed and seem 
to blend and flow very smoothly.. Using a Freestyle board.. the player 
can reach speeds of 110 kmh ( Sorry.. to lazy to convert to MPH ) and with 
an Alpine board 140 kmh. Disk access time is BETTER than average.

REPLAY ABILITY:

The first two courses can be mastered within a couple of hours, but the 
EXPERT course is a real pain!!!!! The courses can be mastered but, its 
doing the tricks that will keep you coming back for more!!!!!!!

SOUND

Standard CD quality sound.   BGM's are generally ROCK format. Commentator 
gets annoying after a while, not much variation. Sound effects are OK. The 
landing "thump" sound, is pretty realistic along with the "edging or 
cutting" of the snow sounds.

DIFFICULTY:

Again, controlling the board down the mtns. isn't that hard, but doing the 
tricks and jumps is the GAME and the difficult part.

FINAL WORDS:

Being the first true Snowboarding game (not excluding EXTREME 2), the game 
is very impressive non-the less.. but don't expect ALPINE RACER. Expect a 
generally sound and well balanced snowboarding game...with an above average 
replay life..

HAPPY GAMING
RAYSURX