By a quirk I decided to play "1080 Avalanche" the other day, a game I've probably not played since around its release back in 2003. I only played it for around 90 minutes or so, but I thought it worth writing my impressions down.
Graphically, it's not too bad. The sprites aren't as clear as they would be today, but the movement works well, and the draw distance is pretty good too. Musically though, the game has really aged badly. The soundtrack is mostly the sort of sub "Fall Out Boy" style rock that was popular at the time, but locks the game in the turn of the Millennium period.
Gameplay wise though, it was fun to play - controls were responsive and once I'd got the basics down I was able to make pretty solid progress, until I hit a wall towards the end of the second set of races. I was then struck by the fact that that was pretty much all the game was going to show me. There were other modes, such as the time trial, but again that was only replaying courses that I'd already completed - I felt, with my spoiled 2019 brain, that the game should have had something else that I could have done - another more full mode of play, or set of courses that I could have attempted.
I was also struck that around this time there were so many extreme sports games and it's largely a genre that has died out now - even the once mighty Tony Hawks series hasn't had a successful game in years. I did feel that a new game, done right, in the 1080 series is probably due, even just a remastered version of this and the N64 original would be welcome.
A fun blast for an hour or so, but I can't see me going back to it for another decade.
Graphically, it's not too bad. The sprites aren't as clear as they would be today, but the movement works well, and the draw distance is pretty good too. Musically though, the game has really aged badly. The soundtrack is mostly the sort of sub "Fall Out Boy" style rock that was popular at the time, but locks the game in the turn of the Millennium period.
Gameplay wise though, it was fun to play - controls were responsive and once I'd got the basics down I was able to make pretty solid progress, until I hit a wall towards the end of the second set of races. I was then struck by the fact that that was pretty much all the game was going to show me. There were other modes, such as the time trial, but again that was only replaying courses that I'd already completed - I felt, with my spoiled 2019 brain, that the game should have had something else that I could have done - another more full mode of play, or set of courses that I could have attempted.
I was also struck that around this time there were so many extreme sports games and it's largely a genre that has died out now - even the once mighty Tony Hawks series hasn't had a successful game in years. I did feel that a new game, done right, in the 1080 series is probably due, even just a remastered version of this and the N64 original would be welcome.
A fun blast for an hour or so, but I can't see me going back to it for another decade.
