Not quite a contender for SSX's crown, but certainly an interesting ride.
Snowboarding games have been around since the early days of the PlayStation, and while they have certainly lost some steam compared to the overbearing power of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, developers have continued to try and reinvent the genre. There have been few innovations in the past few years, but since the release of SSX from Electronic Arts, there has been a spur of interest. Instead of following the pack, THQ and Radical Entertainment decided to cross a trick-based snowboarding game with adventure elements, and have come up with the surprisingly entertaining Dark Summit.
Dark Summit’s setup is typical science fiction fare – nothing new. Chief O’Leary has mysteriously closed off the popular Mt. Garrick, and anyone wanting to shred through its snowy landscape has been turned away. Undeterred, several boarders have decided to find out what is worrying Chief O’Leary so much that he has to keep the bottom of the summit such a secret. Where did all the weird chemicals spilling onto the mountain come from? Why all the security personnel? Dark Summit’s plot is unique only because there has never been an “adventure snowbarding” title before, but it is a perfect setup for what Radical Entertainment wanted to accomplish.
Radical Entertainment has already spent some time in the snowboarding world with MTV Pure Ride, but that blunder taught the developer some valuable lessons; Dark Summit’s gameplay is solid. Initially, the trick system feels extremely “floaty” after having spent an uncountable number of hours with the decidedly much faster-paced Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Spend an hour or so with the game, though, and in no time the trick system becomes completely natural; the differences between Dark Summit and THPS’s controls lie mainly in arrangement of buttons, but the timing can take getting used to. In fact, it seemed easier to become adjusted to Dark Summit’s trick system than SSX’s – though SSX’s system is deeper.
There are few complaints as far as the trick system goes. Special tricks are more work than what they’re worth; they do not net any more points for the amount of time it takes for some of them to run through the motions. Additionally, for whatever reason, there is no real indication that your character grinding, other than the word grind being at the bottom of the screen. No scraping sound effect, no particle effects, nothing. It takes some of the effect away, though is minor in the big picture.
Mt. Garrick is divided into several sections, each having to be opened by earning enough lift points. Lift points are awarded for completing the missions objectives scattered throughout each area. Missions are initiated in two ways. One, a cut scene will interject the snowboarding action (such as a skier trash talking you, then pushing you over) and then the goal will pop up, or by running through the colored radar towers that are shown as yellow dots on the in-game map. Radical has created plenty of different objectives to keep players occupied with, and some of them will even have players laughing at their absurdity. Goals might range from as simple as pulling off nine different grabs under a minute, outmaneuvering a crazed sister of a skier you ran over or heading to the outhouse to “dispose” of a chocolate bar gone bad.
SSX has more of a flashy look to it, with trippy lighting sprinkling the snowy landscape and fireworks igniting the night sky, while Dark Summit has a plainer, more generic style. Technically, there are few faults that can be attributed to Dark Summit; the framerate is constant, the character models are well modeled and textured, and the game has a very slick look overall. It simply lacks a decent, semi-interesting artistic direction. The environmental landscape is constantly varying, with plenty of random obstacles to avoid, toxic waste spills to maneuver through, half pipes to bust a move in, fallen ladders to start massive grind combos on and much more. There is even an Olymic-style jump that players can take part in, rocketing them thousands of feet into the air.
Do not let the horrendous box art or odd game concept keep you from checking out Dark Summit, as Radical has produced one of the most unique adventure games ever released, and certainly worthy for gamers on the lookout for something a bit different from what SSX has to offer. Dark Summit won't rock your socks off, but it looks good, plays good and has plenty to keep gamers heading down the slopes again and again.
