To elaborate on the tricks side of things let's just say that they are not really that crucial in winning races and performing tricks is not anywhere near the all-important element that it is in the SSX games. The trick control system is very similar to its snowboarding counterpart but it's a very dumbed-down aspect of the game as well it should be. You'll really only need to do the odd single trick here and there, especially in the last lap, to build up your boost meter to give you that slight edge towards the finish line when things get tight. Obviously though you'll need to do just a little more to increase your points to unlock characters but as mentioned before you may well end up doing this after winning all the races and extra tracks first.

While we're talking about ways to win races and challenging aspects we should note here that opponents in this game exhibit some of the most blatant and/or annoying 'rubber band' AI seen in a racing game. That is that they basically perform according to your skill level or place in the race. Some people may like the fact that your opponents 'wait' for you while you recover from a crash or stick to you like glue when you're leading the pack (waiting for you to make that one tiny mistake so they can pip you at the post!). However it just seems to remove a lot of the believability from the game and create a certain amount of unwanted frustration. In our opinion it's definitely an issue that needs to be addressed or fine-tuned in any future Sled Storm game.

Whilst building up and using your storm boost then would seem to have little effect against opponents using this kind of AI, it still becomes a slight edge in the last lap. Indeed there are nail-bitingly close finishes aplenty to be had and the use of your boost at just the right moment before you cross the line can make all the difference.

Once you've mastered the race system and completed the Championship mode there are a couple of other modes on offer to challenge you yet further. These are 2-player splitscreen and Rival Challenge. The latter allows you to race against opponents in order to win their sleds to add to your collection. Lose here though and you also lose YOUR sled! In order to get back any sleds you lose you'll have to go back to Championship mode to unlock them again. The 2-player splitscreen game can be a blast and a good change from the other modes but the main gripe here would be that you can only have a vertically split screen and vision can be considerably hindered in many areas of the tracks viewing this way.

Graphically Sled Storm looks exactly like SSX adapted for the different racing type. It shares the huge, sweeping scale and colour palette of its relation's levels plus those familiar ice and snow textures of the tracks. There's plenty of detail and a wide variety of structures and buildings litter the courses which just get more insane and visually exciting as you progress. Polygon counts definitely appear to be up and the inclusion of a fair bit of animated background activity, such as the hovercraft buzzing around in the Bermuda Berg level, is very nice and adds to the 'fullness' of the visual quality. Frame rates are top-notch with no noticeable slow-down anywhere even in the 2-player game, which is probably helped to achieve this by it's slight cut back on draw distance from single player.

Character detail of the riders in-game is good but doesn't appear overly high despite some nice textures. Animations as they react to the terrain though is convincing and most of the tricks look very well executed. Lighting and special effects are particularly well done and show a slight progression from those seen in SSX. The nice use of flashing lights on track markers and the way in which coloured light is reflected on riders, the track and structures is impressive. There is also good attention paid to achieving correct shadow effects on various structures and parts of the track and the full-screen blur effect when storm boost is used looks nice indeed.

Sound is probably fairly typical of what you'd expect in a game like this. There is the commentary which surprisingly doesn't get as over-the-top as you thought it might! Voice actors Mean Gene Orkerland of WWF fame and Matthew Lillard from horror spoof movie Scream provide the voices for the main commentator and his laid-back sidekick respectively and once the game's intro is over they thankfully only provide occasional commentary. Music is a mix of Canadian rock (music to snow sled to?!) and techno and provides a suitable accompaniment for those that leave BGM turned up. Engine noise for your trusty 2-stroke, mechanical sounds (especially during collisions or crashes) and ambient sounds are all done well and add to everything else to make for a convincing and well-rounded package. The biggest drawcard here though is the inclusion of 5.1 channel DTS Surround Sound! Thanks EA Big – that gets a big tick of approval!