Game review: X2 Snowboarding - iPhone / iPod Touch

Plus I’m very clumsy and uncoordinated, which rules out pastimes such as skiing that involve flying down the side of a mountain where trees, log cabins and other obstacles can bring me to an abrupt halt.

My one previous attempt at winter sports unsurprisingly resulted in injury, so now I confine any hitting of the piste I do to video games.

With the exception of Touch Ski 3D from Naquatic, winter sports titles for the iPhone and iPod Touch have been lacking in quality and content.

Now a new star of the slopes has arrived in the form of X2 Snowboarding from X2 Games.

It’s by far the best representation yet of this extreme activity.

The developers haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel here, or the board in this case. This is a standard snowboarding game involving speeding downhill while performing tricks such as flips, grinds and wheelies with the player seen from a third-person perspective.

It’s better than other snowboarding games thanks to its high production values and refined controls.

It oozes quality, from the slick menus to the smooth fast-paced action on the mountains.

The gorgeous graphics are particularly impressive, combining vibrant colours with cel-shaded panache.

While the style of gameplay is weighted more towards arcade than simulations, the animations and physics are very credible.

The controls feel intuitive and responsive.

Steering is done by tilting your device, while leaning it forwards or backwards looks after the speed.

There are several on-screen buttons to control your snowboarder’s actions.

The main one you’ll use is the jump button. A quick tap of it makes you do a little hop while touching it for longer then releasing it launches your snowboarder into the air.

Once airborne you have the options of accelerometer control or swipe gestures to perform stunts. You can also touch virtual boards on either side of the screen to do grabs.

When grinding or doing wheelies the tilt controls are used for keeping balanced.

As you nail and chain together different moves your ‘joost’ meter will increase. Keeping the bar high allows you to use three different power-ups. The slo-mo features decelerates time allowing for more spectacular tricks. The rewind button lets you replay parts of the course. The speed boost button does what you’d expect.

The controls are very fluid and I’ve always felt in full command of my snowboarder.

The game offers a decent amount of set-up options, including half a dozen different boarders and a selection of boards to choose from.

There are three types of event in the game - freestyle, race and trick-race (a combination of the first two).

There are six different locations where you can show off your snowboarding skills - USA, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, Canada and New Zealand.

The courses vary nicely in design and look, ranging from tame slopes to perilous cliffs.

When descending I’ve found it’s not always easy telling whether I’m on the right path or heading out of bounds, and I’ve occasionally found myself getting disorientated on the slopes, but these are small niggles.

In the audio department the soundtrack features a bunch of artists I’ve never heard of (Quantic, Bonobo and Mr Scruff), but their laid-back funky electronic music gives the game a cool vibe and is vastly superior to the trashy metal which usually accompanies games like this.

During events the snowboarding sound effects are functional enough, but I particularly like the amusing voiceovers from the characters as they hurl themselves down the slopes. “You muppet!” proclaims the ‘British’ character as he falls backside-over-head – it’s like the developers were watching my real-life winter sports attempts when scripting the game.

If you’re looking for a new challenge other than just taking on the mountains you can go up against other human players via Bluetooth or wi-fi. Online multiplayer is promised in a future update.

Overall, with its avalanche of features and exhilarating action aplenty, X2 Snowboarding is a top-class game. If you’re at all interested winter sports games this is an essential purchase.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 – Eye-catching presentation, smooth controls and fun extreme sports play, X2 Snowboarding has all the tricks in its repertoire to become the best game of its kind available for iPhone and iPod Touch.