Written By: Daniel Scott

Monte Boyd ports his popular snowboarding title to the iPhone.

Slope Rider ($2.99)

As I lived in SoCal for a good amount of my teenage years and college experience, I only went skiing, never snowboarded.  Although I used to be a skater and learned how to loiter more than how to pull off tricks, it’s still difficult for me to pull off some skate/snowboard tricks in a game environment. With that said, Slope Rider feels more of an alpine racer than a trick-turning game.

Presentation

I love the look of brushed metal, always a winner with a Mac based platform in my opinion. Load times are at a minimal which is a good thing.  Pick your rider either the lady, Kate or the dude, Luke then it’s off to the races, just you and the other racer. The graphics aren’t too bad, I don’t expect too much over a smoother game play and/or a better frame rate.   The selling point of this title should be the overall functionality to pick up and play it whenever.

Game Play

By reading the description, there 13 tracks to race through.  I went through a few races to get a feel on the game.  It seems as if some more obstacles could be added.  I went from the first one Blue Peak. It’s fun, lots of jumps, a good variety of hazards, an overall good starter race.  After posting a score on the top 13 in Alpine, I tried again but on Widow’s Forest.  Sure as the description states, this level had more trees!   I  was expecting a dense saturation of trees in that one. Although there are more trees to avoid, I wanted to see some exaggeration and make it more difficult to post a score.

Controls

Word to the wise, read the instructions on how to play.  The controls aren’t too difficult but do require a few runs before you hit your stride. The tilt controls are obvious, and I prefer this to steer. The game play gets easier with practice.   Patience is a virtue. Out of the two riders, Kate seems easier to control but Luke is faster.  It’s probably my novice skills causing the differential. I’d give it a few runs before casting any judgment on the game, but so far, I am enjoying the app.

The Cons

This game has a tech demonstration feel throughout the title. There has to be more depth other than the top 13 for alpine and freestyle.  Mission mode would be a good addition.

2 riders?   Seriously?  And is there a way to customize the rider we pick? Please add some variety!  The depth increases with customizations and not everyone will be happy with only two riders to choose from.   We are a spoiled bunch me thinks.

No music, that’s good or bad, depending on which side the boat you’re in.   I prefer my own play list, but soundtrack sure adds identity to the game.

Where’s the pause button?   I mean is there one in the game?   Don’t most games have a pause feature?   I recall 20+ years ago, the NES had a pause feature, the best thing since sliced bread for me.  I mean given the runs are short, interruptions do happen and if I am in the middle of an unbelievable race, I DON”T want to exit out and lose my score.

Conclusion

It’s fun, and I do enjoy the game. But since I am accustomed to games that have a bit more in racing and/or tricks, power ups etc, I feel it needs a tad more content. I really appreciate the additional 3 more tracks on top of the 10 Mac version tracks, but mission mode is key.

This is his only release on on the iPhone.  Certainly a Lite version will be a huge help for those still on the fence. This one feels like a lite version already. Adding some more content as suggested would increase the overall value of the game.