Winter Blast Snow and Ice Games

SCORE: 85

Have you ever wanted to ski down snow covered slopes at blazing speeds without all of the resulting medical expenses and months of physical therapy? If so, Winter Blast: Snow & Ice Games from Destineer may be the answer you’re looking for! Winter Blast features 9 wintertime games including sledding, slalom skiing, snowball fight, hockey, and others to test your arctic athletics.

The graphics in Winter Blast: Snow & Ice Games are fairly typical for a Wii sports game. The characters and environments are a little rough around the edges and not highly detailed. The levels do not feature much variety, but how much variety can you really create with snow? I will say that the selection of characters is great. There are 12 colorful characters of varying ethnicity to choose from. Destineer has done a wonderful job of making sure there’s an avatar available to suit everyone’s taste. All characters are modestly dressed in stylish winter apparel. I don’t want to sound like I’m writing a fashion review, but I was impressed by how well dressed these guys and gals were. Someone on the design team had a fashion sense.

Winter Blast does a great job of not mocking you when you face plant in the snow. In fact it does just the opposite. During the entire time I played this game, not once did I hear any negative sounds from the in-game crowd of onlookers. While I gave them ample opportunity to boo me, the crowd simply continued to applaud and encourage as I stumbled back to my feet. I also noticed the distinct sound of a cowbell being shaken by one exuberant fan at various times throughout my icy adventures. One somewhat irritating thing I encountered was the sound created when hitting the orange snow fencing along the sides of the sledding tracks or ski slopes. To me, this sound was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. I suppose it could be argued that this is simply motivation not to run into the fence. The music used in the game suits the mood. While the soundtrack isn’t something you’ll likely remember after playing the game, during the events the music is fast paced and builds excitement as you’re perched atop the snowy slope or lining up your slap shot. There is no profanity to be found in this game. The only vocals are the pleasant voice of the announcer and the occasional grunt from your character as he or she bounces off a rock or tumbles end over end. Even the sounds of impacting the ice and snow are done tastefully without over exaggerating.

This game is simply fun to replay again and again. The slalom event for example captures the pure hilarity of attempting to steer your on-screen persona through the flags as you speed down the hill. It reminds me of the days of 8-bit skiing on the Atari 2600. Each time you complete an event you’ll wish you had done just a little bit better, giving you the itch to give it another go. Each event keeps high scores so you can attempt to beat your previous high score each time you play. Winter Blast: Snow & Ice Games allows up to 4 players per event, so playing with friends and family adds even more amusement to this game.

The controls in Winter Blast can take some time to get used to. I found the shootout, hockey, and snowball fight events to be the most difficult to control. In addition to awkward controls, these events also made it difficult to keep track of your character. All events other than the ones mentioned above are played one player at a time. This makes things less confusing and easier to focus on the task at hand. The only other issue I encountered was that at one point my character managed to get permanently stuck under a snowboard ramp forcing me to restart the event. This was an odd quirk that only happened once, but it was annoying none the less. The game also supports the Wii Balance Board, but it is not a requirement to play.

This game is one of the more family friendly games I’ve played recently. I found virtually nothing in the game that I would be uncomfortable with my young children seeing, hearing, or doing. There is some mild cartoon violence when your characters fall down, particularly during hockey, but this is done quite tastefully and features no violent acts by the characters themselves. The Biathon event features a rifle used to shoot targets. The rifle is barely visible during the event, however bullets are displayed on the screen indicating how many shots remain and the rifle makes realistic shooting sounds when fired. Other than these minor items, I see no reason anyone would have any reservations about playing this game with the entire family. Winter Blast: Snow & Ice Games is old fashioned fun that can be enjoyed by all ages. Families will certainly get their chance to chuckle at one another as they play through these games of friendly competition.
-Roger

Graphics: 78%
Sound: 95%
Replay/Extras: 86%
Gameplay: 78%
Family Friendly Factor: 90%
System: Wii
Publisher: Destineer
Rating: 'E' for Everyone

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