Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

In Stoked, there is no attempt to have a story as it is the case in Amped. You select your mountain, you ride. That's what it is all about.

You can ride on 7 different mountains. However, you will have to unlock them all one by one. This is where some people will not like this game. If you are stuck on an event, you will not be able to advance much further. Each event will be locked until you finish almost everything that is available. If you are not able, try again. All the events are feasible though, some will require skills, some require also a bit of luck. Some are very easy, some are very hard. The difficulty is not consistent though the game.

There are different types of events. There are some photos to take, you will need to do specific tricks. In some other cases, you need to gain enough points by doing any tricks. There are also some races, which are the thoughest events in my opinion. Sometimes, they rely so much on luck. There are also sponsors event in which you need to perform the types of tricks that the companies like.

The controls are very accurate, compared to what we are used to in the Skate franchise, to not named it. Also, for the grabs, the controls are very often shown on the screen which ease it for the newcomers and you do not need to open the menu to get to the grab bible, which shows every single trick of the game. On the other hand, if you are not familiar with the sport itself, you might have some hard time knowing the difference between a frontside and a backside. However, you can find almost everything you need in the manual that comes with the game. Or else, you can look on the web. It is all explained.

Graphics look good for a quite old game. However, as it is the case in the snow/skate games, there are several collision bugs, where it will take you few minutes to get out of a rock or a tree. Sound is fairly good, but I must admit that after a while, I prefer listening to the music from my own xbox.

Globally, this is a pretty good game for the fans of the genre, but for the others, you might get frustrating more often than not. For over 40 hours of gameplay, it surely needs to be played, moreover knowing the low quantity of snowboard games on the market these days.