Once when my little sister was nervous about flying, I tried to reassure her by explaining that when planes land, they’re literally falling. Planes generate lift by moving forward, with the amount of lift proportional to their speed (I might have even used the word “Bernoulli” while explaining this; I can be a bit of a show-off). If a plane doesn’t have enough speed, it stops generating lift. That’s called stalling. So when a pilot lands an airplane, he doesn’t fire up the engines and point the nose at the runway. That’s called crashing. Instead, he reduces speed until the plane isn’t generating enough lift to stay airborne. Now the plane is falling. Ideally gradually. And ideally onto a surface amenable to airplanes, like a runway. But falling nevertheless. It’s the easiest thing in the world. Falling.
Beautifully written review. So is this kind of like “the Crew” for you? What you wrote kind of reminds me of your feelings towards that title. BTW - what platform did you pay this on? PC, PS4?
I love all the things you love about it, but the one thing I don’t like is enough to put me off it completely: the in air control. The feel of carving and turning and everything on the snow is great. Using the right stick to turn 180 and go switch just feels right. But once you get in the air, it’s awful. The trick system, the auto-landing, even just the speed of rotation at full stick: it’s just not tuned in a way I can enjoy. Other than that, yes, very similar to the Crew in that if you can ignore all the Ubisoftness of it, the open world exploration an just being in the world is magical.
The Crew is an apt comparison, although there’s a definite tradition behind The Crew’s caRPG structure. I’m not sure I know of any precedent for Steep. I guess you could compare it to EA’s Skate games, but I always hit a wall in those where I just didn’t care to get gud enough to progress. I don’t anticipate that coming in Steep.
Mr. One, you might already know this, but the turning speed is directly related to the timing of the jump. That’s a staple of skateboarding games and the like, so I might just be telling you something obvious. But I definitely agree with you that the stunting isn’t much of a selling point. I have no idea what kinds of reviews this is getting, but I can imagine some disappointed Tony Hawk and SSX fans.
Huge fan of Skate, not for points but because it recreated the atmosphere of skateboarding and I could play it like a sim if I wanted (which I did), something that is difficult in most other skateboarding games given their zaniness. This sounds like it might provide a similar feel for carving around on a snowboard rather than doing zany combos. Will add it to the wishlist!
Dammit Tom now you’ve made me want to ski again for the first time since I blew out my ACL going down Look Ma at Vail 34 years ago. See what you’ve done?!
Well, it certainly doesn’t look as good as Steep, in terms of scenery or character animation. And the controls are far more skill-based than Steep’s, because there’s much more of an emphasis on skateboarding style trickery. I like how you have to fly a helicopter around to fast travel, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much incentive to explore. Instead, it looks like it’s based on doing daily challenges and whatnot. Not my cup of hot chocolate in the ski lodge, but I imagine exactly the sort of thing someone would want if Steep didn’t work for him.
Steep is fun for the little while I’ve dabbled with it so far, but now I’m angry because I won’t be able to play it with my nephew. It’s not violent or anything (obviously), and it’s so open and free it would be great for him. I could just point him down a mountain and there’s no real restriction or consequences, important for a seven year old with little gaming experience.
Except frequently when you crash, your character yells “SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!”, which is completely unnecessary and a deal breaker for a seven year old.
Woa woah, there are some riders who do not use bad language. Some costumes also do not have the bad language. Also, 7 year olds are going to find out about swearing eventually. Why hide it from them?
Really? There is no reason to have a kid play a game where they use bad language. Also, there is a difference between hiding it from them and not wanting them to play a game where people swear because they fall down. My son who is 9 knows the different swear words because he has heard them and seen them at school, but it doesn’t mean I want his entertainment time to be filled with them.
