Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
An Avalanche of Disappointment
Sports games have always been a bit of a conundrum. Though there’s nothing quite like the fierce, friendship-crushing ambience of a good game of FIFA, some sports just don’t translate across well to the video game format. To be specific, I’m talking about those games which are about as much exercise to play as the actual event, yet incorporate none of the actual skill, concentration or finesse. These button-bashing, mediocre affairs do not fare well in today’s modern video game scene, where immersion is key.
Enter Winter Stars, Deep Silver’s take on the winter sports genre. While it isn’t solely a case of mashing the controller until your heart stops, Winter Stars does manage to take many popular snow-based events and suck all the life from them. Nevertheless, Winter Stars doesn’t get everything wrong – in fact, the controls can be pretty solid in certain areas, even if the overall premise is a bit uninspiring. Its biggest problem is that it doesn’t add anything new, with the only exception being its main campaign, which, bizarrely enough, actually has a story. However, this story is as uninteresting and dull as the rest of the game. When you throw in the terrible visuals, average mini-game design and a lacking multiplayer mode, it’s clear why Winter Stars is on sale at a value price.
Clik here to view.
The Figure Skating event is incredibly basic.
A Rather Standard Affair?
As stated above, Winter Stars has a story mode. You experience the story of the “Flames”, a team of newcomers that have their eyes set on rising to the top and becoming champions. Of course, there’s a rival team, known as the “Black Knights” who will stop at nothing to see them beat. The chances are that you won’t really follow the story, mainly because it’s stuffed full of clichéd, cringeworthy scenes and poor voice acting (two characters, supposedly of different ethnic backgrounds, had exactly the same voice). Not only that, but the story doesn’t even serve as a motivational tool for pushing you through the game, with cutscenes usually just being placed rather awkwardly before the start of each activity. They’re pointless, and there’s nothing fun or engrossing about them.
The amount of events for you to partake in is impressive. From Bobsled to Biathlon and Freeride Skiing, there’s something here for everyone. Or at least there would be were it actually fun. In most instances, it isn’t Winter Stars’ controls that let it down – in fact, they’re pretty accurate for the most part. Rather, it’s what you actually have to do that does. For example, Bobsled is just too easy – you can’t really go wrong. Left turn up ahead? Provided you do some sort of left turn motion, you’ll be just fine. It’s as if the whole game is on autopilot and you’re granted the slightest bit of control. There’s just no technique or strategy to it.
Other games, such as Figure Skating, are just boring waggle fests. We’re five years into the Wii’s lifecycle: it’s completely unacceptable to still see games providing us with utterly mind-numbing exercises of shaking the Wii Remote at the right time. To compare Winter Stars to a title that actually gets this sort of gameplay element right, look no further than Wii Fit Plus. The Marching Band mini-game in that title was fun because you had to stay in time while performing a few different actions. At the same time, it was challenging because it required a great deal of coordination. Winter Stars, unfortunately, does not provide this in any instance.
The multiplayer mode doesn’t remedy anything either. While it may entertain you for five minutes or so with its slightly different takes on what is offered in the single-player mode, there’s just nothing to really keep you playing. The game does utilise the Nintendo WiFi Connection service, which was a pleasant surprise until I realised that absolutely nobody else was playing this game. That alone should be evidence that this game isn’t worth your hard-earned cash.
Graphically, Winter Sports is a mess. While the environments are occasionally nice to look at, sharp and sporting some detail, the character models are a joke. Some characters wouldn’t look out of place in a PS1 game – they’re that bad. More perplexing is how these characters actually manage to walk around without falling over anything, given that their eyes are constantly and awkwardly fixated on the sky or something in the background. Maybe the characters are aware of the terrible game they’re in and are hoping something better is on the horizon?
The Final Verdict
Clik here to view.
The Bobsled is fast but lacking in challenge.
Winter Stars isn’t entirely awful. The controls are pretty user-friendly and some of the events can be fun. They just won’t be entertaining for very long, namely because this game doesn’t offer anything beyond what we’ve already had in this genre and similar ones. Instead of button bashing, you waggle; in place of a joystick are accurate yet dull and uninspired motion controls. It simply isn’t intricate enough for players to master, ultimately making it a very shallow experience.
On top of that, the game’s presentation is bland and downright ugly in places. The Wii is most certainly capable of better than this. Moreover, the horrific character models possess annoying voices that spew out tons of boring and predictable dialogue. The story mode would be a nice feature, yet it adds absolutely nothing to the experience, apart from extra time in between loading screens.
If you’ve got young children, then they may benefit from this relatively easy gaming experience, but with such a bland, uninspiring theme, the obvious choice is to go for the more kid-friendly Mario & Sonic games. With all of its shortcomings and an unappealing premise, Winter Stars is a game that should be left out in the cold this holiday season.