Start your engines!
A far cry from the likes of racing games such as the Need For Speed titles, Snowcross is an interesting but not entirely successful attempt at doing something a little different. It certainly deserves some points for offering a very different racing experience than usual, but ultimately proves to be just too middle of the road for its own good. As the name suggests, this is a snowmobile racing simulator, and offers players three main modes to play through, including single event, instant action and tournament. Single event simply gives you five sleds to choose from, then sets you out on a one off event, while instant action lets you choose the track and the sled, as well as time of day and weather conditions, and gives you one single race to enjoy. Tournament offers the most meat, as here you must play through seven events, each consisting of three individual races, with successful completion of one opening up the next. The courses are liberally sprinkled with jumps so you can perform tricks, while the other races will do their best to ram you off the track or just generally get in your way. There's nothing overly wrong with SnowCross, it's just that it's fairly unforgettable. The courses are fairly well designed, but lack that exhilaration factor that any proper racer needs, and the game suffers from a general lack of personality. The visuals are fine, but there are some collision problems, which gets annoying, while the sound is suitably snowy but again, a touch on the bland side. Try this by all means, just don't expect a classic racer.
