Sled Storm - Reception

Reception

Reception of the game was positive. Some felt it expanded on the original Sled Storm and contained enough fresh content to be a worthy expansion of the game. However, some criticized the game for its lack of innovation. The game received an average score of 72% based on 34 reviews on the review aggregator Game Rankings and the game has a normalized score of 73% based on 22 reviews on the review aggregator Metacritic and received a score of 76% on MobyGames. Scott Alan Marriott of Allgame ("All Game Guide" at the time) gave the game 3/5, which was a lower score that was awarded to the PlayStation 1 version, and considered the game offered "simple controls, fast action, and inventive courses with shortcuts so long they almost qualify as completely new tracks." and ended the review saying " Sled Storm may not offer an avalanche of features or a gust of realism, but it won't leave thrill-seeking players, especially those burned by Arctic Thunder, out in the cold with its high-powered action." Joff Brown of Computer and Video Games gave the game a favourable score and in the review noted that game was "Solid, fun sled racing", however, he also felt the game was spoiled by "annoying game mechanics" and claimed the biggest flaw in the game was "in the way it tries to help you." Martin Taylor of Eurogamer was quite critical of the game and even claimed the game "never becomes really particularly interesting or unpredictable." and further added the game gradually becomes "ridiculous and occasionally downright frustrating", he also criticized the design of the game saying that the environments of the tracks "would be more suited to a game like Toon Car" and that "The more sensible tracks have some irritating quirks". He concluded the review noting "What starts off to be a fun little arcade racer turns out to be a sadly wasted opportunity in the wake of far superior alternatives." Giancarlo Varanini of GameSpot cites how "Purists will undoubtedly become frustrated with Sled Storm's unrealistic AI and collision detection issues", however he later noted that despite the problems with games mechanics "it's still quite fun to drive through Sled Storm's unique tracks, which become progressively more insane as you go through the championship mode." he later claimed that "For the most part, Sled Storm looks a lot like SSX" and ended the review saying "Sled Storm uses the SSX formula well, and anyone who enjoys a challenging arcade-style racer should have fun with the game.". David Smith of IGN gave the game a more favourable review then the original PlayStation 1 version and awarded the score 8.5/10. He noted in the review that "EA's artists still have the touch when it comes to interface design, and Sled Storm carries off its over-the-top personality pretty well." he also saw the multiplayer as "great", the graphics "looking very good, with environments comparable to SSX", good rider animation and a solid frame rate in single-player and split-screen." Although, there was criticism towards the gameplay claiming "isn't as integrated into the racing as in SSX", but he still felt the game was "great to drive." He later criticized the soundtrack claiming it "doesn't seem to have as complex a mix as SSX" but later claimed "still a slickly-produced package." He ended the review saying " In the end, it's still an evolution of the PlayStation game, rather than the revolution that was SSX. The EA Big treatment has certainly done wonders for what was already a good racing game, leading to improvements in the track design and lending the franchise a substantial helping of personality, but it remains something familiar done better, rather than something completely new."