Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	7
Sound:	7
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	7
Overall:	7

Bode Miller Alpine Skiing Review
March 23, 2006 by Brian Callam

by Brian Callam - March 23, 2006

The Olympic Games were once again held this past winter, and because of that most of you probably have at least heard of Bode Miller. If you knew who he was before these fateful Olympic Games, chances are you were pulling for Bode with all your might (that is if you are from the United States). After the games though, things changed. Coming home with no medals left people without sympathy for our once beloved skiing hero. Luckily for him he is back on top of the skiing world, and luckily for us Merscom signed up with Bode Miller to create a sequel to Alpine Skiing 2005.

Bode Miller Rocks My Ski Socks

The World Cup Skiing Championship appears to be the aim of the game as far as how competition works and the events that are held. There are four main categories in which you participate: Downhill, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super G. You are taken across the globe competing in these four disciplines to places like Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Austria, Korea, and even here in the USA.

The first discipline, Downhill, involves basically going as fast as you can without hitting anything and crashing your skier at speed well above 40 or 50 Kph. There are a few ‘gates’ in which you have to pass in order to not be disqualified. This does add some degree of difficulty to going as fast as humanly possible down a mountain. There are only a few maneuvers you can do in the whole of the game: go straight, go straight in a tucked aerodynamic position, turn left and right, and perform very sharp left and right turns. Tucking into your aerodynamic position is key for the downhill, but there is a balance that you have to find. Bode Miller Alpine Skiing is not one of those arcade racing games in which you jam the pedal into the floor as hard as you can the whole race; this takes some finesse and skill. The disadvantage to the tucked position is that it is difficult to turn and maneuver while in it (and the fact that going insanely fast…is well insane if you are plummeting down a mountain).

Slalom adds an enormous amount of difficulty to the game. Slalom, for those who don’t know, involves going through two poles (called gates) all the way down the course. The poles are usually set up in a way to the skier has to go back and forth across the width of the track and make very sharp turns. "That can’t be that hard…it’s just left and right turns" is what you are probably thinking. Well let me put a stop to that thought right here: it is hard, it does involve skill, and this game makes you work to get through those gates. Timing of the turns isn’t all there is to it. As a skier you will need to get a coach and a waxer. The coach trains you for a certain price, and in return your stats increase making you a better and faster skier. The waxer doesn’t remove hair from your body…he, for a price, mixes up a highly technical mix of waxes and applies them to your skies. The wax helps with speed and handling on different types of snow in different weather conditions.

Giant Slalom is just that, a very big slalom course. Lots of gates and lots of course to go on forever almost. Super G is a combo of Downhill and Slalom. This offers the speed and maneuvering that we all love. The mechanics behind the gameplay are not difficult to understand; go as fast as you can and don’t miss any gates. The problem comes in when you have to put those mechanics to use. But like anything else, practice makes perfect.

Snow Bunnies, Where?

The graphics presented in Bode Miller Alpine Skiing are not bad at all. It’s not like watching television but the graphics are ‘easy on the eyes’. A downhill skiing game can only contain so much stuff. With this in mind I think the developers could have spent a little bit more time smoothing out some of the trees and fences that appeared boxy from time to time. Even though the graphics were not the best ever, let’s face it: when you are speeding down a hill trying with all of your effort to go between little poles, super realistic trees are the last thing that you are worried about. Another good point about attention to detail is that there is an obvious difference in the appearance of the snow where skiers have worn the course down and where the untouched snow is.

The Sweet Sounds of Rustling Trees, brought to you by Bode Miller

After playing Bode Miller Alpine Skiing for a few days, I sat down and began writing this review. I’d come all the way down to the sound portion and honestly could not remember any other noise or piece of music that came from this game other than the crunch of snow as I turned left and right. Just for you all though, I went back and played some more so that I could bring you all of the other sounds from Bode. There’s kind of a laid-back techno beat in the menus that relaxes you in a way but at the same time gets you into a rhythm which is vital to doing well in this game. After replaying it for a while, I remembered why I didn’t remember any of the sounds. Mainly because there aren’t any more than the crunching snow sounds of you carving left and right and that never-changing techno beat in the background. At the start of the race, bells ring and people cheer giving you that feeling that you are actually starting a race. The end of the race sounds pretty much like the begging with cheering of the crowds.

Waaaahooooooo!

This game, regardless of what anyone says, was loads of fun. My first thoughts included those along the lines of "great another skiing game" and "awesome, a game about a guy that didn’t win any medals this year". Those thoughts have completely been smashed. Bode Miller Alpine skiing offers a lot of hours of gameplay perfecting your skier as well as your skills going down the slopes.

PlasmaSkiing!!

Bode Miller Alpine Skiing offers multiplayer support for up to 12 players via Hot Seat, LAN or internet. This is great if you can convince your friends to go out and get the game and then you can compete head to head in an epic battle down the slopes of the world’s greatest skiing locations. The game offers a few different modes so that you can jump in a race as a preset character or create your own in career mode. This is great for anyone if you only have time for a couple runs or a few hours to develop your skier. The replay value of this game is fairly decent compared to other sports games like football games and basketball games.

 

Bringing Home the Gold

Bode Miller is a game for sports enthusiasts and skiing lovers. If you are into RPGs, first-person shooters, or strategy games chances are this one will only collect dust. Bode Miller is amazingly addictive and the low price of $19.99 makes it a great deal for the amount of time you will spend on it. So go take to the slopes!