Steep

Taking the spot as the first fully fledged open-world snowsports title to be released this generation, Ubisoft's latest IP Steep has been released this month, and although it delivers a seamless multiplayer experience filled with brisk adrenaline-fuelled events, not everything about it was spotless.

Traversing four regions, there are over 100 story and competitive events to partake in, which span across extreme sports like skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, and wing suiting. Diving out of a hot air balloon and soaring towards the ground dressed in a bat-themed wingsuit never grows tiring, but the same can't be said for the intensively demanding paragliding events, where we always found ourselves teetering on the edge of frustration. Snowboarding and skiing share the same tracks and can be alternated between depending on preference. We found the skis to have a better sense of control, but with the snowboard we were able to pull off more complex tricks and stunts. Controls for the most part are tight and responsive and it's easy to pull off flips and jumps whilst hitting the ramps on either the snowboard or skis. Paragliding, however, can often be frustrating as it requires you to awkwardly fumble with the analog stick in order to keep yourself in flight.

At first the list of events may appear enticingly long, but the appeal is soon to falter upon realising that many courses are just more complex variations of previous ones. Not helping matters is the fact that your bumbling AI competitors are complete pushovers and without tumbling over your board or deviating too far from the main track it's unlikely that you'll miss out on gold. The only real sense of competition is gained from challenging the community, but with a possibly fleeting user base to come in the upcoming months, it looks worrisome for the future of Steep's prolonged enjoyment.

Events consist of time trials where you must blaze through a series of checkpoints in an allocated time, standard races that have you fight for gold against a pack of competitors, and freestyle events where you'll pull off a string of daring tricks and combos to rack up the highest score possible. During events there's also the option to quickly hold down the triangle button, transporting yourself back to the start, a handy little tool if you find yourself colliding into an overlooked obstacle whilst speeding down the slope. Like Forza Horizon's rewind feature, however, it could be argued that this detracts from overall difficulty and removes the pressure of flawless play.

Navigating Steep's snowy peaks couldn't have been made easier as you can simply hold down the circle button on your DualShock 4 (B on an Xbox) to select your next venture from an aerial view of the mountainous map. There's even the option to purchase helicopter tokens, where you can hitch a ride to any desired point without being restricted to event locations. Multiplayer is seamlessly integrated too, as you'll discover other online players populating your surroundings who can be challenged to events by simply approaching and interacting with them. Steep as a whole just feels incredibly fluid, and a lack of any loading animations gives a sense of momentum to gameplay and will keep you anchored throughout.

Steep's first-person perspective, Go Pro mode, allows you to view things from the forefront of the action, as you pull off stunts or race rapidly down the side of a mountain. While it can be a handy tool to use for tightly manoeuvring around obstacles, we didn't find ourselves sticking with the viewpoint for too long as it soon become quite nauseating, largely because of the blistering sense of speed. Another notable feature is the dynamic replay system, which allows you to play back your actions at any point and alter parameters such as the speed and angle of the shot.

Perhaps Steep's most crucial flaw is the lack of a meaningful progression system. You gain XP from completing challenges, exploring new areas, and injuring yourself in the most creative ways possible (Skate's Hall of Meat mode springs to mind), which allows you to soar through the ranks and strengthen your rising star status. By reaching new levels you'll unlock new vanity items and courses, but it's difficult to feel much excitement when there is plenty of similar content that's already accessible. The experience would have perhaps benefited from featuring unlockable gear with different stats and favourable attributes, such as increased handling, speed, and durability.

Although it may not pivot towards the wacky extremes of SSX, Steep is still a title that doesn't take itself too seriously, despite its simulation tagline. The character customisation segment is filled with a plethora of hilarious outfits that include deer masks, bat wing suits and pink fluff-coated thermals. The range of interchangeable items is awfully impressive, and during our time out on the virtual slopes we never found ourselves clashing outfits with any other fashion-savvy players.

Visually speaking, Steep is a triumphantly beautiful experience, as its detailed snow smothered peaks are given life through radiant streaks of sunshine and howling frosty blizzards. Patches of frozen water have noticeably less detailed textures and do detract from the immersion, but luckily these areas aren't encountered too frequently. The awe-inspiring open world is a technical marvel, and while it is submerged in snow and ice in its entirety, there is still plenty of variation throughout its frost covered lakes, quaint villages and congested woodlands. However, technical hitches do sneak there way in at times, leaving you jammed in the rooftop of a shack or clipping through the face of cliff.

French electronic composer Zikali crafted Steep's dynamic score, fusing together mesmerising ambient hooks with pure guitar-driven chaos. The in-game mixtape is loaded with a diverse roster of artists, playing home to the likes of The Cinematic Orchestra, MuteMath and ODESZA. Sure, many of its featured tracks may not leap out as being instantly recognisable, but they certainly serve their purpose of ensuring that the adrenaline is flowing throughout.

Ubisoft's latest outing into the world of extreme sports may have avoided getting off to a slippery start as some feared, but there were enough stumbles along the way to lessen its momentum. While the open world is extremely polished and easy to navigate, the lack of varied courses, a shallow progression system, and weak AI works to diminish its lasting appeal. This isn't to say that Steep is a poor a game, far from it, but this otherwise enjoyable experience has been held back a little by a handful of disappointing decisions.