Snowboarders normally wouldn't be caught dead with ski poles. They'd rather take their board off and trudge through the snow than push themselves around with sticks. However, when Ubisoft releases Shaun White Snowboarding for the Nintendo DS, snowboard fanatics will find themselves using a much smaller stick, the stylus, to propel themselves down the mountain as fast as they can. The Nintendo DS version of Shaun White Snowboarding could be the least-realistic depiction of snowboarding of the group of games named after the famed snowboarder, but by no means will the DS version of White's new signature game have anything to apologize for.
While this game obviously doesn't have sport the cutting-edge graphics of the other versions, and the mountain courses aren't as extensive or wide-ranging, controlling your rider should be very satisfying. The lower display of the DS simply shows your snowboard lying vertically, and you can drag the stylus to the left to turn left and to the right to turn in that direction. If you want to go faster, just drag the stylus to the front of your board, or slide it toward the rear to slow down. When it comes time to jump, it's as easy as moving the stylus from the rear of the board quickly to the front. You'll need that feature often to hop off jumps and onto rails, tree trunks and other places where the opportunity to grind will be too good to resist.
Grinding may be one of the key features of this game, as it can gain you several points needed to access new riders and courses. It also might be the toughest part of this game to master, as balancing is no easy task for the beginner. Jumping off ramps and spinning the stylus around will also score you tons of points, and most will find it pretty easy to land even the most ridiculous tricks as long as they remove the stylus from the lower display before landing. In other words, if you're still trying to pull off another spin as you're landing, you'll probably end up crashing.
During our initial foray into Shaun White Snowboarding what struck us most was how fast the action was. That could have been because racing seemed to be the most fun and challenging activity. First you'll choose which one of the three routes you want to take to race down the selected mountain, then you'll race against three other riders while trying to pull off point-scoring tricks and grinds everywhere possible. Not only will grinding and jumping earn you tricks to buy cool stuff (which should be a dream for young riders, who usually have to beg their parents for upgrades to their boards and clothing), but you'll go faster with each trick you pull off seamlessly.
Although you won't be able to see the powder fly or the bark on the tree trunk you're grinding on, you'll likely enjoy the effects when you catch extra speed, as the surroundings start whizzing by as if you're a snowboarding version of Speed Racer. The races are challenging too, as it took us a few runs to finish higher than third place. Sometimes it was a little too tempting to pick up speed by dragging the stylus to the front of our board, as sometimes you can have too much of a good thing when your character crashes into a tree or flies into a crevasse. Luckily, once you fall, the game will allow you to get back up again without having to visit the emergency room. If real-life snowboarders could get the same guarantee, maybe they'd start riding down the mountain carrying a single pole, too.
