Slalom (NES)

Difficulty: ***
Controls: ****
Sound: **1/2
Graphics: **1/2
Overall: 12 stars out of 20

Gather your winter coat, a tuque and your ski's because your hitting the slopes today! But can you avoid the myriad of skiers, trees and other hazards? Nintendo presents one of its launch titles, Slalom!

You get to select which peak to start from (the higher the peak the more difficult). There are 3 peaks to choose from for a total of 24 different courses! Its you versus the clock as you try to bob and weave into the various gates and make it to the bottom.

It won't be so easy as early as the third course the speed picks up. By the seventh or eighth course you'll wish you had a ski pole to throw at your TV!

The controls are tight and responsive. Holding up speeds you up, and holding down slows you. The 'A' and 'B' buttons allows you to jump. When you hit a snow ramp you can pull off a trick by holding the 'down' arrow key. Its a pain to have to hold up to maintain your speed though. They should have assigned it to either the 'A' or 'B' buttons. But that's just a minor nit-pick.

The sound is fun and catchy in Slalom. You really only get a few musical tracks in the game. But it is catchy. There are some cute little sound effects too (bumping into things, crashing, and jumping). But overall there could have been more!

While there is some nice detail in the background (the purple mountains in the distance), the foreground is plain white and grey. Whoop-dee-do! Your opposing skiers are all the same pink-ish colour too which is also disappointing. You do however get a nice little animation of your skier hopping up and down when you complete a course.

There is some great challenge and varied courses in the game. You get 24 tracks to plow through which is nice. You'll be tearing off you parka though when you fail a course by a second or two later on! The controls are great but using both buttons to jump? Why not use one of the buttons to maintain your speed? The sounds while limited are nice and catchy. The graphics are just below par however. But what's there isn't terrible, just plain. Slalom really is a fun game that's great for a retro game party. So don't spill your hot chocolate as you dash down the icy mountains!