Stoked for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

First off, I'd like to say that I gave this game a LOT of time. I like to judge each game on it's own merits without comparing it to similar games. I will try to be as objective as I can

I will also admit that I am a 53 year old casual gamer and probably do not possess the skills or reflex time as many other gamers.

Stoked tries very hard to be a snowboard simulator. It is NOT an arcade snowboard game like Amped 3 or Shawn White

It appears to be designed for snowboarders

Here's the good
- True open-world snowboarding with no invisible walls
- Beautiful graphics
- Realistic Physics
- Appears to be bug-free
- A real challenge for the avid gamer
- runs are much more organic - do not feel contrived
- The $45 price tag of this game is refreshing compared to the standard $60 retail price.

Now for what bugs me
- A lot of snowboarding jargon without explanation of what it means
- steep learning curve
- you CANNOT play this game without the manual (I kept having to do internet searches trying to determine what the moves were)
- Punishingly unforgiving controls
- Beginner moves demand extremely awkward control switches of the analog switches - you need to use the right thumbstick to initiate the ollie jump then immediately reposition it to the proper grab position

I have been playing this game for probably 14 hours or so. I find that I will be attempting the same trick about 50 times before mastering it. This is NOT an exaggeration.

The tricks demand precise compliance and even the tricks on the first mountain are punishingly difficult combinations demanding extremely awkward control manipulation. I will do what I know to to be the correct move but...

- I did a 720 frontside instead of a 540 frontside
- I did a switch backside, not a regular backside
- I didn't position the right analog stick precisely enough to for the game to tell whether I was doing a tuckknee stalefish or a regular stalefish.

I am out of space so I will end the review

Rent game: YES!
Purchase game: no

Short review: The game is fun, looks good, but may get old quickly for some.

Long Review:

Considering there is no benchmark (yet) for snowboarding games on Xbox 360 (amped 3 and shawn white fall short in my opinion) Stoked gets the genre a bit closer to benchmark status but doesn't quite hit the "gotta have it" button.

As an x-pro-snoboarder (now living in Florida no joke) I love to play snowboard games however I always feel like they could have done more and Stoked provides more than it's predecessors however it still falls a bit short. I feel the Tony Hawk skateboard series did a good job delivering the feel of skateboarding mixed with a good story. Stoked falls a bit short in that manor.

The game is fun to jump in and play with friends and it looks great, but may get old fast for some gamers.