PS1 Snowmobile Racing game Comparison - PS1 Extreme Sports Racing Games

The playstation snowmobile racer comparison, here we'll be taking a look at three unique games from within the extreme sports genre that all focus on snowmobile racing and each of the games were released on the ps1 beginning with sledstorm that was released in 1999 and then polaris snow cross championship and then snowcross championship racing that was released in the year 2000. 

And each of the games all got subsequent releases on different consoles so here we're just going to look at some of the unique aspects between each of them and see which ones have various aspects that are more appealing than others and to see which ones would be the better versions of the games to play. 

So if you're into extreme sports racers the playstation had a ton of them back in the day with some very unique and quirky titles that really stood out. 

Now there were some that were excellent and there were some that probably weren't so good but they were still worth the playthrough as they offered some very very cool and fun characteristics that were well worth a playthrough and if you have played any of these games you'd understand how fun they were. 

So when you're looking at the games like sled storm, sled storm had a lot of really cool features and it had a great soundtrack as you hide music from the likes of rob zombie among other well-known artists that were very popular during the late 90s and that's when games were starting to really come into their own when they started to have that kind of music in them.

It really set a unique tone and vibe towards them that made them just really fun to play and they definitely represented a pure arcade feel and with sledstorm you had access to a number of different game modes that ranged from a championship and another elimination style mode. 

With the championship you had access to wider tracks to race on whereas with the other playable modes you had more linear tracks but they were more narrower and harder to race on so it added a lot more depth to the gameplay and required an awful lot of skill to be able to win races. 

One of the main frustrations with the game is with the computer ai as they would have like a catch-up logic or rubber banding technique where they could catch up with you at any point so even if you were a few seconds ahead it would never take long for your opponents to catch up so even if you are racing and getting closer to the finish line and you think that you're way ahead of your opponents it's never really the case because they can literally just zip past you whenever it suits them so that would have driven a lot of players crazy but then back then and even today a lot of racing games use that technique which can be very very frustrating. 

But aside from that it's a fun game there's some really cool tracks and features in the game plus with sledstorm it was one of the very rare racing games that allowed you to use the playstation multitap accessory for four player support so you could play the game with up to four players at any one time through split screen which was awesome because you could have so much fun with your mates. 

And graphically this out of the three games this here game would definitely be one of the best looking games for sure and one of the best overall looking racers in terms of graphics on the playstation as it was a unique title visually. 

It had really good graphics really good fast and frantic gameplay and it had a very good pace to the game where you did feel like you were in control as the control mechanics of the vehicles were really good as well which definitely helped so you're really good balance of fun and frantic gameplay with this game but when you compare it to the likes of polaris snow cross racing championship there are a lot of differences as polaris snow cross racing championship is a very fun game to play but there are some major differences that do stand out and that probably wouldn't be as good compared to sledstorm. 

Now the main differences primarily that you will notice straight away would be the graphics, the graphics on sledstorm are of a better quality whereas the graphics on polaris snow cross do tend to look quite low-key and sometimes even quite glitchy. 

Now it's not to say that the game is bad, it's not bad at all it plays really really well and it is a fun game to play but the overall pacing of the game it's definitely not as fast-paced as the likes of sledstorm. 

It definitely feels a lot slower but they couple that with the gameplay mechanics and the twitchy controls you can find that compared to the other racing games out of all the racing games in this video polaris snow cross would be one of the most difficult ones to master as it's very very simple for your character to fall off the snowmobile anytime or for any number of reasons if you go over a jump or someone slightly tips the snowmobile you can just go flying off at any point plus it also does have the catch up technique as well so it's very very hard to win overall with opponents. 

But the difference with this game compared to sledstorm is the fact that throughout each of the tracks the tracks are fun to race on and they have loads of various shortcuts hidden throughout the place so if you do love exploring you will have a lot of fun being able to figure out which types of shortcuts would be better suited to you to help you gain an advantage but just know that the computer ai also will take advantage of those shortcuts 99% of the time. 

So it really boils down to luck or the computer controlled players to make a mistake whether to determine that you're going to win a race or not. 

But aside from those issues with the game it is generally quite fun to play it definitely has a lot to offer but it just wouldn't be as fast paced compared to sledstorm but it really all depends on your own preferences as to which one you would like to play best. 

So when you compare both games down to snow cross racing championship how does it hold up? 

Well straight off the bat snow cross racing championship was developed by crave entertainment and straight away you can notice the difference in the graphics this game easily is hands down the best visually looking game of the three games in this video it just has unique style to it and it just looks so well polished and put together and the cool thing is the sound effect in this game when you're racing it almost feels and sounds like an actual real snowmobile compared to the other games as you can get a real sense or sound of the engines. 

The tracks are very well laid out although the handling does take a little bit of getting used to as it definitely feels that it's more realistic it's more simulation focused to a point there that's how it feels compared to more so the arcade elements of the previous two games as it definitely takes a while to get a feel for the controls of each of the snowmobiles and they all have their own abilities and unique characteristics. 

Some will handle better than others in the game it really just boils down to your own preferences but it's like anything else when you get familiar with each character with each vehicle in question you will be able to get the hang of everything very very quickly. 

The tracks as well can be quite difficult to master now they do range from long and very diverse tracks all the way to really short tracks but also with the likes of sled storm you don't really have much going on in terms of shortcuts that you can use to take an advantage whereas polaris snow cross definitely has the upper hand with using the shortcuts. 

But what's snow cross racing championship like to play? 

Even from my own point of view i enjoy all three games they're all really fun to play like i really enjoy sled storm and i did enjoy polar snow cross but i really really enjoyed snow cross racing championship but just for me even though right it's not as easy to pick up and play but once you put a bit more time into it you definitely get a really good sense of what's going on and graphically it is hands down the best looking of the three games. It just looks so much more realistic and authentic. 

It has great tracks like I mentioned great layouts great graphics it's very well polished it also has a decent soundtrack to go with the game as well. 

It just feels like an all-around more complete package especially more so when you compare it to the likes of polaris snow cross, it definitely feels a lot more refined to that game and while sledstorm does have a lot of unique aspects it would be closer to snowcross racing championship in terms of what it offers because sledstorm has some epic features in it even with upgrade systems where you can upgrade your snowmobile so that you can make them go faster so that you can gain advantages in races so there's has a lot of unique aspects. 

Each of the three games here have some really cool features but it really just boils down to your own preferences and what you're particularly interested in. Some of you may like some of these games some of you may not but until you've played them or if you have played them you'll know for yourself but they all offer a unique experience that is enjoyable and that is worth trying out and i highly recommend that whichever one you do try you will have a good experience with them. 

But i highly recommend that if you're into these type of racing games and you do enjoy ps1 extreme sports racing games in particular that you do go and check them all out because they are really fun to play. And i would love to know your thoughts on all of these three games for the ps1 if you have played them yourself and if so what do you think of them overall did you enjoy them or maybe not so much? 

I'd love to hear whatever stories you have with these games so be sure to share them down in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to this selection, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...