Polaris Sno Cross PS1 Review

Polaris Sno Cross was developed and published for the PlayStation back in the year 2000 and it got subsequent releases on the Nintendo, game boy color and nintendo 64 while it did get a subsequent release a year later on windows PC. 

And this is a racing game that consists of utilizing snowmobiles rather than using cars or likes of even snowboards as it is based on extreme sports where you're racing on different types of snow and ice terrains and environments. 

Now the game did get mixed reviews across the board pretty much on launch. 

The playstation and nintendo 64 platforms primarily clashed the lower end of the reviews while the gameboy color got higher reviews and the reviews themselves are based off of certain criteria from the game itself based on how it plays and even the visuals that the game offers. 

As even with all of the extreme sports games especially that were released on the playstation as there are some quite incredible and even kind of more lower quality type of games that were released on the system anything varying from the likes of 2 extreme to the likes of the cool boarded series among other extreme sports games. 

But even with all those games in mind that focus on racing on like snow based environments there's very few snowmobile racing games that i can personally think of on the system that many people would even know about. 

A few others that come to mind would be sled storm and snow cross racing championship and sledstorm would be a more popular entry in these type of racing game genres as that also got a release on the ps2 and it was considered to be a very popular game and even with the likes of snow cross racing championship, i have done a previous video on that game also and even with sled storm so i'll be sure to drop links to those reviews down in the description so you can also go and check them out and you can compare them to this game but they're just a handful of games that i can think of that are similar to this. 

So how does this fare out compared to those other games, from having spent time playing with it and i do enjoy these type of games as they are fun to play because they're a good mix of arcade style racing but you've also got offroad elements with the use of shortcuts and you're traversing different types of terrain and depending on your skill level it will take a little bit of a while to get used to the controls and the feel of how the game plays. 

And even though the game did get mixed reviews it does play quite well, it has decent enough graphics, it has a really good soundtrack to the game that really does suit the tone and the vibe of the game and there are plenty of unlockables to achieve in the game as you progress through the championships in the different modes where you can unlock other snowmobiles, characters to race on even with different tracks and a lot of the tracks all have pretty cool layouts that you're not confined to one linear path. 

Most of the tracks that you will race on in the game all have a ton of shortcuts at different points at different intervals which you can use to your advantage but you do have to be aware too that the computer ai also take advantage of the shortcuts so it does leave it very very difficult to win races even on an easier difficulty which i've been playing on here as i was recording this video. 

The computer ai will nine times out of ten use the same shortcuts that you've been using so unless something drastically happens where they get knocked off the snowmobile where you can gain an advantage it's very very hard for you to get ahead but not only that the ai does have an advantage because once they go behind it is very very hard for you to build up any sort of a lead as it uses what's called rubber banding techniques which means they can get initial speed boost so they can catch up with you very very quickly. 

So the best way is just to win races it really all depends on your own skill being able to utilize shortcuts at the right times and ideally just a little bit of luck because you have to hope that someone will fall off their snowmobile which can allow you to gain a few additional seconds which does happen because they do fall off their snowmobiles an awful lot. 

But on the downside so can you that is one of the main gripes that i found with this game is that it doesn't take much for you to fall off because even though the gameplay is decent for what it does offer it isn't as well refined compared to the games as i mentioned earlier on with sledstorm and snow cross racing championship, those games are definitely more refined in terms of the controls and even the mechanics and the collision detection as the slightest little bump sometimes on this game can literally throw you off the snowmobile for any given reason or if another opponent clashes into you or bumps into throughout the race you can literally just go flying off at any random point but the same thing could happen to your opponents also. 

So it really all depends on like i mentioned luck to determine whether you're going to win the race or not but the game does offer some unique points like I mentioned with the controls or even the likes of the track. It does have some really cool layouts and there's lots of cool shortcuts and hidden areas to explore if you're into that with these type of games you'll definitely have that here as that was one of the main things i used to love about racing games years ago it's always been able to try and find any shortcuts or any glitches or anything at all they can give you any sort of an advantage so it was always fun to explore so you'll definitely have that in abundance with this game. 

But how does it hold up compared to sledstorm and even snow cross racing championship like for what it does all for it is fun to play but it definitely in my opinion isn't as well refined as those two games and graphically those other two games are far superior to this. 

They're a lot more well refined, they use different and more to point better graphics engines. 

There's better details on the characters and even just the environments themselves. 

It's not to say that this game is bad because it's not it's just it wouldn't be as well refined as those other two games plus the sense of speed in this game. 

It isn't as quick to play, it just overall feels a little bit slower compared to the other two games in question but at the same time it still offers enough value and it does provide a really good experience if you are into these type of games and because there's very few of these type of games on the PlayStation. 

They are with a look in their own respect and if you are into extreme sports games this really is another one of those games in my opinion that you should look into even though it's not as well refined as i mentioned like some other games on the system. 

It is still an enjoyable playthrough if you give it a bit of time and get used to the gameplay and the mechanics you will have a lot of fun with this game and i'd love to know your thoughts on polaris sno cross for the playstation and what do you think of it? 

Do you enjoy these extreme sports type racing games and if so if you do have any stories be sure to share them in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to Polaris Sno Cross, 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...