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Cool Boarders 4
"This sequel should feel as if we have been provided with a vastly improved product, but it's more like we are being squeezed for every cent they can get out of us."
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Developer  Idol Minds Game Type  Racing
Distributor  989 / Sony Review Date  Mar 00
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Playability:
 
      After checking in your name it's time to pick your game mode. Down Hill, Half Pipe, Slope Style, CBX, Big Air Stadium and new Special events are immediately available to play individually. There's also the Trickmaster Mode which lets you score big hang time and a Tournament mode combining all aspects of the game.

Cool Boarders 4 boasts 30 big new courses riddled with steeper cliff drops, sneakier short cuts, rad kickers, longer rails, sleeker curves and more hard-core buried obstacles to offer a fitting challenge to your skills on the hills. Actually it's only 5 courses set in Vermont, Colorado, France, Japan and Alaska, which isn't really that impressive. Perhaps a track editor would have been a better idea?

It's worth mentioning how sponsorship and registered trade marks® are creeping more and more into video games. Prepare to ride in style on 34 real boards from: Burton®, Forum®, K2®, MLY™, M3™, Salomon®, Ride®, Morrow® and Santa Cruz®.

New to Cool Boarders 4 is the licensing of professional boarders. The chances are that you won't be familiar with any of these names but here's a quick roll call. You can test drive 16 top pro veterans and radical up-and-comers: Jim Rippey, J.P. Walker, Michele Taggart, Noah Salasnek, Chris Engelsman, Jason Brown, Chad Otterstrom, Jennie Waara, Andrew Crawford, Tricia Byrnes, Ross Powers, Natasza Zurek, Brian Savard, Darren Cingel, Jimmy Halopoff and 13 year-old wonder kid Shaun White. Know any? Thought not!

There's also an option to customize your rider by adjusting height, weight, outfit and clothing color, then work your deck by designating color and pattern.

On-screen we have the return of the small scale bar that rises when the jump button is held down. Should you fail to release it when the summit of a hill precisely matches the rising line at the top of the bar... then nothing will happen. Get the timing correct and your boarder will launch up in the air where spins, grabs, flips and specials may be performed.

Once again Cool Boarders 4 insists on retaining the option that allows your boarders to fight! The front shoulder buttons are transformed into left and right hooks, which completely destroys any credibility that the sport of snowboarding may already have gained. Thankfully the fighting mode can be switched off before commencing play.

There's a split screen mode for between two and four players but even with all of these extra new features Cool Boarders 4 is still just an average snowboarding game.
 
Game Options:
 
      This is a 1 disk game for 1 to 4 Players using a multi-tap. It is compatible with the standard (digital) joypad and the analog stick controls of the dual shock joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1 block per save).
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Staff Opinions
Martin: "Cool Boarders 4 should feel as if we have been provided with a vastly improved product, but it's more like we are being squeezed for every cent they can get out of us.

My recommendation would be to pick up last years version and save yourselves some money in the process.

Maybe you could buy the video of Halloween 20 with the spare cash."
Graphics  14/20
Playability  40/50
Sound  6/10
Lastability  17/20
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