(PS1) Cool Boarders 2 review

Snowboarding sequel that vastly improves on its prequel and while still clunky in parts, has enough content to keep you coming back.

Developer	UEP Systems
Publisher	Sony Computer Entertainment
Franchise	Cool Boarders
Genre	Sports
PSTV	Yes
PSN	EU/NA

 

World-building & Story

Once again there’s no plot in Cool Boarders 2, although you will be introduced to a new cast of well… cool boarders, including Cindy, Irin, Jin and Yaggi. There’s a greater feel of counterculture throughout the game whether it be the graffiti design of the menus or blasting punk music of the soundtrack, providing plenty of character in lieu of an actual story.

 

Presentation & Sound

While some improvements have definitely been made, overall you’d struggle to tell Cool Boarders 2 apart from its predecessor on the graphical front.

All the elements of the prequel are here – you choose a character from a selection of clunky 3D models, choose the design of their board (and outfit this time) then head out to the slopes. These are rolling white plains with the odd log cabin, sheer cliff edge or tree lined forest along the way and while you’ll notice plenty of clipping and texture warping as you descend the mountains, the game does a great job of giving a sense of awe as you gape at towering hills stretching out in the distance or the bright lights of a city blinking at you.

New to this entry are big air and half-pipe events and these allow UEP Systems to experiment a bit with more colour and unique designs as you pull off tricks over purpose build spectator arenas. Again, it’s not too removed from the original but when combined with the unique menu design (even if it does fall into the common PS1 trap of too much info on screen – Destruction Derby suffered from this also) gives an appealing enough overall picture.

There’s still a ridiculous arcade announcer who shares gems such as “don’t be a wimp” and “what are you doing?” as you get overtaken, but at least the punk rock soundtrack is fully in tact with the smart new additions like tense trance which absolutely highlights certain levels such as a dark night-time descent. It reminded me of the likes of Jet Moto and WipEout at points which is a very good thing.

Soundtrack highlight – Tranzy

 

Gameplay & Content

Offering a significantly more meaty package than the first game, Cool Boarders 2 still hasn’t quite got the gameplay down but it’s undoubtedly among the best extreme sports experiences the PS1 has to offer.

Rather than simply taking part in races, you’ll now be able to compete in big air and half pipe events in addition. While races are pretty much the same as before (hurtle down the mountain avoiding obstacles), they’re boosted by AI competitors who give you a target to aim for. Big air meanwhile is a one-shot trick competition where you go off a slope and have to land the best manoeuvre you can, while half pipe gives you a time limit to go down and land as many insane tricks as you can.

Unfortunately, controls are still rather stiff and awkward, a way off the refined movement that SSX introduced on the PS2. You’ll pull off tricks with the shoulder buttons which is not the easiest to do on Vita (as well as having to read them from either the manual or the loading screen, which felt a bit clunky) while actual boarding can be more precise as you can hold square for tight turns, but it still feels off somehow and like you’re not fully in control of your character. It works, but could be much better.

You’ll be able to pick who you play as with each character having different stats for speed, tricks etc but none of this really fixed my issues with control. Still, the customisation options are nice and you can mix them in with different boards that either boost your rider’s skills or help in areas they were lacking to even things out. This helps on the much improved map design, highlighted on courses like freezing point where darkness obscures your vision and required precision to make it through in one piece.

Thankfully content is significantly upped from Cool Boarders. You can do the numerous maps individually for practice (there’s a load more of them than last time), but there’s also a tournament mode where you race in one after the other. It’s designed extremely well – you compete in big air to set a high scores which decides your placement in the race, after which you’re given a starting bonus or deficit against the other racers. It suffers from archaic design in that you have to hit arbitrary points totals to keep progressing, but restart and save features make it infinitely more accessible.

Overall, Cool Boarders 2 is indicative of so many early sequels on the PS1. It takes the smart ideas of the original and expands on them greatly and while there’s still room for improvement, it’s easy enough to come back to this one all these decades later.

 

Conclusion

Proving that extreme sports games can thrive on the PS1 (even if it is a few steps away from the revolution that SSX and Tony Hawk introduced), Cool Boarders 2 is exactly what I expect from a sequel – refinement with a tonne of new content. It’s still clunky and unpolished but I had fun revisiting this one (and I wish Sony would revisit Cool Boarders one day too!).

7.0/10