Steep Cover Image
Steep is a great game from Ubisoft that pays homage to the old winter extreme sport games like SSX. Steep provides the player with some realistic heart pumping actions as the player completes numerous challenges on different mountains to gain a reputation in the extreme sports world. Through leveling up, the players are given various different rewards, from cosmetic changes to the ability to travel to different mountain ranges around the world to a private helicopter that can drop you off at any point on any mountain.
One of the best things about Steep is just how diverse the game is. Steep’s game-play can be broken down into different parts based on the sport the player is using. Steep offers players the ability to use snowboards, skis, sleds, wing-suits, rocket wing-suits, paragliding and even base jumping. Each sport offers different kinds of events, from races to proximity flying, which the player can attempt to try and receive a gold medal and unlock new items. Each of the sports offers a different way of playing the game. Where the wing-suit requires players to control the fast paced flight in order to run through checkpoints, the paragliding requires players to move much slower but control their path as they turn around tight corners while performing tricks. The snowboarding and the skis allow players to play in timed races or to beat a certain amount of trick points.
I think the one thing the game does better than other extreme sports games like SSX is the level of realism. Even in the tricks events, the player can only perform certain kinds of tricks from twists and grabs, unlike the out-of-the-world tricks that games like SSX have provided players for years. This realism offers a feeling of utter satisfaction every time you pull a trick off and speeding past objects as you move down a steep mountain slope gives an adrenaline rush I have yet to experience in other games. Moreover, after the events, the players are immediately sent into freeroam, allowing the players to either choose to play another event or just have some fun as they move down a mountain.
The map is a great feature, not without some downfalls though. This is the only part of the game that actually gave me some form of annoyance. The map itself looks beautiful and does a great job in telling the players where the events of their liking is, while providing players with recommended events based on their previously completed ones. However, where the map falls a bit short, in my opinion, is selecting some of the events. In order to do so, you have to guide a cursor to an event start point, however, often times it is hard to exactly land the cursor at the right spot and when multiple events are close to each other, you will find that the game automatically seems to move to events you did not want to pick. However, this small feature does not take a whole lot away from thrill of playing all the different sports.
Steep is now available on the PlayStation Now service that allows players to relive past and current generation games by streaming them or downloading them onto the PlayStation for free. The service has a monthly fee that is very much worth it after you see the seemingly never-ending list of great games released for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of the Sony consoles. Overall, it is a great game and one that I would recommend to any person who wants to get into gaming as it is one of those games you can simply spend hours on hours in, even in free roam. Trust me, there is nothing better than strapping on the rocket wing-suit and flying across the Alps.