Steep (3)

There’s snow pun here

I’ve never ever experienced snow. I’ve never ever felt the caress of fresh powder, or seen a mountain on a bright winter day covered in sub-zero liquids. And even though I utterly detest cold weather, that is something that I’d love to one day experience just for the hell of it. Only problem? I’m as broke as can be thanks to my crippling habit of collecting Batman cowls, so a plane-trip to the Swiss Alps isn’t exactly on my agenda for 2017. Or ever.

Fortunately, there’s a chance to live that dream vicariously at least through Ubisoft’s latest effort, Steep. It’s the glory of those European mountains, without the frostbite or broken legs from a snowboard ride gone horribly awry. And on the surface, Steep looks the part. It’s a massive arena that is just begging to be explored, a vast range of untouched trails and paths that lead ever downwards.

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And while Steep can be amazing to look at, it drops the ball when it comes to the actual mechanics behind this session of shredding a few gnarly tracks. That’s where Steep loses the plot, as vistas that are combined with a freeform selection of winter sports (snowboarding, paragliding, skiing and wingsuit suiciding) just fails to nail the exhilaration of those events.

Maybe it comes down to Steep being a typical Ubisoft title in its control scheme, which emphasises a style of play that leans closer to simulation rather than arcadey physics. But the end result is that Steep just isn’t fun. It’s breathtakingly infuriating most of the time. There’s a wonderful sense of freedom throughout Steep, amplified by a ton of activities that just don’t manage to mesh together all that well.

Steep (2)

While snowboarding is easily the highlight here where the bulk of development was funnelled into, the other disciplines feel undercooked and flimsy in comparison. There’s a lack of weight and control in them that hinders such events. It doesn’t help much that pulling off tricks feels temperamental at best, with your plucky winter sports enthusiast sometimes gleaming the cube beautifully and most other times merging the atoms of his face with a nearby Swiss chalet wall.

Steep (1)

It’s this inconsistent approach which makes Steep downright annoying. A few hours in, and you get the feeling that this is one game that could have spent some more time in development before it was released, to equally nail all four disciplines better. Steep as a concept is brilliant and crafted with care, but its execution is lacking.

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Nobody was expecting Ubisoft to create a new SSX experience, but Steep comes off as downright clumsy in comparison to older games across a similar genre. Hell, Ubisoft have done extreme sports before, with the results of hang-gliding and wing-suiting in the previous two Far Cry games being the benchmark that Steep should have aimed for in the first place.

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And yet, I don’t want to see this franchise written off. It’s more tech demo than anything else right now, but I want to see Ubisoft approach a sequel to Steep in the same way that it did for Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. There’s a market out there who are desperate for some crunchy action on the snow. And it’d be a shame to waste a first effort that at the very least, is stunning to stare at. There’s a gap in the market that Steep could easily fill.

But just not in its current form.

Last Updated: January 6, 2017

Steep
Steep is pretty to look at it, but it’s also pretty awful to play as breath-taking visuals alone aren't enough to help this extreme sports game from going downhill.
5.9
Steep was reviewed on PlayStation 4
71 / 100

15 Comments

  1. Damn… So your major concern was that it felt mote like a simulation than an arcade game?
    If that’s all then the game is good in my books.

    Maybe they’ll fix it one day and add an arcade mode.

    Reply

    • Viper_ZA

      December 13, 2016 at 12:31

      I’m sure Ubi launched a broken game as per the norm. They are now punting it as “simulation” so they can milk the cash cow during the holidays!

      Reply

    • The D

      December 13, 2016 at 12:34

      Nothing wrong with a simulation! But it’s not very good at providing those simmy feels.

      Reply

    • Lu

      December 13, 2016 at 12:43

      Or add an Ezio character dlc instead

      Reply

  2. Captain JJ

    December 13, 2016 at 12:18

    I was expecting the score to be a bit…uh…higher.

    Reply

  3. Original Heretic

    December 13, 2016 at 12:21

    Ubisoft should ask themselves: what would Vivendi do?

    Reply

  4. Raptor Rants

    December 13, 2016 at 12:38

    Pitty. I was hoping for a good Snowboarding game. Guess I’ll try it to see if I like or hate the controls before I buy if I do want to

    Reply

  5. Dresden

    December 13, 2016 at 12:52

    “which emphasizes a style of play that leans closer to simulation rather than arcadey physics.” – I also honestly don’t care much for a sim snowboard game.
    All I want is to experience this again!
    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EdqOkLrukEE/maxresdefault.jpg

    Reply

  6. 40 Insane Frogs

    December 13, 2016 at 12:55

    I think the problem is that it prides itself on being an extreme sport simulator rather than an arcade game like SSX or amped. I thought it was an interesting game, and I hope they make a sequel. It has it’s fair share of flaws, but for now, I’m enjoying my mountain porn… Mmmmm those slopes… those valleys… those powdery snow…. drool.

    Reply

  7. Yasthil -

    December 14, 2016 at 15:03

    Honest to god i hate when ubisoft just makes games for the sake of it. But i to was looking for a snowboarding game after the ps3 SSX or something similar to fill the void of it on my ps4. Steep even though i really dont like ubisoft to much right now is honestly a really fun awesome snow boarding game. Im really enjoying it and all thr tricks and things to do is implemented very well. I didnt think much of it at first but as i got used to the controls and shit it filled the void that ssx left. It really is frikin fun, i dont think the person who reviewed this game spent enough time to get used to it and its new controls

    It isnt SSX its not so arcadish but put the time and you will see it can match up to the gameplay feels of ssx in its own way

    And no it doesnt play similar to an arcade game but it plays extremely well

    Dont give it a bad rating just for not being an arcade game :@

    The game is awesome anyone looking for a good snowboarding game go try steep out and get used to the controls its a very good game

    Reply

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