There’s something about being high up on a mountain that makes you feel alive. Maybe it’s the idea of falling down that fills your body with adrenaline or maybe it’s the feeling of clean air that makes you feel like you’re truly alive. Since mankind discovered the thrills of the mountains, they tried to tame it, time after time, resulting in what we call winter sports nowadays. Steep offers you the chance to tame your own mountain, to become king or queen of it, to be praised by others who’re coming to claim their own crown.
Conquer the Alps
Steep is the ultimate dream of the winter sports fans. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a decent game in this genre. Last generations had games such as SSX, 1080° Snowboarding, Stoked and more to quench your thirst. Ubisoft noticed this lack of winter sports games and developed a new IP called ‘Steep’. Steep isn’t just an experiment, it’s clear that Ubisoft means business with this product since it was last year’ E3 surprise at the end of the conference. Steep can somewhat be compared to The Crew, meaning we only get to see the tip of the iceberg now and a lot of content will be added in the future thanks to DLC and expansion packs. That being said, is Steep worth getting at this point? Time to find out!
The first thing you’ll notice is how big the world of Steep actually is. After a short (a bit too short) introduction to the game, you’ll have access to the entire playable map. This version of Steep brings you to the Alps, the promised Alaska environment will be added later on. No reason to be disappointed however since the Alps look very impressive. Each mountain looks different from the other and the snow looks like the most realistic snow we’ve ever seen in a game. The map is huge and the best thing about it is that you’re entirely free to go wherever you want. Steep is without a doubt one of the better-looking games that released this year.
Different sports, different styles
With an environment like that, it would be a shame to only be able to use one way of transportation. Steep offers you the ability to snowboard, ski, paraglide or wingsuit your way down. It’s a great way to give the winter sports fan everything they wished for in one game. Snowboarding feels the most natural since you’ll be in full control of your character, and maneuvering your character down the mountain goes with ease. A little harder to perform are the stunts. By holding down the shoulder buttons and releasing them at the right time, you’ll make a jump. Depending to which side you’re controlling your stick, you’ll perform some sick stunts. The issue here is that they aren’t really that consistent and some stunts might fail while you landed them perfectly seconds ago. It’s a bit of a steep (pun intended) learning curve but once you got the hang of the controls, you’ll never want it any other way.
Claim the mountain
Besides snowboarding, Skiing is the next big thing, basically offering you the same type of feeling the snowboard gives you. Skiing is a bit harder, especially when you want to use a lot of tricks. It’s a bit harder to control your character and he/she often lands backwards, making it harder to control while descending. Skiing feels nice and is probably the best option to gain speed but aside of that, it seems like the developers worked out the snowboarding segment a bit better.
Another high is the wingsuit, wingsuit missions always feel epic and are extremely thrilling. You score most points by flying as low to the ground as possible. If you crash down, you can easily restart the mission with just one push of the button, without any visible loading times! It’s amazing what Ubisoft Annecy managed to achieve; somehow they managed to create an instant-replay button without any lag.
The least fun sports is the Paraglider, forcing you to lower your speed and making it almost impossible to really go where you intend to go. A better tutorial for the Paraglider is something the game desperately needs at this point since this sport just isn’t fun to play. I found myself avoiding paragliding missions for this reason.
Always online
Steep isn’t just one of those winter sports games you play on your own, in fact, Ubisoft wants you to constantly share your experience with others. Steep is one of those always online games so without an internet connection, you can’t play it. Seems like a weird decision at first sight, but once you understand the social features of the game, it wouldn’t be possible to achieve this without an internet connection. First of all, you can invite friends over to your game so they’ll join you instantly. Discovering new and thrilling areas with your friends is extremely thrilling and offers way more fun than just exploring everything on your own.
Together with your friends, you can explore the mountain or compete at certain events. Most events revolve around the same rules, finish first or score the most points before you reach the finish. It’s fun at first but can become boring rather fast. In order to keep you motivated, there’s a leveling system added to the game, enabling you to join more events and tune your character to perfection. The customization tools for your character are huge so you’ll really be able to create your own character in a world filled with other players.
The best part about the social interaction is that you can create your own events everywhere you want. Made a cool descent? Why not turn it into an event with your rules? You can share this event with the world and see how others perform. This offers an endless stream of new events to compete in or to share.
Not finished yet
As this point, Steep is a decent and successful attempt to bring back a genre we thought was lost forever. But it doesn’t stop right here. As said before, Ubisoft isn’t ready with Steep just yet and this is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of new content will be added in the coming months, including the Alaska environment and new vehicles to mess around with. The best version of Steep is perhaps the Gold Edition, since this one includes the Season Pass without having to pay a lot of extra cash. Not everybody will be happy about it but Steep is a game that will only become better with future DLC packs. Take The Crew as example, that game also improved a lot thanks to the DLC packs.
Conclusion:
Steep is another great example of why Ubisoft is doing it right. The company brought back a genre that went missing the last couple of years. The game is far from perfect but the social interaction with others, impressive map and gorgeous graphics really justify your purchase. Keep in mind however that the product isn’t finished yet and a lot of new things will be added as DLC later on. At this point, Steep is a very decent game that will result in hours of fun with friends. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for this game.
