After the dreadful Arctic Thunder, I was weary to play a snowmobile game ever again. My biggest gripe was the graphics. Fortunately when I played through Sled Storm 2, everything looked great. Plenty of rolling hills with flashy red and yellow paint, crazy character animations, and snow blowers throwing the stuff everywhere. Some of you probably just looked at the title of this review, again wondering if it was for SSX. Although it says Sled Storm 2, it very well could be for SSX. The games are so close, if I saw a picture of Sled Storm 2 on the internet without knowing what it was, I would swear someone doctored an SSX pic with a snowmobile pasted on it. In fact, that is how it looks in motion also. I have no doubt that EA just said, 'Well, we own the rights to Sled Storm, let's stick a snowmobile in the SSX engine and use it.' They even use the same panning shots to show you the course before the race. Unlike the meager Arctic Thunder, you will find no slowdown here. In addition, there won't be any jaggies, poor textures, low polygon counts, or cheap animations. (All present in Arctic Thunder There will, however, be everything that's in SSX, but isn't a snowboard. That's okay though, because SSX rocks.

Once again, Sled Storm 2 falls between the good (SSX), and the bad (Arctic Thunder). Mostly, the music tracks are the same heavy techno that can be found in the former. And also, being that this game is mostly an emulation SSX, there is a truckload of voice acting. It all sounds good too, just like in SSX.

Ever play SSX? That's what Sled Storm 2 is like. You slide down a huge hill in the hopes of being the first person through a gate (aka: finish line) at the end. The big difference here is that the track loops, which means that you have to go uphill at times. But trust me, it doesn't make that much of a difference - still very much like SSX this game plays. Hell, I just realized that if this game was named Sled Storm X it would have the same initials as SSX. Coincidence? I think not. (But it probably is.) One of the most prominent goals of both games is to build a boost meter by doing different tricks. The only gameplay difference is that in Sled Storm 2, the boost is a lot more effective. Almost to the point to being unmanageable. And it looks a lot cooler too. Imagine taking the entire pack in a furry of red streaks as the entire screen blurs. Awesome. The different modes of play follow that of all arcade racers. Career mode takes you through a series of races in the quest for the gold cup. Stunt mode allows you to do, well, stunts. And finally Freeride or practice mode, which has no competitors, and is mainly for finding all of the short cuts. In addition to building up boost, one of the most important ways to get ahead is to find the shortest path through the course. Mostly the short cuts aren't all that easy to find, and they can be quite creatively hidden. Like in SSX.

Well, did you think SSX was hard? This game will be about the same. The difficulty levels aren't adjustable (ie., Easy Normal and Hard) like in other games but it feels like the game adjusts it automatically for you. Whatever your skill level may be, you most likely will fit into Sled Storm 2 very well. Just like in SSX.

Once again I must say this, Sled Storm 2 plays just like SSX . Even the controls are the same Face buttons and are used for the boost and jump controls, while a combination of shoulder buttons plus a direction can pull off a trick. The menu system is easy to navigate, and file operation is a breeze with auto saving and loading. All together, a very tight game. Just like SSX. Did I say that already?