0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Big Air

Big Air also known as Big Air Snowboarding is a licensed sports game based around Snowboarding, the game was developed by Newcastle, England based studio Pitbull Syndicate, and Published by Accolade and Electronic Arts. The game released in Europe on the 20^th of February 1999, and released in North America in April of the same year.

Notable people who worked on this game, Ian Copeland who worked on the game Programming had a long career in the games industry before the development of Big Air.  Copeland worked on the Programming for Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament and Test Drive 4 amongst the many games on his resume. He was also the Lead Programmer for the 2009 release Wheelman.

James Parr has worked on several entries in the Test Drive Series, He was also the programmer for Demolition Racer in 1999, prior to that he worked as a programmer on the 1996 release and one of my favourite PS1 games Destruction Derby 2.

 

The game has courses set in six different counties with France, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, The United States, and Germany represented with 24 courses in total to challenge the player. The game also features four game modes to choose from with World Tour, Training, One-Player and Two-Player mode.

The training mode allows you to get to grips with the games controls, the single player mode allows you to compete again AI controls characters, in modes such as Freeride Race, Freeride Trick, Half Pipe, Big Air, and Boardercross.

Freeride Race is just a one on one race against an AI opponent, this mode is just a simple start to finish race with tricks not being awarded with points, the Freeride Trick mode is again a one on one race but with trick points awarded for performing tricks.

 

The U shaped half pipe has players ranked on this ability to perform tricks as well as their style, momentum is key to this event with more points being awarded for the difficulty of the trick. The Big Air mode awards points for aerial based tricks with the more difficult the aerial trick the more points awarded. The final mode is Boardercross which is a race against multiple riders through courses that have everything from jumps and fierce turns to hazardous obstacles.

The main mode of the game is the World Tour which combines the various modes above divided into a three difficulty tier mode, with easy medium and hard difficulties. The players aim is to earn a certain number of points by winning competitions, the player will then face off against a division boss at the end.

 

To progress out of the Easy division 1000 points are needed to progress, progressing onto the next tier of difficulty will allow you to unlock addition courses. The game features over 80 Snowboards which have been modelled on their real life counterparts as well as apparel from real life manufacturers such as. Palmer Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, Morrow Snowboards, Inc., Joyride Snowboards, Arbor Snowboards, Maui and Sons International, Burton Snowboards, Sessions, and Westbeach Apparel.

The game has three sets of controls the first are the games basic controls, movement is controlled by using the D-Pad, the game also has analogue support with  or the left analogue stick also used for movement. When on the ground the player is able to jump using the X button.

 

The circle button is used to switch your boarders stance, while the square button is used to perform and airborne grab, using the R1 shoulder button allows you to modify your airborne grab. The R2 button is used to perform a slash turn, while the L1 shoulder button is used to slow your boarder down with L2 used to tuck, to chance the camera angle you press the select button.

The next set of controls are for grabs while airborne, there are a total of eight grabs that you can perform in the game, when airborne pressing the triangle button will perform a nose grab, the X button will make your boarder do a tail grab.

A backside air can be performed by pressing the circle button while the opposite a frontside air is donw by pressing the square button. To perform an indy you press the R1 shoulder button along with the Triangle button, these last four air grabs require the R1 shoulder button.

The last three are the Mute, which is done with R1 and the Square button, a stalefish is performed by pressing R1 and the circle button, the final air grab is a Lien air which is performed by using R1 and the X button. The final set of moves in Big Air are Flips.

To perform a front flip you press the up on the D-Pad twice  and the triangle button, the player can also perform a frontside rodeo and backside rodeo, these are done by pressing up twice for a frontside as well as the square button, while a backside rodeo is performed by pressing down twice and the X button.

Critically Big Air was average to above averagely received by critics, with a few review scores falling well below that as well. The game peaked with a 81 rated review, which came from PSX Extreme. The reviewer commenting on the game having numerous little problems, like the so-so graphics and lack of any vocals in the in game music.

They continued by saying, but it does have some nice touches, with the ease in which moves are combined and the variety and length of tracks as well as the stage design and good use of sponsors. Concluding the review said, Cool Boarders 3 is still the king of the Playstation snowboarding scene, Big Air is a worthy first attempt.

A slight drop In score for the second review down to a 71 from German publication Video Games who called the game a double-edged affair, the reviewer questioned why such obvious events such as time attack and slalom are missing.

The reviewer was also critical of the lack of first person view as well as a distance map and board editor as well non flat trees, the loading times were also a big issue for them. They did have some positives to say however, the reviewer praising the overall presentation, technically impeccable graphics and authentic moves. Concluding they called the game a really good try but Nevertheless, Cool Boarders 3 is clearly the first to cross the finish line.

Just one point behind Video Games were Absolute Playstation and their 70 rated review for the game. The reviewer question if we really need another Snowboarding game on the Playstation. The reviewer commenting that another Cool Boarders would be stretching it while Big Air falls short of the mark.

The reviewer found themselves on a rollercoaster with the game, with the reviewer at one point being impressed by the games graphics and then tearing their hair out at the pop up and glitches. The same goes for the actual gameplay as well, with the reviewer feeling in total control at one point, to only lose control at another. The reviewer concluded by calling Big Air a bit of a Jeckyl and Hyde game.

IGN were next up with the review score now dropping to an above average 65, the reviewer commenting on the slim picking when it comes to Snowboarding games on the Playstation. They continued by saying, and Big Air offers more choice, it’s not the best but it’s by far not the worst either.

GamePro (US) called the game overall full of big potential, yet can only provide an average gaming satisfaction in their 60 rated review. This score was just above the 58 rated review from Game Revolution, their review praised the game for the ease of linking moves together with the game featuring the usual mix of all of the grabs, flips, stalefishes, mutes, indies, rodeos and spins you'd expect.

The reviewer did however have plenty of criticism for the game, one of the major ones was the games graphics, the reviewer calling them rather disappointing, with polygonal break-up and everything looks grainy, he was also critical of the games music as well as bug issues, such as slowdowns, long loading times and boarders sticking to parts of the terrain.

GameSpot were the next review with a 56 score, the reviewer calling the game inoffensive, but at the same time is far from remarkable. Following them we see another small drop in score down to a 50 from Gamezilla. The review called the game a disappointment from some very talented developers, The reviewer continued by saying the game could have distinguished itself as the king of the snowboard genre, but instead accepts the label of just another snowboard clone.

Heading over to Sweden and Svenska PlayStation Magasinet with the reviewer saying. This is one of those games that will collect dust on your shelf a good deal in the next millennium. Or you'll get it when you're bored. Very bored in their 40 rated review.

 

The final two reviews come from German publication Mega Fun and Adrenaline Vault, starting with Mega Fun who’s reviewer found the game to be graphically weak but with a good soundtrack in their 37 rated review.

Adrenaline Vault had a long list of issues with the game, with the reviewer saying Big Air has bad graphics, horrible controls, more time spent loading than playing, hum-drum sounds, awful score and an unnoticeable change in difficulty settings, in their dismal 20 rated review.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, where the game must be very common with Gamedude offering just 5 cents when you trade in your copy of Big Air. If on the other hand you are looking for a copy of the game from Gamedude, you will be looking at a cost of $2.

 

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk we sadly don’t find the game available or even listed. So we will quickly head over to eStarland.com, where we do find the game available, with both a new and used copy of the game available.

Starting with the used copy which comes complete and can be picked up from eStarland.com for $4.25. The second copy on offer is a new copy of the game, this copy is not priced that much above the used copy, coming in at $7.95. Also on offer is a trade in for this game with eStarland offering up to $1.50 for a complete copy of the game, this price drops to 53 cents for a disc only copy of the game.

Finally we head over to Amazon.com where we find a pretty good supply of the game available, and we find a couple of good condition and complete copies for $5.97 and $5.98 respectively. Another good condition and complete copy can be picked up for $6.54 as well, with a very good condition copy available for just a few cents more at $6.56.

If you are looking for a like new used copy of the game, there is currently only one available on Amazon.com, this like new copy which comes complete and is the Black Label release of the game, this copy can be picked up for just $8.49.

If you are not a fan of used copies and prefer to pick up a new copy of the game, you wind find a couple of handfuls available, with prices starting from $13.94. Another couple of new copies are priced close to this price, with one at $13.97, with the other at $14.98.

A couple more used copies are priced at $16.35 and $16.39, both of these come with free shipping but this is done via Amazon, so Amazon Prime or a $25 spend is required for the free shipping. The final two new copies are priced at $18.94 and $18.98 once shipping has been added in.

Written by

P J Gibbon