Cool Boarders Offers More Attitude Than Thrills on the Slopes

Call me a snob, but I hate snowboarders.

So maybe I was predisposed toward hating Cool Boarders, a humdrum racer for PlayStation that plays into every snowboard stereotype imaginable. I suspect that, unless they’ve smacked into one too many trees, even die-hard boarders would find Cool Boarders tedious.

About the only fun I had playing this loser was when I smashed my little digital mogul masher into the sides of pipes and even knocked him off a cliff or two. Call it the video realization of every skier’s fantasy.

That minor thrill aside, Cool Boarders is a thumb wrecker with squishy controls and annoying commentary from an unseen partner who proclaims every foible “weak.” Yeah, dude, ditto.

Courses move smoothly enough and the characters are big and clean. But I should have known what lay ahead when I discovered that a big part of the game includes picking out an outfit and choosing the color of a snowboard.

So what if I was lousy on the mountain? I looked cool.

And that sort of sums up the problem with Cool Boarders: It looks cool and packs plenty of attitude but delivers little of the play it promises. Count this one as wiped out at the top of the lift.

Players looking for great skiing and boarding ought to check out Val d’Isere Skiing and Snowboarding for the Atari Jaguar. With Atari out of the hardware business, the rigs can be had for a song and the carts, although tough to find, run about $10.

Or, for players understandably reluctant to buy a dead system, try 2 Xtreme, the sequel to the early PlayStation title ESPN Extreme Games. The snowboarding segments are still pretty lame, but they’re supplemented by three other segments that more than compensate: mountain biking, skateboarding and roller-blading.

When push comes to shove, all four are pretty straightforward racers, with a few variations tossed in. But they’re fun and all offer a little more action than just steering through a course.

For instance, players can trip passing opponents or knock them off their bikes. Of course, the passing opponents can reciprocate, which makes winning a lot more tricky than just mastering the course ahead. And the courses are very cool. From Las Vegas to Africa, they scream across the screen.

Like Cool Boarders, 2 Xtreme comes wrapped in attitude. In this case, though, it works because the game delivers on its boasts.

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Staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every Thursday. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send letters to The Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311. Or send e-mail to: Aaron.Curtiss@latimes.com.