The first day of the Tallahassee Cube Club was sans 1080, much to my chagrin. However around 10:30pm the second day, 1080: Avalanche was available to ogle over. And when I say “ogle”, I mean the game looks fantastic in every respect.

The clothing of the snowboarders ripples at high speeds and altitudes, especially on the male character. His suspenders were unhooked from his shoulders and hung around his legs for the sole reason of seeing them flap in the wind as you go down the mountain. Also, when the boarder falls down, the snow on the ground will stick to the clothes. As the boarder regains his speed downhill, the snow stuck to his clothes will slowly get blown off in a way that must be seen to believe. Framerate was very, very smooth, even with big drifts of snow coming at the snowboarder.

There were two modes for single-player. One was a sunset-themed time attack level with a very dynamic environment. As you go across a certain bridge, it collapses behind you as you go across. Also at the start of the level, if you hit the first wooden beam you see, the entire building collapses around you. The other track was a slalom race with a HUGE avalanche going on in the first part. Very cool.

The controls mirror those of the original somewhat. Holding L or Y tucks. B and X are trick buttons. Z modifies the tricks in the air, and while on the ground it allows you to fakie. R is for spinning in the air.

I couldn’t hear much of the sound, even with the Panasonic Brainshaker headphones, because the DJ was pumping phat techno beat with heavy bass.