The latest selection of games has dropped on Meta Quest +, and one that caught my eye from this month was Carve Snowboarding. Not only had I not heard of it until now, but it was made by the developers who brought us the excellent N64 title 1080º Snowboarding. With a reputation like that, this game could really turn out to be something special.

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SNOW PROBLEM!
The first thing you may be wondering about the game is just how a sport focused on your feet can be translated to a device designed around hand movement. Well, the answer is surprisingly simple: when standing in a sideways position, the game uses the position of your hands to gauge where your feet should be, As your body turns when you slalom down, so should your hands, and the game moves appropriately. Should you wish to jump, raising your hands together will make the game realise what you’re wanting to do – or you could actually jump in real life, which also works a treat! All other movements, namely tricks, are done by grabbing the board, so using your hands and the grip button will do what you need to do. It all feels surprisingly good, and you can even play it from a seated position should you prefer – although admittedly that feels far more uncomfortable as you twist your arms around the back of the chair.

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There are six courses to race down, each with their own set of collectibles to find. Some of these are simply down alternate paths, whereas others require you to grind or jump for them. Unlocking extra cosmetics and music is a great way to encourage you to replay each track, since you’ll only have access to two initially until you gain enough medals to unlock the next.

To unlock medals you’ll need to participate in either the time attack or freestyle mode. Time attack is as straightforward as you’d expect, with more medals being awarded for faster times. Freestyle, however, is all about the tricks, so experimenting with grabs and flips and the like will net you a higher score. You don’t really get told how to do any of the tricks, so you’ll need to figure them out for yourself – or look online for them. Interestingly, you can look for real world tricks and attempt to pull them off, which tends to be surprisingly successful a lot of the time. I would have rather had some kind of resource for tricks inside the game, but it’s nice to see that they’ve tried to maintain a sense of realism.

Speaking of realism, the snow mountains you’ll be racing down look frankly stunning for the most part. There’s a real sense of speed as you race down, and weave between the trees. Being an older game there are some textures that don’t hold up quite as well, but they’re few and far between. There’s not a whole lot of variety with the scenery, as you’d imagine, but I never found it to be much of an issue because of how well it is all presented.

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And that goes for the little log cabin too that represents you hub area, where you can select your equipment, stage, and even pet your dog should you choose to do so. Moving around the cabin can feel a bit stilted due to the lack of smooth turning, but given that it’s essentially a glorified menu screen, it doesn’t do too much to spoilt the overall presentation. 

VERDICT
Carve Snowboarding successfully translates the thrill of snowboarding into a VR format, offering an immersive and challenging experience. Its innovative control scheme and beautiful snowscapes make this a joy to play for both casual players and experts alike.