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Most ports of 16-bit (SNES & Genesis) titles to the Jaguar have thus far been just that... straight ports. You look at games like Dragon, Double Dragon V and Flashback, and wonder why developers don't take the time to enhance the games to better utilize the capabilities of Atari's 64-bit machine (and yes, it's 64-bit so don't start with that.) Thankfully, the folks at Virtual Studios have jazzed up Tommy Moe's Skiing and Snowboarding - the 16-bit version's name - to at least give Jaguar owners the feeling that they put some time and effort into the conversion.

As in Tommy Moe, there are three play modes in both skiing and snowboarding, 1 or 2 player competitions (not simultaneous though), a memory option that records your settings, and three different courses - downhill, slalom and giant slalom) to choose from. But these different modes of play just don't offer enough variation in play to give it long-term value. Snowboarding has a different look than skiing, but the play the same. Something like a course that allows for stunts and tricks (like a halfpipe) would have been a welcome addition for snowboarding fans, but it's absent here.

As mentioned earlier, Val d'Isere is much more enhanced over its 16-bit predecessor than most other ports on the Jaguar, but it still doesn't scream "64-bit." The scaling is nice, but animation is choppy and the sprites still look washed out. Give credit to the developers for trying, but they didn't have much of a game to work with.


Title Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding
Publisher Atari
System Atari Jaguar
Graphics 7
Sound 5
Gameplay 5
Overall 5
Reviewer Keita Iida