“STEEP” is an open world game based in the Alps and Alaska in which the exhilarating feeling of extreme sports comes to life. From snowboarding down the steep slopes of Matterhorn to paragliding down the peaceful landscape of Aravis. “STEEP” is the perfect mix of a relaxing ride down the mountain as well as the competitive nature of beating a friend in an extreme sports challenge. Many aspects go into a game to make a really great game to play and I feel like “STEEP” has a lot of those aspects.

“STEEP” has five fields of expertise in which the character that has been chosen can earn XP (experience points) and level that field up all the way to legend. Freestyler is the field where doing backflips off gigantic jumps with some skis or doing an insane mix of tricks with a snowboard can earn a lot of XP. I’ve found that this really makes for an awesome experience. Explorer is the field where earing XP consists of: pulling out binoculars and looking on for miles, or suiting up in the paraglider and floating peacefully over the mountains while discovering new “Points of Interest” as well as discovering peaks and “Drop Zones.” Bone Collector is the field where Ubisoft introduces the hilarious aspect of falling face down in the snow after failing to do a jump or when landing with the paraglider doesn’t go so well. Freerider may be a little like Explorer but in Freerider it involves doing exactly what the field says. Taking a helicopter to the top of a mountain and having a peaceful ride down the mountain can be a very good way to level up Freerider. Lastly, there is Extreme Rider. Extreme Rider is sort of like Bone Collector just without the fails. Earning XP for Extreme Rider can involve going down a steep slope and executing a daring trick or riding along thin ice. There is some really awesome features in “STEEP” and there is some main ones that make the game really enjoyable.

I have found that I really love the graphics of “STEEP.” The spray of snow while snowboarding or the wind gusts while nose-diving in a wingsuit are a really nice addition because in an open world game, it needs to look and be very realistic. The characters are another aspect of “STEEP” that I think was done very well. Choices range between eight different boy and girl characters that can be changed at any point in the game. I think this is a very cool part of “STEEP.” I have also talked about the different extreme sports. I think the extreme sports were done very well with challenges suiting each and every one. Mountain Stories, are another very interesting and awesome part of “STEEP.” Once a mountain story is begun it results in a task that has to be completed. Depending on the difficulty of the mountain, the task may be easy, or it could be extremely difficult. On a mountain like Aravis, there might be a story of “follow the rider” that consists of riding down the slope while following the rider. But, a story like Matterhorn, (which is an extremely steep and treacherous slope) it will be a very tricky challenge to complete. Once the mountain stories are complete, the mountain kind of gives a little insight to its history and I’ve always found that to be a very cool part of “STEEP.” The two maps of the game, The Alps and Alaska, give a sort of laid back game to fall back on which is especially nice since there is a lot of fast paced games out there. Both the maps have a fast paced aspect to them but, it also has that feeling of relaxation while riding down a slope. Even with so many things I love about the game, there is still things about it that I really don’t like.

Even though Ubisoft is a multi-million dollar company, they still try to find ways to get as much money out of the player base as possible especially with a game that many people love to play. In “STEEP” I felt like it got a bit repetitive because I played “STEEP” long enough so myself, and a big majority of the player base turn to DLC. But with “STEEP” Ubisoft has added three DLC to the game, Winterfest, Extreme Pack, and just recently, Road to the Olympics. However, these three DLC all have one thing in common, they all cost $20 to $30 dollars. And when added up with the original price of the game, it can add up to over $100! It’s because of this that I have not really liked the company Ubisoft. They have established themselves as money over quality kind of games even though “STEEP” looks great and is fun to play, that fun can start to diminish over awhile because  to continue the thrill of the game. It’s because of all that that there is a lack of good additions to the game that everybody can play. When I get a game for (usually) $60, I don’t expect to have to pay much after that, but when the community is asking for additions to the game, that means additions that everyone can play. Not just additions that cost money. With all the things that I don’t really like about the game, I think there is still someway to make them at least a little bit better.

The progression of “STEEP” has slowly declined since I bought it. One of the main contributors of that is that the player base of “STEEP” has decreased significantly.  I always love playing games that have a strong player base and that are also kept up to date with updates and free DLC. But with “STEEP” there hasn’t been a single free DLC added into the game and because of that, the player base has dropped off because many people buy the game to play it and have fun instead of paying for new content. With games like “Call of Duty” the company is able to add paid DLC because of the large amount of the player base willing to pay for the new DLC. But with “STEEP”, the player base is much smaller than those like “Call of Duty” so many people aren’t willing to pay for new DLC. Like I said earlier, the game can get repetitive after a while so adding free DLC I think, would rejuvenate the player base and keep the game popular. In order to do that, it would involve Ubisoft caring more about the game and the player base it has. “STEEP” has so much potential to be a really great game and if Ubisoft would pay more attention to it, “STEEP” would be an over the top, fun game to play.

Overall, “STEEP” is an extremely fun game to play with all the extreme sports and the rush that arises with every ride. The different mountains as well as the tale that each of them have are a really awesome part because, some of the history that is behind the mountain once a mountain story is completed. I personally have always loved games with a story tied into them and “STEEP” has a really insightful and enjoyable story mode. Anyone who loves games with good graphics would really like “STEEP” because the graphics are extremely good for such a big map. Every mountain has so many tiny details like crevices in rocks to a log cabin at the base. The eight different characters add a unique aspect because many people who play the game may not like the way one character looks or they may want to play as a girl character instead of a boy character. I think that the different characters was a very good part of “STEEP.” Many cool features are apart of “STEEP” like being able to access a GoPro while doing an extreme sport or sliding down a snowbank while walking. But there is also many things that could be improved to make it an over the top game. Paid DLC being the biggest flaw in my opinion; followed by, the repetitiveness of the game because there is no new content added into the game that is free. However, with the continuous rush and fun of “STEEP”, I’ve always loved the game even with the flaws it has. I would recommend “STEEP” to anyone who loves a huge and fun open world adventure that requires some patience as well as some keen eyesight to spot those drop zones and points of interest. Now that I’ve talked about some of the basics, it is time to go out and conquer the slopes.