ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: POLARIS SNOCROSS

[Ross Scott]

Enjoy the first Christmas episode of Ross's Game Dungeon! If you're like me and you get sick of overly-sentimental content around Christmas time, then I think you'll like this episode. You're not going to get lots of heart warming affirmations for this video, instead, you're going to have some intense snowmobiling in a game loaded with enigmas.

 

Besides recording a racing game, it was a serious race for me to make this on top of finishing off Freeman's Mind this month, but I wanted to make a Christmas episode and didn't want to miss my chance two years in a row. At first I had massive problems getting it to run and almost considering doing a different game, but didn't think I had time for my other candidates. Also despite being shorter than some other episodes, this one might have taken the most editing work so far. No worries though, I wouldn't have made this if I didn't think I could finish Freeman's Mind in under a week. Even if the assistance I'm getting disappears and my computer catches on fire, I'll still get it made. I'm not prepared for a meteor strike, but anything less and I should be alright.

 

I think I'm slowly getting better at cutting down Game Dungeon to just the best parts as there were several parts I left out of this one to try and make it more concise. Here are some extra notes you might want to check out after watching video.

 

Extra things I could have said, but didn't :

 

-The game is actually capped at 29.1fps, this isn't a standard framerate for anything.

-The menus default to 640x480 and can't be changed.

-I considered having a slow motion snowmobile wreck set to "o come all ye faithful"

-I love the body language of the real life snowmobiler shown in the video. He gets off the sled like a cartoon character.

-This is a game that really would have benefitted from ragdoll physics.

-At one point I caught the computer teleporting ahead of me, but didn't have it on video. I also spotted the computer teleporting outside the track briefly.

-An alternative theory to Point Defiance's timeline is that Mobygames doesn't have enough damn information and I got confused since they don't even acknowledge the existence of my copy of the game. That still doesn't explain the 6 year gap in between the song release.

-I may have been a little hard calling Point Defiance's music generic. It's good, just not mind blowing (though Precious Burden is particularly good).

-Point Defiance actually Photoshopped out their old band member in their promo photos. It wasn't me!

-The files also had a "concept sled" model, but they would crash the game

-There was one additional track I didn't show, but it was just an indoor stadium. It probably would have added about 3 hours to the total processing time.

-I had an idea for game developers. Make a knockoff of this game, but in addition to normal racers, have lots of Christmas or winter themed snowmobilers. I would add Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, an elf, Frosty the Snowman, Jack Frost, a reindeer, a moose, a polar bear, and the old "New Year's Eve" man. I would make the graphics semi-believable for the full effect as opposed to going a cartoon route. It would also be awesome if Santa could do a biker kick.

 

- - -

ADHD version: Snowmobiles!

 

LINK TO COMMENTS

[skeropo]

We love you Ross.

Make love to me Ross, please!

[Eedo Baba]

So Point Defiance somehow acquired or discovered time travel some time after 2001. They then presumably used the Polaris Snowcross soundtrack change as a test for changing things in the past. One band member probably had misgivings about keeping the time travel device secret, and maybe threatened to tell someone. The rest of the band killed him to keep him quiet and dumped his bones off the coast near Point Defiance park. These bones were found a decade later and the whole story was pieced together on a video review of a snowmobile video game.

[Artlav]

Guess who will become the second man ever hit by a meteor...

 

Seriously, making this in the middle of a death race FM marathon?

Whoa, kudos and respect.

[SeerixTyphon]

The moment I saw the gameplay I realized I have played PlayStation 1 demo of this game to death many years ago. It was super awesome back then. >D Most of my attention went toward doing stunts, just riding and attacking other racers so cheating AI didn't irritate me enough to leave a lasting impression.

[TheYeIIowDucK]

I don't think you should focus too hard on making game dungeons concise. I can't speak for everyone, but one of the things I like most about these videos is how it's just some guy rambling about a years-old obscure and forgotten game. And the more rambling = more fun!

[doggie015]

The big question is has the effort of this video cost you the deadline of finishing HL1 on released video by Jan 1 2015?

 

Only time will tell...

[Doublenature]

This was interesting. Have you by any chance played Sled Storm for the ps1, Ross ? As a kid, that was the shit (and still is).

Rob Zombie has a song on it (the Dragula remix) and you can drive a bunch of different snowmobiles (and a upgrade system that was a little bit more in-depth than this)

It also came out in 1999 (1 year before this, if I remember correctly)

 

If you want to play a really great sled-racer, then you should really check it out! Just dont play the ps2 version, god that was awful.

[Meelis13]

Merry christmas ya filthy animal

 

 

and a happy new year!

 

(come on, you have all seen this movie)

[MonkeyBoi]

The sticky Keys segment made me laugh so hard.

[SeerixTyphon]

This was interesting. Have you by any chance played Sled Storm for the ps1, Ross ? As a kid, that was the shit (and still is).

Rob Zombie has a song on it (the Dragula remix) and you can drive a bunch of different snowmobiles (and a upgrade system that was a little bit more in-depth than this)

It also came out in 1999 (1 year before this, if I remember correctly)

 

If you want to play a really great sled-racer, then you should really check it out! Just dont play the ps2 version, god that was awful.

 

Goddammit, this is the game I've been playing on PS1~! Not, Polaris Snocross! What the hell, they're so alike, I only realized it when you mentioned Rob Zombie song as I got really confused when Ross didn't mention it but some other band. Pretty interesting, I'd say. >D

[Doublenature]

This was interesting. Have you by any chance played Sled Storm for the ps1, Ross ? As a kid, that was the shit (and still is).

Rob Zombie has a song on it (the Dragula remix) and you can drive a bunch of different snowmobiles (and a upgrade system that was a little bit more in-depth than this)

It also came out in 1999 (1 year before this, if I remember correctly)

 

If you want to play a really great sled-racer, then you should really check it out! Just dont play the ps2 version, god that was awful.

 

Goddammit, this is the game I've been playing on PS1~! Not, Polaris Snocross! What the hell, they're so alike, I only realized it when you mentioned Rob Zombie song as I got really confused when Ross didn't mention it but some other band. Pretty interesting, I'd say. >D

 

Yeah Im starting to think Polaris sno cross was a rip-off, it looks very similar, the tricks, the upgrade system etc.

Sled Storm one of the greatest games made (not blinded by nostalgia, I still play it)

[Meelis13]

tbh for some reason i was quite suprised to see xp as os...

[kingkolton9]

I don't think you should focus too hard on making game dungeons concise. I can't speak for everyone, but one of the things I like most about these videos is how it's just some guy rambling about a years-old obscure and forgotten game. And the more rambling = more fun!

 

I concur. That's definitely a favorite.

 

"I have a ship that's a carrot."

 

"Did you know that even though this game came out in 1993 this car is still really fast?"

 

Or, in this episode: "RAAAAAARG!"

 

Anyway, Ross, great episode as always. Again, you jumped through a hoop and a half to entertain us. I kind of can't believe you used a hex editor to modify the game, and consulted a programmer and someone who knows about game compatibility.

[Jackathan]

Another quality video, Ross!

 

Hopefully you finish Freeman's Mind this year...

[kjc609]

Six days left...

 

The clock is ticking...

[HLPrincess]

Also, this game review is the only place where we could see a somewhat proper snow... nowadays we have a very beautiful, rainy and extremely windy fall in Poland ...

 

climate change, hello again

[Dont_Tell_Taco_Tyrant]

That green AI racer was like Ross' sworn enemy

[Sexypotato]

I remember playing this back in the day wow had forgot about this game!

[Presence]

This was pitch perfect, though I wish it were longer. A great look at a game I'd never have taken a first look at, all kinds of interesting facts, and content that has probably never been shown before. Mmm. That's a lot better than the socks I got, I'll tell you that.