VIDEO GAME REVIEW '1080 Avalanche' players better keep their balance

By PHIL VILLARREAL
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Watch out for the snowboarding game "1080 Avalanche" ($49.99 on GameCube, rated E for everyone). It's one of those leaners.
You know, it's the kind of game that makes you lean to one side or the other in a hapless effort to influence the movement of your character to avoid a face-plant into the snow.
The mogul-hopping, rail-sliding and gravity-defying jumping in "1080" may cause you to lean so far, you could lose your balance and topple over in real life just as your character does in the game.
Choosing from among four fictional stunt snowboarders ages 19 to 23, players attempt to wrestle with the slopes in downhill races, slaloms, jumps or trick competitions.
There's a handy kilometers-per-hour gauge in the upper right corner of the screen, as well as an Olympics-style time display that shows your time compared with the game record.
Beat the computer-set top scores and you'll unlock various other aspects of the game, such as faster boards and new courses. Bust enough successful moves and you'll soon find yourself riding down the mountain on a penguin-shaped board.
"1080" offers little in gameplay to trump previous extreme snow sports titles, such as "SSX Tricky," but improvements in graphics, control and sound -- especially a slammin' punk soundtrack by the likes of Cauterize and Finger Eleven -- jump this one near the top of the snow heap.