Project Powder

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Fun MMO about competitive snowboarding has open forums.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Project Powder is a massively mulitplayer online snowboard racing game that monetizes by in-game purchases of game-enhancing items. While players can earn coins in the game that can be traded in for cash to buy items in the game's store (with 3500 coins worth $5 cash), players may wish to simply purchase the game-enhancing items with real cash instead. Purchased items are "rented" rather than bought and will generally last for only 4 weeks. Children under the age of 13 cannot register an account and parents registering an account for their children under 13 need to be aware that the forums (places to chat) are open forums without parental controls but which do have bad word language filters in place. One nice feature is the ability to create a race and password lock where parents and younger kids can have a private race game.

  • This is a competitive sports game, but there is little chatter besides the ocassional "good luck" and "are you ready?" Although at the end of a team event, the winning team may "trash talk" the other but that talk is limited by bad word filters that can't be turned off.
  • Characters can fall, hit each other while snow-boarding, and in the challenge mode, throw lightning bolts at each other. Your character emits an "Oof" when you fall or "Hey watch it" when bumped, but otherwise, there is no blood, gore, or virtual broken bones.  While waiting for a race to start, you can also throw a snowball at another character.
  • All avatars are fully dressed in winter clothing. The most skin seen are bare legs and the occassional bare midriff. There is no overt sexuality such as overly large breasts on the female characters.
  • As this is competitive snow-boarding, there is little chatter in game, although a strong “naughty word” filter is in place, which cannot be turned off.
  • The game monetizes by in-game transactions. While  there are no overt advertisements in game, there is an in-game Mall where you can purchase new items with in-game cash that is earned by playing the game or bought using real cash. The website has tabs that take you to the online store. Items bought enhance game play and expire after several weeks so if you keep playing you will need to keep spending. Purchased items are "rented" rather than bought and will generally last
    for only 4 weeks.  Where it gets complicated is that you must buy an
    outfit (top and bottom which can cost just under 4000 coins) which
    comes with slots for speed and trick boosts. Then you need to earn the
    speed and trick boosts in the game by winning races for these outfits'
    benefits to work.

What's it about?

PROJECT POWDER is all about competitive snowboarding. A player picks one of four free characters to play and learns to do tricks to gain points in a downhill race. Players start with 4 tricks that they can learn and get "licensed" in, in order to do gain points while doing those tricks in a race. Performing tricks during a race also builds up your speed boost bar. Experience is gained in participating in races against other players. As long as you don't finish too far behind the leaders you will gain some experience points and have a chance for some random gems that are used for gear enhancements.

There are three game modes: Race, Battle and Coin. In reality, they are all races, and can be played as a team or solo. The Race Mode is all about getting over the finish line first and gaining as many points as you can by doing tricks. Battle Mode adds items that you can pick up during your trip downhill which are defensive or offensive. These could be an ice lance to blast an opponent, a shield to deflect that ice lance, or any number of other objects. In the Coin Mode, you gather coins as you race with the goal of gaining the most coins possible so as to increase your in-game currency.


Is it any good?

 

Project Powder can be immensely fun as it couples skill and good judgment with competition. The courses are varied and challenging, but the game is forgiving in that it picks you up when you fall instead of having you wipe out. Also, you can hit the escape key to reset you back on course. The game is very easy to pick up, provides excitement with good visuals and matching music, and yet challenging to master. It takes time and practice as each course has it's areas for the savvy player to get extra "air time" to perform tricks. Outspark disallows accounts for children 13 and under, but with parental supervision, it can be a good game for children of about 9 on up.

As with other MMORPGs and competitive online games, players can form or join an in-game social group. Being a member of a "crew" can enhance game play. In-game events are scheduled often as are special events that award prizes, and frequent content updates such as new items and new runs keep the game lively for players.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about internet safety with their children. Making online friends and joining a crew can be fun but one must remain cautious about privacy. Why should you not give your personal information to others on the forums?  Parents can also talk to their children about playing and learning about a game before they decide to spend money on items as boost gems are earned from playing the game. That is to say the items are "fluff" until the player has the gems to enhance them with.


This review was written by Carolyn Koh
Teen, 16 years old
May 16, 2009
 
This game was great.
I decided to try it out, but I didn't have the money to buy it, so I got it free by doing offers. Tutorial here - *://ls22.wordpress*

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Teen, 16 years old
May 13, 2009
 
games
i liked this game does any one elsa like it i didn't get to play for a while but it was good well i think people shaould play this game more often i highly recomand it it may not be suitable for some ages but there are probably more games out there for kids just like this game well my words are very short it was an amazing exprecne so please play this game i give it 5 stars

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 16 years old
May 19, 2009
 
oh it fun
bhdnqw

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This review was written by Carolyn Koh
Platforms:Windows
Available online?Available online
Genre:Massively Multi-player Online Game (MMOG)
Developer:Outspark
Release date:May 8, 2009
Price:Free or in-game purchases
ESRB rating:NR for Not Rated

This review was written by Carolyn Koh

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

 

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