Steep: Road to the Olympics

The structured nature of the story-based portion of this expansion makes it stand out from the original, which was conceived as a free, ongoing extreme sports experience. Steep: Road to the Olympics' narrative delivers a more traditional, linear play with a beginning, middle, and end that should take most players about four hours to complete (depending on skill), and it simultaneously serves as a surprisingly informative introduction to the world of professional snowboarding, thanks to its interviews with real athletes. It's a little rough in some areas -- the announcer is extremely repetitive and often inaccurate, and the reward for finally completing your goal of winning a trio of golds is underwhelming -- but the core mechanics remain both accessible and empowering. Tricking your way over huge jumps, half-pipes, and freestyle courses is a blast.

And once you're through with the Olympics, you'll have vast and gorgeous new mountains waiting to be explored. As usual, you can jump between areas at will, discovering fresh runs and new challenges along the way, including some absolutely fantastic downhill skiing. This is where the base game was at its best, and that remains the case in this expansion. Tearing down a narrow chute at breakneck speed using the (optional) first-person view is nothing short of thrilling, especially when hitting a hidden jump or trying to weave through a stand of trees. Chances are most people will buy Steep: Road to the Olympics with dreams of Olympic glory, but will end up spending the bulk of their time doing what they did in the original: Enjoying the freedom of discovering a massive mountain range full of secrets.