Snowboarding and extreme sports lovers would be pleased to know about Outspark’s sports offering, Project Powder. Would an online stint outperform the console competitors? Or would it be a mere shadow of its offline predecessors?

Project Powder caters to snowboarding lovers, both rookie and veteran players alike. The game focuses more on acquiring and busting out killer air moves in different race modes. At the start of your snowboarding journey, you’re only given very few character models to choose from. Clothes, snowboards and various accessories are offered in the item shop, buyable through in-game or cash credits. Sadly, these items are expensive and temporary. Players have to spend a great deal of in-game credits to rent each single piece of item for only a limited time. Adding to the frustration of renting items, money is very hard to come by. Even constantly winning the top spot will only reward players with meager earnings.

Races not only give game credits, but also experience points. The EXP you gain depends on your winning rank in every race. Along with scarce earnings, Project Powder is also stingy in awarding EXP. It takes a long time to fill that exp bar and proceed to the next level. It would seem that the game is testing the limits of your patience.

Single-player modes are in the form of quests to learn new tricks. Raising your levels allow your character to acquire more tricks at your disposal. Players have to fulfill the single race conditions within a time limit in order to fully use the unlocked skill. The tricks are easy to perform using a series of keyboard strokes and arrow key combinations.

Multiplayer modes are divided into different race types: Coin, Team / Individual Battles, and Team / Individual races. Coin races would be the best way to earn more money. The coins you collect in the racetrack will be converted into in-game credits once you reach the finish line. Race battles are similar to Mario Kart. Players can abuse the power-ups and weapons to win the race. The race-only mode is nothing but your typical high speed race. Unfortunately, players with the best stat-modifying equips usually get the upper hand in winning.

What Project Powder lacks in gameplay, it makes up for the graphics and sounds. Project Powder has graphics that are at par with a Playstation 2 game. Detailed backgrounds and amazing snow effects fill the racetrack. Sounds complement the game in the form of hip-hop and techno tones.

In all, Outspark made a good decision in releasing Project Powder. It offers a fresh genre in the MMO world. However, their implementation of the game was disappointing, from expensive items to the slow leveling pace. Project Powder is just like any other casual game, a game to pass time for. If you want more thrills, you’d best stick with the console versions instead.

The Bad: slow leveling pace, expensive mall items, slow money gain

Review by kenny, Freemmogamer.com - Posted April 13, 2009