As in life, there is joy to be found in this journey precisely because it is hard.
Unlike in life, the camera is often facing backwards while you do it.
At this point you might think, “Is that it?”.
Bury your head in a snowdrift immediately.
But its true longevity comes from the progression of your own mind and fingers.
For a start, each track is not really a track.
One of them is probably a near-sheer decline and a Homer-on-a-skateboard leap across a canyon.
You then carry your new knowledge back into the regular modes.
Each course is split into regular checkpoints, so a crash doesn’t send you back far.
It also feels generous in the hands, with quick and easy braking and sharp turns a doddle.
Where I do feel frustration is where the challenge feels more arbitrary.
The camera not pointing in the direction of travel, as I alluded to above, feels less fair.
Snow Riders gives you no control over the camera whatsoever.
Perhaps this grants some affordances.
I don’t know.
Alas, my heart shrunk by exactly one size again due to the multiplayer mode’s general jankiness.
These are, I think, minor quibbles.
