Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: January 19, 1998

Unfortunately for gamers and ski fans, there has never really been a top-notch ski simulation released for the PC. This past year, we did see the release of Winter Race 3D, but Winter Race 3D was more of an arcade skiing title than a true simulation. Sierra hopes to change that with the release of Front Page Sports Ski Racing. FPS: Ski Racing offers a variety of races along with sponsorships from some of skiing’s leading equipment manufacturers.

FPS: Ski Racing will offer skiers that chance to race in one of four different alpine events. At the beginning of the game, you can choose whether just to ski or enter into a season of events. When you begin, you have the option of creating a skier from scratch which allows you to select what type of designs you want to wear, who your sponsors are, and what type of equipment you would like.

The different types of equipment can have an effect on how well you ski. There are skis from companies like Dynastar and Atomic and boot manufacturers like Rossignol. Your skier will reflect the equipment you choose and, depending on the skiing conditions, you may change skis or boots. You also can change the length of ski that you want, with longer skis allowing you to gain more speed.

FPS: Ski Racing is endorsed by Picabo Street and she offers tips and advice on how to win at the game. There are different videos that describe all the controls in the game as well as some special features. Each event also is described and Picabo gives her opinion on what events offer the skier. There is also a training mode where you ski down the hill with Picabo giving you advice along the way. This works all right and gives you some clues as to what you might be doing wrong.

There are five different skiing events in FPS: Ski Racing. Those five events are: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Super Giant Slalom, and the combined. According to Picabo, Downhill is the most challenging and enduring race of the five. Downhill is the longest event, spanning more than 2-3 miles long. The race consists of single runs by the skiers competing, with the fastest run being the winner. The Giant Slalom is the easiest event to ski because it is short and the gates are set 40-50 feet apart. There are more turns in the GS even and it lasts about 1 mile. The Slalom event is the shortest event of the four. It requires skiers to maneuver through tight turns to prevent missing a gate. The final event, the Super G, is a cross between the Giant Slalom and the Downhill events. It takes place on about a mile and half course and has spread out gates. You only get one shot at going down the hill and the fastest time wins. The Slalom and Giant Slalom both have two runs with the added times equalling
your final time. The all around event consists of the four other events combined into one.

When racing in FPS: Ski Racing, there are a few things that skiers have to keep in mind. The better you make turns, the faster you are going to go and the more likely you will be to win the race. The controls in FPS: Ski Racing are based on using either a keyboard or a joystick. There are really two basic principles to the controls. By pushing forward, you tuck and, by pulling back, you stand. Turning is accomplished by pushing left and right. So the combination of pushing up and left causes your skier to take a high speed carve turn. Doing the opposite will create a skid turn. There are a few other controls that you can access. When you are about to go over a jump or something that will cause you to get air, you can hit a pre-jump key that will help you minimize the amount of air that you get. Less air means more speed. You also can press a key or button to edge you skis, which in turn allows you to turn more sharply. There are also controls for changing your point of view. You can race
while looking through the eyes of the skier or from a number of external camera positions. These can be changed on the fly during the race.