Sliding backward down a mountain, often at speed, peppering in “tricks,” all under the guise of being relaxing, is insane. I’ve previously stated that I find snowboarding, skiing, and other extreme winter sports, to be an exercise in getting yourself killed by your own decisions. I’m not wrong. Final Destination-ing yourself on the side of a mountain is something I’ll only endeavor to do in games, with the best of those of course being SSX 3. Nonetheless, I’ll give anything a go, so I’ve been playing Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland for a few hours over the past couple of weeks.

Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland, aside from being a long and clumsy name to trot out time and time again during a review, is exactly that backward suicide thing I was on about. In a series of open-world mountain courses with an almost isometric visual style, you take on challenges scattered across each mountainside. The aim is to progress enough to speed down other mountains. I’m assuming that each mountain is based on (or at least supposed to have) characteristics of real-life mountains. There is no mountain in Scotland called Ben Ailig, though I have been halfway up Ben Nevis with snow past my knees.

The first thing to really catch my attention was the controls. Rather, it is a mix of the controls, the perspective, and the limitations surrounding both. As you slide backward down the mountain, your tiny spec of a skier that you have taken control of speeds down fast enough to qualify as a rocket ship. With you controlling them, their solid rocket booster should kick out enough power to get them to the sun. Processing in my chimp brain how to move and maintain speed without the little red-shirt becoming red-snow is something I don’t think I can grasp easily.

I tried inverting controls, moving the camera out further and swapping between a keyboard and a controller, but none of it really helped. In fact, I found myself opting for the second keyboard option for controls, mostly because I was allowed to use WSAD that way. I don’t know why, but it just became an act of trying to get used to whatever was going to work the best and then make that work. Which makes the entire point of flying down a mountain attempting not to kill yourself a little difficult when also attempting to beat specific times. Yes, there are leaderboards.

Eventually, you’ll understand Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland well enough to get a few ski passes that unlock more mountains with challenges of varying difficulty. You’ll race against the clock as you try to differentiate from the alpine wilderness, which again, would be fine if it weren’t for the camera. The camera is something you don’t control, dictating just how much (or how little) you’ll be able to see. It will ultimately screw you over when you can’t tell if that tree is something you are about to miss in 3.5 femtoseconds or if you are about to become a seven-time world champion tree hugger.

I think what bothers me so much about this in Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland, which is still a laborious name to so say so often, is that something more could have been done. At least from my perspective, there are portions of the art style that are slightly cartoonish up close but realistic enough with tilt-shift effects and minimal screen furniture. There is something comedic about it. Regardless, the failure of challenges, or even when you impale yourself on a tree, don’t quite hit that comedy. Even the awkward controls lean further towards a comedic simulator than the likes of Euro Truck.

The question I keep returning to in my notes is: is it fun? That depends on your desire. A large portion is defined on completing challenges, which would be straight-faced enough to be serious if it wasn’t for the tip to smack other skiers to get a speed boost. There are portions of Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland that are gamified and leaning further towards that comedic bent I spoke about, but there is that challenge of navigating with this semi-momentum-based thing that is present. The game asks you to build up speed through snaking motions, however, at times it feels like there is a limit to how quickly you can become pizza on a chilled rock.

The game does have a purpose, well everything but the name, and all of it works to an extent. Nevertheless, the pieces feel disconnected and do not entirely work together to make a game that is fun. It is relaxing and even a little challenging at times. Navigating the mountain ranges can be a nightmare, even some of the simplest challenges can be tucked away. When you finally understand it, when you’ve given it enough time, Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland can sink its claws into you. Sadly I don’t think it is going to topple your rose-tinted vision of DJ Atomika’s setlist.

Ultimately, I do like Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland even if the name makes me want to chew on bricks. It can be at least interesting trying to avoid solid objects to not become flying mincemeat. Where I think it smacks the tree or awkwardly breaks its own neck is when so much of it doesn’t entirely click together. It is beautiful, but tonally muddled at times and occasionally poor at communicating what it is you are supposed to do. It has only a few tiny technical hiccups, but performance could be improved upon.

A PC review copy of Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland was provided by Microids for the purposes of this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderland

$19.99

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful art direction.
• Gameplay that is relaxing/interesting.

Cons

• Any "fun" from challenges are fleeting.
• Could be slightly more optimized.
• Clumsy controls.