On Tuesday, Russia was banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea due to a massive doping scandal that prevents anyone from competing or officiating in the Pyeongchang, South Korea games under the Russian flag. On the same day, Ubisoft launched the 2018 Olympic Games expansion, which is supposed to be an accurate reflection of the games themselves. The expansion was made in partnership with the International Olympic Committee, the same organization that banned Russia from competing.
Steep: Road to the Olympics includes various countries in the competition, including Russia, and Ubisoft indicated that they have no plans to update the game to remove Russia from the expansion. When Game Informer asked them about the issue, Ubisoft replied “There are no existing plans to patch Russia out of Steep Road to the Olympics.”
Our review of Steep paints a mixed view of the game, the gorgeous seamless vistas and environments clashing with the unpredictable physics and odd story.
It is hard to evaluate a title like Steep without comparing it to the promise of its premise. The sheer idea of a gigantic extreme winter sports sandbox is extremely compelling. While the game manages to live up to some of its potential by offering up an expansive, beautifully detailed map and an extensive collection of modes, it falls short on several fundamental elements, critical to the success of a new franchise. Odd storytelling, inconsistent controls, practically non-existent tutorials and imprecise collision detection all combine to derail what should have been a new premier franchise for Ubisoft. Though it still has plenty of redeeming qualities, Steep proves to be an interesting new framework in serious need of polishing. Player beware. Your mileage may vary.
While we pointed out that Steep had a great premise and promise for the future, it should be noted that numerous updates and expansions have been released over the last year that may have fixed the issues we initially had with it.
[Source: Game Informer]
