While I've defended the Ubisoft open-world design philosophy multiple times, this is one place that I won't defend it. The open world adds nothing to the snowboarding/ski-ing/extreme sports genre, which is better served by a more arcade-y approach. Other than the graphics, I don't feel like the gameplay improves on the late 90s/early 2000s extreme sports games, and the added bloat (missions! achievements! RPG elements! a stupid voiceover!) makes it feel like a step backwards.