SSX Review
Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: EA Sports
Platform(s): Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: Out Now
Sports games have never really been a ‘must-buy’ for me, I must admit.
On the few occasions that my hard earned euros have been spent on sports titles however, they have, admittedly, been snowboarding games rather than anything else. Back in the PSone’s heyday, pulling off a few tricks in the halfpipe in Coolboarders 2 was a great way to relieve a bit of stress. And of course, when SSX was released on the PS2 back in 2000, it quickly proved to be the best snowboarding title on the market. With it’s gravity defying tricks and smooth controls, it gained great critical acclaim, a trend which continued with each of its three sequels.
Now that seven years have passed since the last real installment in the series (not including the Wii exclusive SSX Blur), is this radical reboot really worth your hard earned cash? Well, yes actually, yes it is.
The franchise has shaken things up a bit with the addition of Experience points and extra equipment that can give your player the edge in certain situations. The more experience you gain, the more equipment is opened up to you and the more you can purchase. The actual gaining of experience doesn’t really register with the player, as you won’t really notice any difference in your characters performance with each level gained. The only real function of the level up system is to give you an excuse to play longer and unlock more equipment. Luckily, the game itself is so much fun, you will need little coaxing to do so.
The range of equipment itself is a bit hit and miss. The only reason they are present at all is because many of the tracks now come with deadly handicaps, for the more ‘extreme’ player. This adds a layer of complexity to the gameplay. For example, some tracks are so cold that players will need to equip solar panels in order to keep their body temperature up. This adds a tactical element to these levels, forcing players to plan their routes in advance in case they end up in a tunnel or chasm.
The wingsuit is, by far, the best addition, allowing you to make huge leaps and bounds from one mountain range to another, fueling your progress with a great sense of exhilaration. Naturally though, there are bound to be a few duds in the bunch. In particular, the oxygen tank, for high altitude levels, proves itself to be just plain annoying. If you don’t take a minute to give yourself a quick blast of air, your screen will grow darker and darker until you pass out. This feels like a cheap tactic to add extra difficulty to the game, but luckily, it isn’t present too often.
These ‘Deadly Descents’ are well integrated into the main story, as Team SSX are travelling around the world to conquer each of 9 mountain ranges before their opponent, ex-SSX member Griff. Each region you complete unlocks more characters and locations, rather than handing you everything at once on a silver platter. This adds a genuine sense of progression as you play through the different tracks in the story mode, in which you will either have to be the first to the bottom or have racked up the most points.
As well as the Race and Trick tracks, SSX now has the very tricky Survival tracks, where your only goal is to make it to the bottom of these mountains alive. This is where your equipment is needed the most. These fights for survival are extremely over the top and a blast to play. You may find yourself being chased to the bottom of a mountain by an avalanche, or be forced to navigate through almost pitch black ice caves. These courses take a lot practice to master. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to do so in Explore mode (which is essentially a practice mode) or by competing with other players online.
Coming from the traditional school of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, just about all gameplay aspects that made the previous games great remain fully intact in this installment. The controls have been tweaked to make them smoother and, if anything, the stunts are more bizarre than ever before. This comes as a great relief considering the focus on realism in many modern games. As in previous games, you will have to perform and combine tricks to fill your Tricky bar which, once full, gives you unlimited Boost for a short period of time.
It also allows you to pull off uber tricks, stunts that are particular to each character and that are so insane, they would make Tony Hawk blush. This is SSX’s central strength, as it is one of those games that becomes very difficult to put down once players have gotten to grips with it. There is always another trick to master, another time to beat, and doing flips over the snow remains furiously addictive, even after multiple playthroughs.
The visuals are not mind blowing, but they are crisp and smooth. The only times they will really impress are when you are getting some serious air at high speed and you see almost the entire mountain range spread out before you. These moments are pretty special, but more so when complemented with the fitting, if not forgettable soundtrack. With the exception of Run DMC’s It’s Tricky, which plays whenever you get your Boost up, few tunes will remain in your mind. Fortunately, SSX allows the player to upload their own music into the game, which it then remixes to fit the level, making it an impressive little side feature.
Overall:
SSX is a title worth investing in if you have any interest at all in snowboarding games. Moving on from the previous games in the series, it is the tightened control system and improved visuals that make it a noteworthy installment, rather than anything else.
The ‘radical’ changes, being the experience and equipment system, don’t contribute much, but they still benefit the game rather that detract from it. A solid game for a modern player.
8/10
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