Game Review: SSX

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Price Range: £25-£39.99

Age Rating: PEGI 3

Genre: Extreme Sports

Design


After a number of years SSX returns to our screens with a brand new HD approach, bringing back familiar characters and some new ones too, EA tries its best to make this the best SSX game in the series but to be honest it falls short thanks to some major gameplay downfalls that we will cover later. The main objective of career mode is to beat one of SSX's former members 'Griff' as he tries to conquer nine of the worlds most dangerous peaks before you do, each peak has its own obstacles and gear to use but to be honest if you have the correct gear and a pretty decent board both of which aren't hard to come by then the game can easily be completed in five hours or less depending on how much you put into each level. Multiplayer plays too much of a big part in this game with it taking up a large proportion of the game time, in fact it takes up way more time than the actual career, the aim is to keep beating players from all over the world on varying levels of difficulty depending on what peaks you decide to tackle, as for playing with your friends it has never been more difficult to just simply race your friend to see who is the best, you have to do it the EA way which is tedious and seems to take the fun out of what could of been a snowboarding epic.

Gameplay


When it comes to games like this EA very rarely does a lot wrong in the whole gameplay area with characters starting from unique positions such as a helicopter or the top of a cliff before speeding down the mountain dodging trees and rocks alike. However saying this there are times when you hit a tree and it takes you about five minutes just to get around it. The introduction of the 'Rewind Button' which allows players to go back in time to correct a mistake or a trick that went horribly wrong sees you speeding backwards through the game, however this is limited and the game clock still runs forward, it does not rewind and other players can pass you, for me it wasn't really needed, what's wrong with just recovering on your board? Online mode is enjoyable for about twenty minutes at the most with races and events becoming very similar over time, the ability to leave markers known as 'Geo-tags' when you do a particularly impressive trick are set out for you rather than you being able to freely choose where you wish to place them, a major flaw when you are standing on your head on your board eating a burger and wanting to place a tag.

Presentation


For all the bad things that EA has put into this game I must admit that the graphics aren't one of them, the transitions between cut-scenes and the game are smooth and the character models look really impressive even when speeding down a mountain at 80MPH. The soundtrack boasts its usual host of remixes of tracks from some of the worlds top DJs and Run-DMC return to give their usual take on the 'It's Tricky' voice-over when you earn your super-trick. The only annoying thing about the presentation for SSX is the cut-scenes, as I mentioned they are smooth but they play out in a ridiculous comic-book style, a style that too many games these days are adopting and really shouldn't as it brings a less professional feel to the game. The menu layout seems fairly simple to use however equipping new kit and boards that you have just purchased leaves something to be desired, you have to search for a good few minutes before you find your super-mega-awesome-board.

Summary


It's obvious that EA wanted break the mould when it comes to extreme sports games and to be honest they haven't done that here, they've added too much in to one game,and the presentation of cut-scenes just seems childish. If you want a change from the original SSX series then be my guest and buy this game but be warned the career is far from brilliant and the Online mode far too over-powering. If you liked the original series then dig out the PlayStation 2 and play through SSX 3 a much more fitting solution than buying this game.

Ratings:


Design: 7.6

Gameplay: 7.4

Presentation: 8.1


Overall: 7.7