SSX Preview

Let me be honest dear reader, I’ve only ever had one past experience with SSX, and that was with SSX Tricky way back in 2002. I was pretty young at the time and whilst I found the game enjoyable, it wasn’t exactly something I was letting my PS2’s laser burn to death over. Like most people, I had seen a few trailers, videos, and ideas behind what the game was and in what direction it was heading, but that was all I really knew about SSX going into my hands on experience at EA HQ.

However, the premise of SSX isn’t something that’s alien to me. Picking tracks and traversing down snowy mountainsides is where SSX lies, and it does it well. Tricky kept me engaged for some time with the tracks it did provide, but it felt like it was all over a little too quickly, which is most likely the reason I didn’t keep the game in my console for more than a few weeks.

Getting my hands on the upcoming SSX was a bit of an odd one for me. One part of me really wanted to experience what the game had to offer, and another part of me didn’t really have a clue as to what was going on. I almost felt out of my depth, but despite this, it quickly became apparent that my misgivings and worries were actually helping me in the current situation.

SSX is a complete reboot, taking what the series has offered gamers in the past, it has redefined itself in many ways. However the most obvious one was in content, and my, how SSX has grown. Boasting a huge world, 29 of the Worlds Mountains with 150 event drops and tracks, each with unique challenges means that SSX won’t be boring its audience any time soon. The replayability it something that the team have obviously been going for and I can definitely see why.

The tutorial alone was enjoyable, having you spinning infinitely through the air to learn how to control the board. Every wiggle of the thumbstick reveals a different way to grab your board, which in turn allows for hundreds of different combinations to pull off whilst flinging yourself to what should be certain doom. It then drops you onto the ground, allowing you to practice controls and to get your player swerving from one ledge to the next, combining it with the tricks you learnt freefalling.

Once you’ve got the hang of that, you’re put into a race with some AI, to storm down a mountainside and beat the others, showing off your skills while you’re at it. Basic SSX stuff, veterans won’t be disappointed. This is where the game really shines. Without any need for incentive, we found our characters flinging themselves off cliffs, grinding down pipes; on their heads and performing death defying stunts.

The game excels in so many areas it’s hard to know where to start. The beautiful updated graphics fit nicely in the current era of HD, creating realistic and some jaw dropping moments that definitely get you caught in the moment. The snow covered mountains – despite all sharing a glaringly common factor (they are white) – are all unique and have been designed in a way that no two tracks, at least of the few I played on, felt the same. Level design has definitely been upped several notches.

The soundtrack is, as always, a beat thumping adrenaline ride, with actual songs from actual artists some you may recognise. SSX is semi-famous for its fantastic choice in music that is sold on the shelves yet fits perfectly into their game. Despite no headphones, so a lot of noise mixing together, the sound was crisp and clear, every grind, leap and fall felt real, with the voice acting and menu swapping helping the flow of the game in its entirety.

The game itself was easy to understand and follow, especially for someone who had distanced himself from the only exposure he had to it for such a long time. With responsive and understanding controlls, it was easy to pick up and play, whilst it was also obvious that experts and hardcore players of the series would be able to develop tricks and techniques that people like myself could only dream of. The balance is nice, and whilst I was happy plodding along at my own speed, people were equally enjoying speeding past and doing things as they wanted.

This started to show me that, despite the aim to make it to the other end in one piece, the game offers a very diverse experience depending on who is playing it. Everyone will find different ways to explore the levels, but you’ll also find the game changing as you start to learn more and develop new techniques, allowing for a completely different level, and a whole new game.

Whilst I enjoyed it as a whole, I couldn’t help but feel SSX was running purely for the fans of the series. The tutorial levels were good and it was easy to pick up, but there wasn’t a lot to help take you to a new level, and further your skill. The levels seemed to randomise in difficulty, the first I played being easy, the second excruciatingly hard, and the third easier than the first. While veterans will easily traverse these levels in a matter of seconds, newcomers to the SSX world (and let’s be honest, there could be a lot of them) may be turned off by the sporadic difficulty curve, and be left with a confusing experience, giving up on a solid game early on.

But a solid game is definitely what they’d be missing out on. While SSX doesn’t bring much new to the series apart from a few interesting tidbits here and there, it is bringing an old series back to life, and a second run in an industry that is much more open to new ideas and fresh innovation. As such, I think SSX will fit that gap perfectly. Since its absence, there’s been a hole that no extreme sports game could really fill, so what better game to fill SSX’s boot’s than SSX?

SSX is due for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on February 28th with a European release following on March 2nd.