SSX Review
It’s been five years since the last title in the SSX was released, but snowboarding fanatics can rest assured EA has made it worth the wait.
Titled SSX, EA’s latest snowboarding title is a breath of fresh air for the extreme sports gaming genre. SSX provides tight controls as well as innovative and fun gameplay to provide the most enjoyable SSX experience to date.
The game’s story mode, called World Tour, follows a group of nine snowboarders, Team SSX, as they chase down Griff Simmons, a former team member and attempt to conquer nine of the deadliest descents in the world.
(EA)
(EA)
In World Tour you will play through nine different stages, each with three different events leading up to the fourth event, which is a theme-based deadly descent that requires you to use your specific riders’ skill set to survive. The three events leading up to the deadly descent are Race events, in which you need to finish in a certain position to advance, Trick events, where you must outscore an opponent by pulling off trick combinations and Survival events, which serve as warm ups for the deadly descent. The level of difficulty for each of the deadly descents is nearly perfect in the sense that you get just frustrated enough to feel accomplished when beating a particular stage.
As you work your way through World Tour, you unlock new boards, gear, mods and characters. Based on your in-game performance, you will earn XP to level up your character as well as credits to purchase upgrades and new gear.
While the story is solid, SSX is all about the gameplay, which is better than ever. The control scheme adheres to all types of gamers by allowing you to choose between the updated controls, which has you pull off tricks using the right thumbstick, or the more traditional face-button based control system.
Even with using the thumbstick, the level of sensitivity and precision is impressive and pulling off long, complicated combinations of tricks is simple enough for newcomers to pick up and play right away.
The left thumbstick controls the rider’s movements both in the air and on the ground. You can use the left stick to rotate the rider while performing a trick for an added point bonus.
In addition to the controls, SSX includes a boost meter that allows you to speed up your rider and when it is completely full you enter Tricky Mode, which modifies your tricks to look more complex and more importantly adds more points. If you pull off enough moves while in Tricky Mode, you will enter Super Tricky Mode, where you get an added points bonus and can perform signature moves that are unique to each character.
From a presentation standpoint, SSX is also an above average title. The graphics are very good and for a snowboarding title, the environments are rather diverse. The story is told in a style similar to a comic book and at times there are small cutscenes to catch the player up on what is happening in the team’s pursuit of Simmons. The strong voice acting as well as the diverse soundtrack makes SSX one of the cleanest titles to come out this year.
SSX also has a high level of replayability, with dozens of different badges to collect for different in-game accomplishments, a series of different multiplayer Global Events, where you can pay drop cost and win prize pools of credits, and Explore Mode where all maps are open from the outset and you can earn over 100 medals and gain experience.
Final Thoughts: Fans of the franchise and newcomers alike will get an enjoyable experience from playing SSX. The story mode provides an engaging and challenging single-player experience, while the game’s other modes provide for added replayability and multiplayer components. The smooth, tight controls make it easy for anyone to jump right in and pull off advanced tricks and have fun, even when playing against seasoned vets. SSX is one of the best titles to hit consoles in 2012 thus far.
Final Grade: A-