When SSX was announced with a gritty subtitle ‘Deadly Descents’ and an equally gritty trailer, the Internet had a conniption fit. Forums and comments sections were flooded with the wild punctuation and Caps Lock overuse of indignant fanboy rage. How could EA do this to SSX? It was SSX for the Modern Warfare generation. It was realistic and grey. So, so grey. As a fan of the snowboarding series since its inception, I found the trailer worrying. In it, a snowboarder battling an intense Himalayan snowstorm with an arsenal of helpful items. There were no signs of the crazy tricks, the vibrant colours and kickass music that were SSX staples. It was realistic and grey. So, so grey.
EA has spent the year since placating fans. They dropped the ‘Deadly Descents’ moniker, they made it clear that surviving the mountain is just a part of the game (“survive it, race it, trick it”), and just to be sure, they released video after video filled with crazy tricks, vibrant colours and kickass music. With its release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 around the corner, we were invited to EA to spend an hour with an unfinished build of the game and the lingering fanboy uneasiness is now gone: SSX is made of awesome.
The game plays like more of a love-letter than a reboot. This feels more like a direct sequel to SSX Tricky than any of the games that followed it. The illuminated TRICKY letters are back, as are Run DMC and the roster of outrageous characters, albeit in more weather-appropriate outfits (although, I’m still not quite over the omission of Tricky’s Macy Gray-voiced Seeiah, but I’m holding out hope for DLC…). It’s beautiful to look at, a joy to play, and filled to the brim with courses to conquer. This is the next-gen SSX game fans have been waiting for, classic controller config and all (we can finally forget the Wii-exclusive waggle-heavy non-event Blur).
SSX games usually feature two modes – racing and tricking. In the former, you race opponents down a slope (fastest time gets the gold), and in the latter, you perform an outrageous number of stunts in a set time (highest score gets the gold). Both modes are overwhelmingly addictive. This new incarnation adds a new survival mode, where you descend a mountain while battling a particular obstacle (be it gravity, darkness, an avalanche…). It’s a fun/punishing new addition, but really, SSX is all about those first two modes, and I can’t see Survive It commanding quite the same amount of attention as Trick It and Race It.
SSX is a game for the fans, which makes me wonder just how accessible it will be for newcomers to the series. After a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tutorial, you’re thrust straight into the action. And the game is tricky (see what I did there?). Don’t expect to top the leader boards and score gold on your first attempt. The game is fast (think: Burnout on snow) and the developers have taken SSX 3’s open world approach to course design, in that there’s no clearly-defined track like there was in SSX Tricky, you and your competitors are more… moving in a similar direction towards a common goal. Players are forced to focus on the routes they take – the courses are filled with secrets and traps, one wrong move, and you can kiss a medal-finish goodbye. The result is a fast-paced, exciting, but at times, frustrating, experience.
Adding to the challenge is the new rewind function. Gone is the SELECT-button silver flash of fixing everything (if you stuffed up in the previous games, hitting SELECT would respawn you somewhere more desirable). Now, if you stuff up, you hit REWIND, and retrace your moves until you find a point where you can salvage everything. Sounds great, doesn’t it? It works a treat in Trick It, you lose points but can reclaim your boost. When racing, however, it isn’t as helpful. While you’re going backwards, other riders continue uninterrupted. Combine that with the whole ‘Where am I riding?’ course design, and the first hour of the game are pretty punishing, but enjoyably so.
The game is easily the biggest SSX game to-date, and with the promise of RiderNet (which informs you of friends’ personal-bests and global real-time tournaments), you can expect this disc to last a while.
SSX will be released 1 March for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
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