SSX3 review

One wonders what Jack Burton, who is credited as being the inventor of the snowboard would think if he cast his eye over the two current snowboarding options for the Xbox. Perhaps he would nod approvingly at Amped 2’s stuffy attempt at pseudo realism, with a serious and stately take on the sport. But he would certainly scratch his head and goggle his eyes at the sights and sounds that are thrown in your face with the latest offering from EA in their SSX line, SSX3.

Because any resemblance between real life snowboarding and SSX3 can, at its very best, only ever be stupendously superficial - SSX3 is pure escapist fantasy and comes off looking and playing all the better for it.

Tricky

For those who don’t have SSX Tricky and are looking to invest in the series on the Xbox, SSX3 is the clear choice. Those that own SSX Tricky on the Xbox are rightly going to seek reasons why they should invest in SSX3. At first glance there appear to be major differences between the versions. Instead of the usual themed tracks in different parts of the world, all separate from one another, you are offered one mountain, three peaks and multiple tracks down the mountain. There are no menus to speak of, allowing you the freedom to travel between events. It’s all very slick.

In fact, SSX3 sports possibly the best production values I’ve yet seen in a console game. The graphics are tremendous, with fantastic scenery and absolutely no pop-up at all. Instead of being sterile and static, the scenery can change dramatically as weather, snowstorms, avalanches, falling rocks, crashing aeroplanes and all manner of madness takes place around you. All right, it’s all the same every time you go down the same bit of mountain, but heck, it sure looks great.

Avalance

The snow looks different depending on its condition, and features a lovely sparkly effect from time to time. The white courses are spruced up with the occasional firework display and lots of coloured lighting. Not that you’d easily notice, because normally it’s all flying past you as you careen wildly down the mountain at a blistering rate.

The character animation is brilliant with every conceivable trick and blunder seamlessly flowing into the next. Although there has been less emphasis this time around on celebrity voice talent, each character stands out as an individual, even though ultimately they all play the same.

The whole production is so glossy you would be forgiven for thinking that SSX3 is all show and no substance. But you’d be wrong. There is a lot to do and a whole new trick combo system to master. This allows you to string together tricks into massive combos. After completing a trick, you essentially have four seconds to do another trick to add it into the same combo. You can string out this time by leaning forward or backward on your board until another big trick opportunity comes along. Theoretically it would be possible to keep one combo running from the beginning to the end of the track, although it would be very difficult.

Amped

Mastering this new trick system is all-important to SSX3. Sure, you could get quite far with the knowledge of the game that you have carried over from SSX Tricky, but you would never score higher than the lowest medals unless you perform the combos. The racing events remain pretty much unchanged though.

The high production values carry over into the music tracks, which are exceptional, although an option to use custom soundtracks would have been welcome. All the music is upbeat and the DJ makes context sensitive commentary for whatever it is you are busy doing at the time, or just waffles on pointlessly when you are boarding between stages. His constant mention of the characters as if they are friends and all part of an extremely small community help the overall feeling of unity in the game.

Snow joke

The sound effects are also great and as clear as a bell. The music fades discreetly away when catching big air, so you can hear the wind whistling by you. The voices are all dependable (despite the lack of aforementioned celebs) and don’t repeat themselves noticeably, and the boards swish and crunch with satisfying realism.

In fact it’d be hard to find fault with what has been put into SSX3. Perhaps it would be easier to criticise what other games have that SSX3 doesn’t. It would have been great to see some online play via Xbox live, but with EA and Microsoft locked in deadly combat over the these issues, that was never going to happen. So if it’s an online snowboard experience you were looking for you’re going to be tempted away by Amped 2. It would have been nice to be able to customise the soundtrack. The quibbles aside, SSX3 stands up as a fantastic game that would take a proud place on any action sports gamers shelves.