If you've never played an SSX game before, where have you been in the past three years? Ever since its debut in 2001, SSX has been the best snowboarding game out there. The release of SSX Tricky last year reconfirmed the SSX dominance. And with the release of SSX 3 this year, EA Big shows the world that SSX is the best damn snowboarding game ever.
In this year's SSX, gone are the exotic venues such as Hawaii and Japan as SSX 3 only gives the player a huge mountain to conquer. At first, this may seem too limiting, but once you start playing you'll love it.
The mountain is divided into three peaks, with the first one being the tamest out of the three (note: tame is an understatement). After starting a new game and choosing your boarder you'll notice the lack of the heavy menu driven SSX Tricky had. Moving to and from the different races or events is as simple as boarding down the peak. You'll only encounter menus when you want to instantly go to a specific place on the mountain (or back to the top of the peak) or when you're purchasing something from the lodge (more on that later). Once you experience the immense freedom of movement that SSX 3 gives you, you'll never be able to go back.
SSX 3 is easily one of the most beautiful games on the PS2. All of the boarders have been given a makeover – they're more toned down now. The various courses within each peak are filled with amazing detail and look very realistic. Of course this being an SSX game, not everything can be realistic. The huge jumps are still here as are the radical course designs. There's nothing like racing down the peak, being chased by an avalanche, and then jumping off the cliff only to land safely below. The game runs at a fairly smooth framerate, except when there are a lot of particles or characters on screen. However, this issue is minor, as it doesn't even affect gameplay since the game's FPS will only reduce to around 40FPS, which is still acceptable.
As with the previous SSX games, the boarders have their unique tricks, but unlike the previous games, SSX 3 allows the player to fully customize their favorite boarder to their hearts content. You can buy new clothing, accessories, and even new uber tricks. When you start a new game, the various boarders only differ in visuals – they all have the same beginning stats. SSX 3 has an updated trick system, in which you can combo your tricks to gain even more points and money (which is used to purchase items from the store). A new move for every boarder is the board press, which is only used to daisy chain your trick combos together resulting in even more points and money (not to mention looking cool). Another new move is the handplant, but I didn't find this move as useful as the press, since it slowed down my momentum and results in less points/money than a jump trick. The ability to combo your tricks is really cool, as it is a lot of fun and looks absolutely amazing. I wish that Olympians could do these kinds of uber tricks, but alas, none of them will ever be able to defy the laws of physics. Finally, the last addition to the new trick system is the ability to save yourself from a wipeout. Normally, when you wipeout you lose your entire boost meter but in SSX 3, if you successfully recover (done by rapidly pressing the square button until a special recovery meter is full) before you can land you'll only lose a portion of your boost meter. I find this feature to be a great addition as it makes the game even more fun and interactive (rather than just watching your boarder fall like a fool).
At first I wasn't too sure about how well the "one mountain" approach would work, but in the end it was the best thing that ever happened to SSX. I love the total freedom that the game offers. The only true complaint I have about the game is that sometimes you go reset on the track because you've gone off course, even though it looks like you should be able to board there. Oh well, yet another minor issue that can be easily avoided. Other than these minor nuances, SSX 3 is a wonderful game that is a perfect blend of realistic and fantasy sports.
-Jason
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