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SSX3 Review
Aisling Canton
10/11/2003
Featuring a brand new set of tracks and a totally new approach to the single player campaign, SSX returns to show us what snowboarding games are all about.
Sequels can be a funny business; they can be miserable rehashes of what went before, they can be little more than bonus disks rather than new games in their own right with one or two new features tacked on, worst of all they can lose the magic of what made the first game great... And sometimes they can take what works and evolve.
SSX returns to each of the major consoles and yet again demonstrates that games are supposed to be fun, a simple concept, but one the SSX games have always had a firm grip on.
Most of the original cast return, in one form or another and are joined by four new characters including the Avril Lavinge like Alegra and the 12-year-old Griff. Those of you who were distraught at the news that Eddie was to be left out can take some solace in the knowledge that most SSX characters who do not appear in the main cast appear as unlockable cheat characters, but I'll get to that in more detail later.
The gameplay mechanics themselves seem largely unchanged from the previous titles, though everything does feel a little smoother, but aside from that a few new trick features are the only real additions. The new combo feature allows the player a period of time, shown by a small onscreen timer, after a trick is performed to perform another trick to build up huge combinations and really rack up the points on the freestyle tracks. This is made easier by the new board press move, which allows your character to balance the board on one end and go skidding down the track, working similarly to the manual in âTony Hawks Pro Skaterâ Your character can now also do a handplant similar to what we are used to seeing in skating games.
The uber trick system from âSSX Trickyâ returns; for those of you not familiar with it, you can build up your adrenaline meter by performing tricks, once this is full you have 20 seconds to tweak grabs and spell out the word 'uber'. Successfully doing this allows you to pull off uber tricks with the tweak button, and now starts spelling out 'super'. Once that has been spelled out you get access to the really crazy tricks, you board orbiting you, that kind of thing.
The usual old problems also make an unwelcome return with the camera far too often trying to track your character from inside a wall, rock or building. You will occasionally find yourself bouncing on top of an awkwardly placed set of rocks unable to get off without resetting your boarder. The position indicator still has trouble keeping track of where you are in relation to the other riders, especially when you go off on one of the many alternate routes and shortcuts, you do on occasion find yourself flicking back and forth between 1st and 5th for no apparent reason without seeing any other riders, only to find yourself completely alone when you return to the main track. What was unexpected was the trouble it sometimes had in one-on-one races where it would declare me first while I could clearly see my opponent in the distance ahead of me, and that is a little more unforgivable.
The game contains all new tracks with the highly imaginative design we have come to expect from an SSX title and have been given a few new atmospheric touches and environmental hazards, with avalanches, collapsing chunks of track, some particularly nice new fog and snow effects that kick in at times, though these are offset by some really awful light and water effects. Trees bend as you grind along them, planes fly overhead, birds get disturbed as you fly through their trees, things that make the places seem more alive. The usual insane SSX amount of alternate routes and shortcuts are also present, you think you're getting used to a track when you notice a little gap somewhere, or you fall down an unexpected hole and find yourself hurtling through an icy cave you never suspected was there. The levels just seem to get bigger the more you play them.
A new game type, Big Challenges has been added to the Freeride mode, which are triggered by finding a green marker while riding around the track. These challenges are usually things like breaking 5 pieces of glass in a half pipe, or jumping through 5 hoops on a freestyle course, beating 30% of these challenges will get you a medal.
The musical style has changed somewhat from the hip hop bias of the previous games with such acts as Placebo and Janes Addiction making an appearance on the playlist, though it's not all angsty rock, Royksopp, Audio Bullys and Chemical Brothers are on there too, with some U.N.K.L.E. and Jason Nevins remixes thrown in for good measure, it does have a far more varied mix of styles than before.
One of the most notable new features in the game is the way in which the single player campaign is handled. You no longer select your track from a menu, beat it, return to the menu, save and move on to the next track. Unlike previous SSX games all the action takes place on one mountain. You are dumped on the top of one of its three peaks and ride down to the base station, and then ride to the race, freestyle event, the lodge or the transport area as you wish. It is, admittedly, a touch on the confusing side at first, and you can just open up the pause menu and transport directly to the area you want, but once you get used to it you'll find yourself boarding down to your destination because, well, it's fun. That and it's entertaining listening to the DJ commenting on your characters progression through the game, or how one of the other characters has been mouthing off and needs taking down a peg, or even giving a little, sometimes rather silly, background information about the area in which the game takes place.
New tracks are unlocked as before, by beating earlier tracks, however they are now grouped into the three peaks, starting at the bottom and working your way up. Beating any group of tracks, e.g. race, freestyle or the new big challenges opens up the next peak, and all of its events. The knock-on effect of this being that the race and freestyle tracks seem much less separate than they previously did.
Riding from one track to another, listening to the DJ talking about what the other boarders are up to, the loading screens which show your characters traveling by cable car or plane to their next location all build to really make the player feel like they are part of something more than a series of unrelated races on a faceless menu screen; which I feel is what sets this game apart, and it's greatest evolution from its predecessors. Even though it's outside the main action of racing and freestyling, it really does have quite a substantial effect of making the player feel like an event is taking place.
Of course this is also helped by one of SSX's other big strengths it's characterization. Each character has real personality that shows through constantly, Kaori looks excitedly out the cable car window at the view as she travels up the mountain to her next race while Moby sits tensely twitching his knee. It's when details like this exist on the loading screens that you know serious effort went into bringing these characters to the forefront of the gaming experience.
The old points based system is gone; you now earn money from your winnings that you can spend at the lodge. The lodge is where you tool up your character, shop for new abilities and clothes, and even unlock new characters with your hard-earned mountain dollars. I must admit I found it far more satisfying than I was expecting to customize my characters appearance. The developers seem to have found a good balance between the characters having strong individual personalities and letting the player make that character their own. All the characters now start with the same abilities on the grid, which kind of makes character selection more about their personality and appearance. Boards no longer make an impact on your riding abilities either - they're just there for appearance.
One of the other things you can spend money on is cheat characters, which is where all the missing characters from the previous SSX games have ended up. These characters are basically little more than skins for the character you unlock them with and keep the actions of the player they are substituting, which can lead to some pretty funny scenes as lardy mulleted Luther wiggles his little hips dancing away in the cable car after being unlocked with Kaori. Also you can't customize their appearance or gear as you can with the main characters, but still, at least they are in there.
After you beat a peakâs open race or freestyle tracks you are challenged by another character to a one-on-one competition on the peaks freeride track, and once that is beaten you have a time trial or set trick score to beat on a track that runs from the peaks summit to the foot of the mountain, which as you progress up the mountain builds to include the previous peaks races culminating in the final race track which is, basically, all the race, freeride and base station tracks together, with a time of half an hour to beat. Unfortunately this is not as much of a challenge as one would hope for, with the difficulty curve rather steep for the rest of the events, the last track of each peak is disappointingly easy.
