SSX review
Matt Porter

Review

Awesome Simulator

Tricks (cntd)


After completing a few events on each mountain range, you will usually receive a challenge from Griff, who you must beat to continue onto the final challenge. The Deadly Descent for each range is slightly different from the rest of the events in that the only goal is to simply survive to the bottom of the mountain. These descents are highly tense affairs which will have you on the edge of your seat while you try and navigate your way around the fatal dangers each mountain holds. A particularly exciting descent sees you attempting to outrun an avalanche, and it features a front facing camera so you can always see the looming white wall of powder as you desperately try and stay out of its path. Strangely though, the encounters with Griff tend to be harder than the Deadly Descents themselves, which takes away some of the accomplishment at the end of the range. Indeed, some of these head to head battles become needlessly difficult towards the end, especially in New Zealand where the blizzards become so intense that you need a special piece of equipment to show you the outline of the mountain to stop you falling off a cliff. This track required close to full memorisation of the run, as well as a bit of blind luck to complete, and was made worse by the fact that all the time you were racing against the computer.

Coins


The game looks absolutely stunning though, and the soundtrack is great too. Everything about SSX oozes shine and polish, and the mix of drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep and hard rock does well to fit in with the aesthetic. The sounds ebb and flow with the action on screen superbly, for example in Super Tricky mode the music is all heavy drops and wobble bass, and there’s a nice touch where the noise is muffled while you’re in the air, simulating the wind whipping in your ears. There are some really smooth looking cutscenes introducing each mountain range, but the strange moving comic book design which introduces each character as you unlock them seems an odd choice, especially with the lack of voice acting for these sections.

As you compete, you accumulate coins. These coins can be used to purchase coloured gear, which seems to be creeping into every game genre possible these days. The gear to unlock ranges from boards which can increase your speed or make you better at tricks, or can just be aesthetic choices like the aforementioned glowing clothing items. The loading screen tip was right too, it does look awesome!

Coins are also used in the multiplayer, which in SSX takes the form of asynchronous events taking place across the massive amount of drops in the game, of which there are 153 in total. There are no simultaneous events where you are competing directly against other players, but there are ghosts within the level while you are playing. Entering an event costs you a certain amount of coins, which go into a prize pool which is then split amongst the best performers in each event at the end of the time limit. These events become addictive as you begin to see the prize pool going up and up as the number of competitors increases, and if you do well enough, maybe you’ll be able to afford that epic or legendary item you’ve been after!

Awesome Simulator


SSX is a truly well made game, with a great mix of game modes, drops and mechanics. The main game mode is addictive as you keep driving on to that next challenging descent, and the online mode even more so as you compete against others or challenge your friends to beat your score. It’s hard to pick a flaw in the game, but sometimes there are frustrating moments where you might fall down an unseen crevasse, but these are forgiveable when taking into account the product as a whole. While I was playing the game, I described it to some friends as not really a snowboarding game, but more of an Awesome Simulator, and many hours later I still stand by that. ‘It looks awesome. Seriously, check it out’... and you should.

9.0

fun score

Pros

Looks and sounds fantastic. Action is constant and remains fun throughout. Addictive multiplayer with plenty of people participating.

Cons

Some challenges are frustratingly harder than others. Tricks can get repetitive.