Publisher: EA sports

Developer: EA Canada

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360

Release date: February 28th, 2012

The newest installment to the SSX franchise feels right. The game takes the saying go big or go home to heart. The tracks are bigger, and the tricks are more extreme. The look and feel of the game is fantastic, the environment looks fabulous, and the game is easy to pick up and play.

As we have stepped into the newest generation of games, the sports games genre has become more realistic. Madden and NBA games have become very complex, taking a long time to learn how to really become good at the game. SSX goes in the opposite direction. The developer EA Canada has made a game that makes everything bigger than life. The tracks that you snowboard down are huge, with an open world type feel. There are very few invisible walls for you to run into, and the ones that you can find, are very hard to get too. The go big or go home attitude applies to the tricks as well. In real life, professional snow boarders struggle to land tricks with more than 3 rotations (1080), where in SSX, it’s hard to go under 1080 degrees. In real life doing three flips is considered incredible, while it is standard to get 4 or more. What really makes the tricks crazy is that half of the time that you are pulling off a trick, you are not connected to your board. In real life, it takes a fair bit of time to unstrap from your board, and then just as long to strap back in. Its very satisfying to fly a super long distance and spin 3600 degrees.

Aside from being unrealistic, the game is very easy to pick up and play. The control scheme is simple to understand. The A button is to jump, when you are in the air, the buttons correspond on the board to where you are grabbing and which hand you are grabbing with. I find that this allows you to simply grab a controller, sit down and have a blast.

Let’s talk about the look of the game. It is a very pretty magnificent game. The scenery is bright and vibrant and shows tons of colors. On some of the maps however, there can be a distinct lack of color. However, the characters that you can play as are always colorful.

The campaign mode for SSX is not the main focus of the game, the main focus is the explore mode that features tons of challenges. What the campaign mode does is it allows you to unlock characters for the explore mode as well as get credits to purchase better and more outlandish gear. While the campaign is not the most in-depth I have ever seen, it is fun. The idea for the campaign is that you are trying to conquer the most deadly descents in the world. Each descent has a different challenge, such as giant gaps, darkness, and even a lack of oxygen. The way that you beat each descent is you are given specialized equipment, ranging from a wing suit, used by sky divers, to an oxygen tank. Having these small challenges makes beating the descents that much more enjoyable.

The real meat of the game comes in the explore mode. There are more than 100 challenges to attempt throughout the world of SSX. If you haven’t unlocked some areas while doing the campaign, you are able to purchase areas with the credits you earn for beating the challenges. The challenges range from racing the computer to surviving a ride down the mountain.

The online play is not like a traditional sports game. There is no head to head racing or tricking. You simply play against a time or a score. All of the competition is done in the explore mode. When you set a record in the explore mode, your score or time goes online and tells your friends about it. Then your friends can try and beat your score. I find this to not be a problem, simply because, even if you were to race against your friend, they would still have the same time.

Final Thoughts

The game is very well put together. It’s so simple to pick up and play. The look of the game is fabulous, with huge maps, and colorful characters. The campaign while a little small is so satisfying. The online play, while not traditional allows for a fair bit of competition with your friends. Overall, it’s a bunch of fun, while it lacks in some areas, it shines in most.

Final Score:

I give SSX a nine out of 10.

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