AbstractCombines high-speed snowboard racing with insane big air tricks on what is best described as an exaggerated snow-covered motocross track.
ESRB rating
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Comic Mischief, Mild Animated Violence, Mild Langu |
Full descriptionSSX involves high-speed snowboarding action spanning eight snowed-over motocross tracks. Tracks range from the obstacle-ridden Tokyo Megaplex to the high cliffs of Mesablanca, each having dangerous turns, big-air ramps, and tunnels.
While the tracks are designed with an arcade-like mindset, Electronic Arts wanted to provide gamers a plausible physics engine that emulated the sport. Every track's layout will test your snowboarding skills with breakneck speeds on severe downward slopes! Although you're to finish each course before your opponents, what's wrong with a little showboating? A wealth of executable maneuvers are available including aerial tricks, 360-degree spins, and back flips!
A total of eight unique characters are included, each differing in style, attitude, and skills. Getting by on her good looks, Elisa is a shrewd snowboarder with a high-risk mentality; Hiro will never leave the house without the latest snowboarding technology; Kaori is carefree, full of energy, and friendly to whomever she meets; and Jurgen is best described as a juggernaut.
SSX features a variety of gameplay options including the World Circuit, Training, and Show Off modes. Before even considering signing up for the Professional World Championship Invitational Event, players can learn the ropes by completing the Training course. This mode covers the basics such as how to perform certain tricks and how to control the snowboarder.
The World Circuit is an event-based competition spanning five fields with 32 snowboarders vying for glory. Your objective is to score as high a rating as possible throughout the events; whoever holds the highest overall ranking at the end of the day wins! Everyone else can lower his or her head in shame and try again next year.
Show Off mode has you performing as many stunts as you can while trying to finish the race within the time limit. Located throughout the tracks are snowflakes that act as multipliers. Simply touch a snowflake while performing a stunt to earn as much as five times the trick's point value.
Editorial reviewSource:
AmazonWith its mesmerizing graphics, fantastic controls, and high replayability,
SSX: Snowboard Supercross is good enough to be considered among the finest PlayStation2 launch titles by any fan of video gaming. It's one of those genre-defining and system-justifying games that'll please even folks who normally dislike snowboarding games. It's just that good!
After selecting from one of the four initially available racers, you must race against a full field of opponents down long, twisting, and sometimes gravity- and physics-defying courses. What makes SSX a standout from similar games is Electronic Arts' amazing attention to detail. The tracks show much variety in their outrageous twists, bumps, jumps, and ramps. However, to utilize them best, you must perform potentially backbreaking, neck-snapping tricks. Okay, you actually won't suffer any physical damage, but the cartoony falls do look rather painful.
The tricks are done by successfully performing complex button-mashing and joystick-twisting combs. The more and better the tricks you perform, the higher a speed boost you'll get to help you finish a track quickly. In order to progress through all of the rounds in World Circuit mode (the meat of the game), you must place at least third in each race. Successful completion of races also can unlock new characters and snowboards--each with dramatic performance differences. It might look somewhat similar to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or other snow games, but SSX is a totally different take.
SSX's illusion of speed is simply fantastic. Should you manage to take your eyes off your well-animated racer to check out the scenery, you'll see bright lighting effects, cheering crowds, lots of snow spray, and a wide variety of background visuals that hint at the PS2's graphics prowess. It's also that same sense of speed that delivers a great feeling of accomplishment when your board lands safely on the snow pack after you complete a complex trick that was performed absurdly high in the air.
Almost all of SSX's animations are as smooth as glass. There's minor slowdown when you turn through some of the larger hills, but this is barely noticeable and rarely interferes with gameplay. The bumping soundtrack changes on the fly, and is based on your performance. The better your tricks and speed, the wilder and more up-tempo the music gets. All of the enormous courses--some of which can take close to 10 minutes to finish--have many shortcuts and alternate routes to cut into your finishing time.
One gripe with the game is that your character, after painfully crashing into cold hard snow, sometimes start moving will in the exact opposite direction that you were racing originally. This eats up time and is irritating, but definitely not a huge problem. --Mark Brooks
Pros:
- Excellent graphics provide an ultrarealistic illusion of speed
- Immediately playable, yet challenging for snowboard vets
- Long courses with many paths to the finish line
Cons: High-speed arcade racer; breakneck speeds; severe downward slopes; eight unique characters; wealth of executable maneuvers
- Portions of content provided by Rovi Data Solutions, Inc. and IGN Entertainment, Inc.