It’s ancient and elemental. It’s almost spiritual. Take a snowy mountain and a plank (or two). Then add a soundtrack. The Esmikos invented snowboarding for a reason, and that reason is so that Electronic Arts could make me a really swell game.
You can read my review of SSX On Tour for more details. But unlike the Burnout series, these just get better each time. And unlike EA’s other recent games, the front end this time has perhaps 85% of the charm of Katamari Damacy. Good work, EA! I forgive you for doing whatever it was you did to the NFL that other people are pissed about.
I tried playing the SSX series (including tricky) after playing Amped for several months. I could never get used to the different (read: less “realistic”) style in the SSX games.
They’re kind of apples and oranges, Hump, but I agree that Amped is awesome in a Tony-Hawk-on-Ice kinda way. Amped is much more intuitive and less about canned animations than skilled gameplay. I really like the learning curve, too. Very gratifying stuff.
But I find there’s something irresistable about the spirit of SSX. It’s just so, I dunno, colorful and goofy and eager to please. This latest one is also EA’s presentation at its best. I love the borderline grotesque, wildly fanciful ink drawings. They’re like Ralph Steadman as a bored kid, trying to find his style.
Tom, you probably didn’t get the memo from jpinard that you’re not supposed to say kind things about EA. You should probably edit your original post to mention what a piece of shit Marvel Nemesis is, and don’t link to the latest edition of The Escapist which has a thoughtful and balanced issue focused on EA.
I played Marvel Nemesis for all of about ten minutes at Shoot Club. I was some chick who fought a zombie version of Wolverine. We threw couches at each other. I eventually lost because I didn’t know where was only one attack button. Meh. I give it a 70%.
There. Balance is restored. Although I think I’ll screw everything up even more by actually liking Black & White 2…
Seriously? I have a strong itch to want to try this out, but I haven’t yet seen any impressions or review that really talks about the game (as opposed to whether the reviewer had fun). Most of the complaints so far seem to come down to people still having sour grapes over B&W1 (which to be fair was quite a let down).
I hate EA as much as the next guy, but I’ll admit that SSX On Tour is a blast to play. The create-a-skier/snowboarder mode isn’t nearly as detailed as some other EA offerings (Tiger Woods being the best example), and I don’t really see all that much difference among the different archetypes to choose from, as most of the differences can be re-customized at any time (hairstyle, hair color, clothing, makeup, etc), but it still offers a good sense of attachment and achievement as you build up your racer.
So far, it seems that Snowboards = better control/edging, but Skis = more speed. Just an initial observation, though; I’m sure it balances out as better equipment is purchased/freed up.
I have no idea who the Esmikos are, but thank you for making me look up Eskimos on wikipedia. I found out that everyone that’s been telling me that refering to the people who live even further North than me as Eskimos and not Innuit because the term Eskimo was derogatory were actually wrong. Instead of meaning “eaters of raw meat” the term probably meant “speakers of a different language”.
I actually agree. Tricky served up glorifed goofiness with a novel progression in track identity and trick personality. Cohesive, obvious, and easy to digest.
SSX3 put too much emphasis on scavenging a mammoth mountain for endless collectibles and often frustrating mini-challenges. I had fun for a little while, and then I wasn’t.
I’ve only played a little of SSX4 and that presentation is super-tight, but I’m not feeling much satisfaction playing an endless loop of 30 second quick fix goals just to gain access to the REAL events. I suppose it is appropriate given that the game asks me to fill the shoes of an angst-addled slacker with dreams of rocking-out on the peak of K2! Unfortunately, I fulfilled that dream back in the summer of 1987, but it still beats my new dream (according to EA) of owning the underground LA circuit of car tuning and poor linguistics.
Tricky just seemed to have the perfect element of goofiness and crazyness to work. The racers all had personality, the tracks were HUGE, I’m a much bigger fan of the multiple races in different places, opposed to ther on big mountain. SSX 3 was fun, but I just never got into it as much, could be some nostalgia too as Tricky was one of my first games for the PS2.
Count me in the minority that likes SSX3 the best. The “ride the whole mountain” feel was fantastic, and I’m pretty bummed that they’ve gone back to the “menu, race, menu, race” style for SSX On Tour. Also, Tom’s love of the frontend art design took me by surprise. I find it to be one of the most offensively blatant “look how edgy this game is!” design choices of this generation. I haven’t played enough of the game to really decide where to rank it in the series, but so far they don’t seem to have captured the crazy track design that made Tricky awesome or the open “on the mountain” feel of the SSX3 runs, and the art design is a turn-off every single time I go to a menu screen. I’m also irritated that I can’t play any of the characters I like and am instead forced to use the fairly nondescript Bland-O-Meter Character Generator creation they foist upon you.
Also, when the revolution comes, the people responsible for EA TRAX will be the first against the wall.
Do you understand what the words you use actually mean, or do you just type things because you like the way they they sound in your head? ‘One of the most offensively blantant look-how-edgy this game is!’ design choices of this generation’? Man, I don’t even think you know what ‘edgy’ means, much less about 1/2 of the other words in that sentence.
At any rate, I love the artwork. It’s considerably more entertaining to look at than any other front end screens I’ve seen this year. I’ll repeat that just to reiterate that I know what I’m saying: it’s considerably more entertaining to look at than any other front end screens I’ve seen this year.
One of the guys at Shoot Club actually went, ‘Is that a liger?’ It wasn’t, but for a minute, we thought it was.
Also, I totally adore the little snowboarding cats on the PSP’s loading screen.
“I don’t like the music so I’m going to make yet another joke about having people shot! Ha ha! Hyperbole about executing people is fun!”
At any rate, I love the artwork. It’s considerably more entertaining to look at than any other front end screens I’ve seen this year. I’ll repeat that just to reiterate that I know what I’m saying: it’s considerably more entertaining to look at than any other front end screens I’ve seen this year.
I’m in total agreement with Tom here. The menus are way more endearing than off-puttingly edgy, and my edginess gaydar is Xtremely developed. How often are a game’s menus (and loading screens!) entertaining? And the game’s pretty good, too. I’m glad they finally (more or less) collapsed the player stats and the board stats into one set of stats.
Also, when the revolution comes, the people responsible for EA TRAX will be the first against the wall.
Well, they did include Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills”, which I say grants them a reprieve. Greg Costikyan.
And one of the character creation system’s face options is “disguise”, which gives your guy big, poorly applied and crooked fake eyebrows and mustache. That cracked me up.
