SSX

UPC: 014633196443

Platform: Xbox 360

Publisher: EA Sports

Developer: EA Canada

Category: Sports

Style(s): Snowboarding

Synopsis: Fan-favorite snowboarder characters conquer real-world slopes with feats of exaggerated action and extreme-sports daring, in EA Canada's high-def reboot of SSX. Expansive, chart-your-own-course levels are set in nine of Earth's greatest and most famously inhospitable mountain ranges. Harsh wilderness environments are full of natural gaps, ramps, and rails, challenging boarders to survive the slopes as they seek out the trickiest path to the bottom. Players can race head-to-head online, or share statistics and ghost runs for time-shifted co-op and competition. Building on the winning play style of the previous console generation's sleeper-hit series, the Xbox 360's SSX features a more powerful physics engine, and ratchets up the outrageousness of the stunts. The choice of play modes has boarders racing to the finish, exploring vast stretches of virgin territory, or simply fighting to survive the perils of the mountainside. Determined in part by fan input, the game's roster includes Mac, Elise, Moby, Kaori, and other seasoned veterans, along with a few newbies. The soundtrack features songs from Pretty Lights, Las Ketchup, and Run-D.M.C. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Package Contents: Online Pass Code

Controls: Joystick/Gamepad

SSX for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is a bold revamp of the stunt-centric snowboarding series that made its debut in 2000. The secret of the original game's success was a mixture of easy-to-perform aerial stunts, personable characters, and an assortment of futuristic mountain courses that were designed as part of an over-the-top, televised sports competition. This version of SSX takes a markedly different approach to the action, one that may alienate nostalgic fans. While SSX has the basic ingredients in place, including a simple-to-execute stunt system and fast-paced carving down steep slopes, the focus is on surviving each treacherous course instead of perfecting your high scores and technique. Your character earns both experience points to level up and credits to purchase "gear." In addition to slightly different suits and new boards, you'll have to purchase armor (!) so you can sustain enough damage to endure a run. Each time you hit a branch, glance off a rock, or crash after a jump, you'll receive damage that can take you out of a race. It's also possible to plummet to your death. There are a total of ten mountain ranges in the game, each inspired by a real-life locale, from the Himalayas and Alps to Antarctica and the Rockies. Events are a mixture of traditional competitions (Race It), trick-based runs (Trick It), and survival-oriented challenges (Survive It). The main play mode is the World Tour, where you'll progress through nine mountain ranges while unlocking new characters, equipment, and different "drops" (locations on each range). Once you've completed the World Tour, you can continue leveling up your character in the open-ended Explore Mode, which features more than 150 drops to master. The drops will thrill those who want the freedom to carve their own path down a mountain without following a pre-set course, but they will be disappointing for those who grew up playing the original <i>SSX</i> titles. Instead of the mountain being built around a sports competition, complete with Jumbotron displays, cheering spectators, fireworks, and other atmospheric elements, you are racing down unforgiving terrain that requires you to quickly react to the twists and turns instead of searching for optimal routes, trying to reach spinning snowflakes for point multipliers, or attempting various combos. If you tackle each course with the same carefree attitude that was encouraged in the original SSX, you will die -- repeatedly. In trying to offer a new experience, the developers seemed to overlook what made the original games so addictive and entertaining. In the originals, you'd replay the same courses over and over again because you wanted to improve your overall score, find all the shortcuts, or best your competition. Here you'll replay the same courses over and over again because they are filled with cheap ways to die. The game ultimately feels more punishing than rewarding, requiring a trial-and-error approach through the mountains until you are familiar with what to avoid. While this approach does offer some thrills, the trick aspects and high-flying stunts don't fit in a game where one false move can spell disaster. What is the point of being able to breakdance on a board when catching air on certain jumps results in falling into a chasm? This new SSX is a mix of two completely different approaches to game design that do not play well together. SSX's action and presentation can be satisfying for those who embrace a challenge and want a break from the traditional racing game. Yet if you're a fan of earlier entries in the series, your wintertime love has, at best, turned into an ice, ice maybe. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

the game requires Joystick/Gamepad.