SSX
Reviewed by Dale Kulas
The Game
EA Sports first snow boarding game, I guess EA wanted this
game to be something special, so the opening company screens
of the game said 'EA Sports BIG. ' And after checking IGN's
28 PS2 launch reviews, this game got the highest score. So
will this game live up to all the hype? Let's get onto the
review and find out.
Graphics
I always love a game who's opening movie for the game is
made out of there own game footage (Wrestlemania 2000 for
N64 is a great example), and this game does that too, which
shows many different angles of the snow boarders and tracks.
The graphics, surprisingly look a lot like the one's we saw
off of the opening movie. The tracks are the most realistic
I've ever seen (for Snow boarding games any ways, the only
other one's I played were 1080 Snow boarding and Snow board
Kids, both for N64), and just loaded with detail, like you
got frozen rivers that are part of tracks, and all other
weird obstacles that come into the track that are all easily
to tell apart. The menu navigation is easy, and you won't be
getting mixed up in them like most of the other EA Sports
games. The boarders in this game really look great, and they
have the best animation I've ever seen, when they do stunts
and other things. The game moves at a surprisingly fast rate
throughout all the races.
If there is only one little nitpick at the graphics, that
would have to be that only in a few times in a couple of
tracks, the camera really doesn't follow you good enough,
and you end up going reverse, or completely off track before
you realize it, and the game doesn't even give you warnings
or anything to let you know you're off track, or going in
reverse. But other than that little flaw, I gotta say these
are really impressive graphics for a first generation PS2 game.
Sound
All the sound effects are done great, and add to the
presentation of the game, and everything sounds accurate
like the gliding of the snow, flips, crashes, etc. You got
this weird ding whenever you complete a stunt. And you got
somebody naming off stunts and commenting about you
throughout your races, and his voice is dimmed out just
enough so he doesn't sound annoying. Now the musical
soundtrack of the game is the only pet peeve I had in the
audio category, most of the tunes sound pretty generic to
me, there are a couple of good one's I ran into that had
lyrics in them, but for the most parts the tracks weren't
the greatest. I mean, the soundtrack for the 3 year old 1080
Snow boarding, is way better. Oh, well, I'm sure EA will
include a rap soundtrack for the game next year, like they
do with all their other sports games.
Game play
The game has an innovative practice mode, called 'Warm
up,' where you go down a really nice, simple hill, and your
own boarder you selected is guiding you through the game,
letting you know which buttons you press to do stunts,
punch, jump, etc. So after a time or two through warm up you
got the game's controls down, and you'd never have to
consult the game's manual again. And I also have to say this
is one of the easiest control set ups I ever ran into, steer
with either the control pad, or left analog stick, punch
other boarders (yes, you can actually do this, and I really
like this added touch of Road Rash in a snow boarding game)
with the right analog stick, jump with X button, and while
in mid air, you use the control pad to do your stunts, which
I gotta admit works out a lot better than the button
combination I was expecting in the game.
The game has only 2 main modes of play, with a couple of sub
modes, the first mode is 's ingle Event' where you and/or a
friend race against only each other, or against the
computer. For sub modes, there's the practice, warm up,
mode, then there's the race option, where you pick your
boarder, and pick his or her board, and customize it's
attributes, and pick one of several tracks and hop into the
game and play. The other mode is world circuit mode, where
it's just one player, and you race against all the other
snow boarders, in a tournament like competition, and every
time you race in a new track, you unlock it for use in
single event mode, and you also unlock some of the other
game's boarders along the way too. I really have no gripes
with the game play, it's really easy to control, and it
plays great!
Replay Value
For the solo player, you'll be playing World Circuit forever
until you unlock everything. And if you have a friend over,
you can have him go against you too. I do wish the game
could've had a few more modes to choose from, like maybe
some bonus trick half pipe course would've been great. The
game also seemed like a 4 player mode was a must, because
this would've made a great multi player game. But I expect
the two extras I mentioned to be in a sequel of the game, if
they make one (which EA Sports usually does).
In Brief
+: Some of the prettiest visuals I've ever seen, great
control, innovative practice mode
-: Some camera problems allow you to go off course, no 4
player mode, poor soundtrack
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 9. 5
Sound: 7. 9
Game play: 9. 1
Replay Value: 6. 3
Overall: 8. 2
Comments
It was easy to tell that EA is going to make a sequel to
this game because of the lack of extras in the game. But if
you really love your snow boarding games, then go and grab
this game right away, but otherwise I'd say wait until next
year's expected update of the game. But you can always rent
this game too if you just have to play it. Best PS2 launch
game? No. Good? Yes. Great? No.
