SSX 3 (GCN/PS2/Xbox)
Amid a blisteringly hot summer, this preview of the third
SSX will certainly cool you down.
By
Jon "Kid" Gibson | July 23, 2003
Game Stats
Platform: GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Game Type: Sports
Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: Q3 2003
ESRB: Rating Pending
Full Game Information (GCN)
Full Game Information (PS2)
Full Game Information (Xbox)
All Screenshots...
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Face it. Ignoring the EA BIG brand is impossible, mainly due to its mainstay power-player franchise,
SSX. Without the snow-sliding centerpiece, the label probably wouldn't be half as popular as it is today. To follow-up the wildly successful
SSX Tricky, the cold-crazed boys up in EA's Canadian studio are ramping it up. Everything you loved about past installments in the series is intact -- the insane stunts, the intense speed, the exhilarating, intoxicating fun factor -- but with more of a bang. And everything that didn't quite work -- such as the celebrities voicing the cartoon riders -- has been dumped off the ski lift.
That's not to say that the characters themselves aren't back. Mac, Elise, Zoe, Moby, Psymon, and Kaori all make welcome returns, fencing boards with four newcomers: psycho Swede Viggo, timber-guy Nate, pre-pubescent all-star Griff (he's 12), and the sexy Allegra, who has nothing to do with the popular allergy medication.
Their instrument of rush: a three-peak, 21,000 foot goliath of a mountain that looks like a really menacing Paramount Pictures logo. It's the perfect design, as far as I can tell, allowing players to jump between the trio of areas based on skill and comfort. If you've got a moderate handling of the slopes, hang down low; but if you have a hankering for nose-bleed whiplash, charting to the very top of the rock will surely make your thumbs twitch. Remember, the
SSX lineup has never been known for being cookie-cutter easy; you stumble, you cry, and you get up and play the course again. Whining is for the turtle-necked sissies enjoying some hot cocoa among preppy ski bunnies.
The game doesn't even bother to chain you up and send you on a particular path. If you choose to cruise on the right side of the level where the caverns are, go right ahead -- Mother Nature has supplied plenty of ramp-friendly tunnels for you to explore. But if your fancy is in the half-pipe valleys of a certain course, do that instead. How about this for an analogy:
Tricky is to a backyard, goldfish-plagued pond, as
SSX 3 is to the entire shark-invested Atlantic -- vaster, riskier, and much more thrilling to explore. Regardless, you get the picture -- this sequel is more than five times larger, and that's what I call growth.
For me, it almost seems like the mountain isn't just a playground anymore -- it's the game's antagonist. If you ride the lower peak, it's sunny. Birds are chirping (if you can hear them under the blaring soundtrack). It's smooth. But there's always the risk of an avalanche hindering your run, or maybe it's just a few falling trees that are tripping you up. Yet, head up to the summit peak and it's a whole new game. A tough, blistering wind jerks you to and fro like a puppet -- in fact, the snow is coming down so thick and hard, that sometimes you miss jumps if you don't compensate for the furious storm. Coupled with souped-up renditions of the earlier obstacles, you'll also be dealing with cracking ice and near-fatal jumps.
As if the adrenaline-dosed ferocity wasn't enough, a new three-tiered "über-trick" system has been programmed in, too. From basic 360-degree spins to more complicated hand-plants, linking the different levels of tricks together is key to racking up points. While the first tier is easy to grasp, learning the cycle of moves going forward and knowing the right time to send them into motion is the challenge. Complimenting the wild stunts is the game's incredibly stunning stock of animations. While
SSX 3 maintains a cartoon aesthetic, the seamless, articulate motions of each rider are more dynamic than anything even a big-budget Disney flick could produce. If that can be locked down at a comfortable framerate, the bar will be raised to yet another supposedly insurmountable height.
Just grinding away.
Adding to the always-impressive graphics of the series -- here with glistening snowy backgrounds that you'd only see so crisply in
National Geographic -- is another pumping soundtrack. A DJ transmitting satellite signals to your personal Walkman is responsible for the surplus of tunes you'll be boarding to, ranging from the poppy electronic beats of Fatboy Slim to the hip-hop jollies of the X-Ecutioners to the melodic crassness of N.E.R.D. Some artists will actually be debuting music on the game even before their new albums hit stores. Sure, that hardly affects gameplay, but it's worth mentioning that EA Tracks is really penetrating the music marketplace, making an Xbox disc just as viable a place to promote a song as TRL's daily countdown -- and no Carson Daly, either.
There's plenty more to
SSX 3 than just a few new tricks, slick visuals, and a rhythmic audio, for sure. But EA was coy about letting me get my hands on too much, too early. Not because it wasn't hot to trot, but because I
got to admire the pretty images from a safe distance. Just expect plenty of follow-ups in the coming months, since this game is primed to dominate the holiday shopping season while leaving the other extreme sports offerings shivering in its fluffy wake.
Boxart looks wicked, too.
