[360/PS3] SSX (Released) - Now With Reviews/Impressions

[Covenant]

Heads up SSX fans! With the latest SSX title releasing in one week, the demo has been released today for download.  It includes one race drop, and one trick drop as well as a tutorial.  Gear looks to be locked and you can only play as Zoe (Mac is unlocked if you click the refer a friend button that just sends a message to someone on your friends list telling them about the demo).  Here's my random scattered thoughts based on a bit of playtime this morning.

I got about an hour of time in with it this morning and am totally loving it!  There are two control schemes you can choose from; classic which looks to mimic the old PS2 controls, or standard which uses the right stick for tricks rather than buttons. All tutorials and tooltips look to assume you are using standard controls, so that's what I'm getting comfortable with. I am still getting used to how it all works, but it feels comfortable.

The two included drops give you a good feel of how this is going to play. Worry not, this is DEFINITELY an SSX title. Over the top tricks, tricky, super tricky, boost, collectables (as well as snowflakes you can place in the world yourself); they are all here in spades. The only thing that seems to be missing is the character personality.  I used to enjoy the banter that went on during a race between the boarders. That doesn't really seem to be here anymore. There's some one off comments that your guy makes, and chatter from your heli piolet, but that seems to be about it.  Granted I was sucking at the races, so it's possible I just wasn't close enough to the others to activate chatter, so I hope I'm wrong on that part.

Ridernet is looking to be an AWESOME inclusion in the game (this is similar to battlelog or need for speed hot persuit).  I don't ahve any friends on yet so the wall only shows my crappy scores, but once others start joining in, there should be a nice feed of people one upping eachothers scores. You can just click one of these entries and immediately go to the given race to try and beat that person's time/score, so I suspect a big part of the game is going to be trying to beat out your friends on the leaderboards.

You can browse the entire planet and see the mountains that will be available, but only 2 mountains (one track each) are available to play. The runs are lengthy and fun, with plenty of jumps, rails, and terrain to grind. I've spent most of my time learning the controls for now, so I can't say much about how the courses feel or how varied they are, but they certainly seemed nice in my few runs.  It does lean more towards the SSX3 "real mountain" look rather than tricky's gonzo, to hell with reality style.  Graphics are insanely nice though, and the music/sound seems to fit well.

I'll try to post some more thoughts when I get more time in later. Let me know what you all think.

[Caine]

This has been on my radar since giantbomb did a quick look awhile back, but due to it launching a week before ME3, I'll likely wait a bit before picking it up.

[Jimmy the Fish]

Oh man, I cannot wait. I love all the SSX  games.

[jersoc]

This has been on my radar since giantbomb did a quick look awhile back, but due to it launching a week before ME3, I'll likely wait a bit before picking it up.

it really was beyond stupid that EA pushed it back 2 weeks. I'll still be getting it and ME3, but wtf whose bright idea was that? also a big fuck you whoever made an unskippable 90s commercial.

I played about 45 mins last night when it up. Not sure how i feel about the controls yet. They feel like nothing like i remember. about to mess around with them soon.

for being modeled after tricky the tracks aren't very flashy, at least the demo ones. but i see no reason why that won't continue. no awesome fireworks going off when you hit big jumps, no multi-colored lights. in a way it makes them feel a bit stale. not a big deal, just a bit disappointed.

late edit:ok, pretty much getting fairly good with the controls now. just got shy of the gold in the trick one. seems to be all about stringing together your uber tricks and keeping the combo going.

[Purge]

I heart Amped, so I'm looking forward to something that falls inbetween.

[Covenant]

This was more modeled after SSX3, not Tricky.

[Bullwinkle]

This is really slow in downloading for me, for some reason.

I started the download this morning and went to play it just a few minutes ago, but it was only at 16%.

[PR_GMR]

This is really slow in downloading for me, for some reason.

I started the download this morning and went to play it just a few minutes ago, but it was only at 16%.

No SSX for you, Bullwinkle. We don't need no moose on a snowboard! 

[Bullwinkle]

This is really slow in downloading for me, for some reason.

I started the download this morning and went to play it just a few minutes ago, but it was only at 16%.

No SSX for you, Bullwinkle. We don't need no moose on a snowboard!  

But it's my natural environment!

[EngineNo9]

I heart Amped, so I'm looking forward to something that falls inbetween.

Depending on what parts of Amped you liked, you should check out Stoked (or the Big Air Edition psuedo-sequel).  They leaned much more towards realistic and let you choose whether you wanted fast button-mashy "huckster" playstyle or the slow, smooth "styler" kind.  They also had huge mountains that let you drop in at many different points (or anywhere once you unlock the helicopter) and it was all open and free roaming.

[Purge]

Doesn't look horrid, although reviews hadn't been kind.

I kinda just want Amped 2 back, you know? Amped 3 was... a little too much into silliness.

[Bullwinkle]

Doesn't look horrid, although reviews hadn't been kind.

I kinda just want Amped 2 back, you know? Amped 3 was... a little too much into silliness.

Where have you seen any reviews?

[EngineNo9]

Doesn't look horrid, although reviews hadn't been kind.

I kinda just want Amped 2 back, you know? Amped 3 was... a little too much into silliness.

Despite reviews I actually enjoyed both Stoked games and still play the latest one occasionally.  The mountains aren't going to have crazy big unrealistic hits like SSX, but if you want real snowboarding they're as close as you can get.  Microsoft certainly doesn't seem like they want to revive the Amped games.  

And honestly you can get a used version of the second one (Big Air Edition) for $10, so if you have even a passing interest it may be worth checking out.  

Anyway, back to your normally scheduled SSX thread...  

[Purge]

Doesn't look horrid, although reviews hadn't been kind.

I kinda just want Amped 2 back, you know? Amped 3 was... a little too much into silliness.

Where have you seen any reviews?

For stoked, it was a comment on the prev. message. Sorry bout that.

[CeeKay]

played the demo, and surprisingly I liked it.  I'll probably wait for a good price drop or two though since it's so close to ME3.

[Bullwinkle]

IGN gave it a 9/10

SSX is the video game this generation has been missing. The feeble attempts of other, lesser snowboarding games to capture the adrenaline fueled excitement of SSX don’t compare at all. This is what happens when you don’t just put the game out every year, but spend your time crafting it, creating the ultimate experience. SSX redefines snowboarding games, raises the bar for the genre, then backflips over it.

They make an excellent point about not releasing a game every year improving the quality of a title.

[CeeKay]

They make an excellent point about not releasing a game every year improving the quality of a title.

heresy!

[Purge]

IGN gave it a 9/10

SSX is the video game this generation has been missing. The feeble attempts of other, lesser snowboarding games to capture the adrenaline fueled excitement of SSX don’t compare at all. This is what happens when you don’t just put the game out every year, but spend your time crafting it, creating the ultimate experience. SSX redefines snowboarding games, raises the bar for the genre, then backflips over it.

They make an excellent point about not releasing a game every year improving the quality of a title.

SSX2  due out this christmas.

[pingwrx]

The demo is looking pretty good think I wlll pick this up played the heck out of the PS2 version back in the day.

[siege]

Took several hours of playing the demo before I was able to gold medal JT2. I'm still only getting 4-5 mil on Bulldog. I'm assuming the retail release will be slightly less challenging as the peaks in the demo surely aren't for beginners.

Great game, though. Usually I'd have deleted it in disgust within a hour, but I'm driven to become good at it.

[Covenant]

From what I read, the singleplayer world event mode is a much more gradual learning curve (the devs call it an extended tutorial).  The two demo runs are explore mode which are tuned to be played once you master the controls and are competing with friends.

[siege]

That's good to know. While I've played every game in the series, I'm getting old and don't have the patience for failing to progress at a steady rate anymore.   Definitely picking it up tomorrow.

Anyone else planning on getting it feel free to add me on Live for some ridernet competition. Bshock79

[Hrothgar]

I tried both demos.  They both had silky smooth controls, but the PS3 graphics looked better.  It's odd because usually the PS3 looks like the port, but this time it's the 360 that doesn't look as sharp.  I might still go 360 since there was a huge amount more ridernet activity on Live.

It did feel like SSX.  I did have fun.  I'll probably pick it up soon.

[metallicorphan]

review round up...LOL@ Edge Magazine,they always try and be a little controversial don't they?

CVG

[siege]

Edge 5
Game Informer 7.75
Eurogamer 9

Scores all over the place...

[Bullwinkle]

Edge 5
Game Informer 7.75
Eurogamer 9

Scores all over the place...

That's not all over the place.  Those are positive scores with one dissenting opinion.

Looking at mo's link, there are two dissenting opinions, but the majority think it's great.

[siege]

Considering the review scale for most sites is 6-10 there is a huge disparity between a 7 and a 9. It's averaging an 80% so far which is about what I expected. The 5 hour world your is disappointing but I'm primarily interested in the ridernet competition anyways.

[Bullwinkle]

Considering the review scale for most sites is 6-10 there is a huge disparity between a 7 and a 9. It's averaging an 80% so far which is about what I expected. The 5 hour world your is disappointing but I'm primarily interested in the ridernet competition anyways.

Not really, if you look at the way those sites review.  A 7.5 on one site could be nearly a 9 on another.  If you read the comments of those reviews, they're pretty well in agreement.

[Covenant]

Just picked up my copy and will report back with some initial impressions after lunch. My plan is to blow through the campaign over the next day or two to get comfortable with the controls, then get into all the RiderNet features, challenging friends, gear, leveling up, etc.

Anyone who plans to get into this title on the 360, feel free to add me as a friend

Gamertag: Covenant72

[Covenant]

Ok, got myself about 30-45 minutes in and here's my initial random thoughts:

1) World Tour shouldn't take long to beat. I managed to get through the Rockies and finish the first Deadly Decent in my short playtime (placing first in all events)
2) Difficulty in World Tour is much more manageable. I'm one of the people who had a real hard time placing well in the demo, so it's nice to see that the learning curve is flattened out in World Tour
3) It seems to be structured that you play a different character through each mountain range, so by the time you finish single player, you should have everyone leveled up a bit and a good amount of credits in the bank.
4) The game forces you to play through the tutorial (skyboarding/ground run) that you did in the demo before it unlocks Explore and Global Events.  Not a huge deal as this took about 10 minutes to get through.
5) I recommend people play through at least the first deadly decent as there are definitely some new things here. Race events where you have to time jumps over fallen trees anyone? Very fun and adds a new layer of challenge
6) The gear screen has a little "click right bumper to purchase credits" message. Doing this allows you to buy credits for microsoft points. I'm not a particular fan of this as it will let people just buy the best gear for money; on the other hand I think it's too early to tell yet as credits are coming in plenty fast and it might not be necessary.  Plus you have to play to level up your character anyway before you can use the best gear, so it might be a non issue. Time will tell on this one.
7) I'm already getting more comfortable with the controls and definitely feel by the end of World Tour, I will be ready to start putting up some good scores and competing in events.

I'll post more impressions as I get more time with it, but as of now if you are an SSX fan from the old days, I can say without reservation that you will want to pick this up.

[Cragmyre]

I had this pre-ordered and should be getting it delivered today, so feel free to add me as a friend if you want scores to compare

After seeing the post below mine, I realized I should have specified I got it on the 360 and my gamertag is Cragmyre

[Hetz]

I picked it up for the PS3 today, due to the exclusive Mt Fuji mountain for the PS3.

So far, I am having a blast with it. It's just as fun as I remember it being back on the PS2.

[Bullwinkle]

Played the first mountain, had a blast!  Only had to replay one section once.

Started the first section of the second mountain, um.  I've replayed it half a dozen times and have yet to win the race.

I'll go try the other mountain that opened up (the one they showed second).

[siege]

I really don't like the survival parts at all.

[Zinfan]

Perhaps SSX has moved on past me.  I just can't figure out what to do and the in game hints (there is no manual at all) flash past so fast I don't really get a chance to digest them.  I struggled to get past the second tutorial which was all about tricking out to beat the other guy's high score and I had to replay that race 5-8 times until I got lucky and just barely beat the guy.  At no time did I have any sense I was doing anything other than randomly moving the sticks in various directions.  Trying to grind on trees and things other than rails was very difficult.  I had issues with the first survival race as well, why run it in such dark conditions while I'm trying to learn the game?  Ah well I'll hack away at it for a bit but ME3 is going to push this game way back for me.

Oh and when I got to the second "outscore the other rider" event?  They scored over 1.2 million points and my first run netted me 136,000 pts so I don't really see me advancing further anytime soon.

[jersoc]

loving the survival mode so far, presents a pretty good challenge. doing ok in races, silver or higher pretty much every time so far.

tricks, still getting the hang of them. most are silvers by still behind gold by quite a bit.

[siege]

The global events multiplayer system is awesome. I can see myself playing this game for a long time to come.

[Bullwinkle]

Definitely do the Ice Mountain before the batwing one (though they show the batwing first).  The batwing is a quick challenge spike.  Not insurmoutable, but not as gradual.

I don't get these pieces of equipment they want us to buy.  Everyone of them is worse than the stock one that comes with the character.  Why would I get those (unless I really, really like a particular color).  I'm sure better ones will become available eventually, but why even offer weaker ones at all?  Why not give me something to strive for, to make earning the money mean something? 

I actually blew a wad on one of the mystery items, and it, too, was worse than what I already had.  What a waste.

[siege]

The items get better at higher levels. Saw an epic suit that increased tricky time for example. I just bought a mystery suit for 60k credits and all it does is glow.  

The deadly descents are the only blemish on an otherwise enjoyable game. Seriously, the avalanche and oxygen survival trials had me shaking my head in disbelief. Horrible game design.

[Zinfan]

I'm enjoying SSX much more now that I've gone away from the World Tour and ventured into Explore and RiderNet modes.  A decent mix of races available and usually silver is achievable in speed races.  Still working on trick it races, getting the hang of stringing a bunch of tricks together.  At one point I was in super tricky mode with over 50 tricks stacked up but of course I fell and lost it all  .  Got greedy. 

I only have jersoc on my friends list who is playing SSX but I love the RiderNet section that allows you to see what events they have done and the time/score to beat.  RiderNet also allows you to jump right into an event in order to race against a friends ghost, I imagine that is what jersoc did when I managed to best one of his speed runs only to find out he went back and set a faster time. 

I have yet to find it if it is in the game but it would be nice to see what character/level/board a friend used to set their times with.