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Dom Robinson reviews
Electronic Arts
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1-2
SSXwas one of the highlights of the launch titles on the PS2 and now its follow-upSSX Tricky,is upon us, but it’s not really a sequel.
There’s a number of different ways to play, starting with the ‘Single Event’or ‘World Circuit’ modes, practice what you’re about to preach or get straighton in with the action. Many of the tracks also have a ‘showoff’ mode – for youto demonstrate your tricks. It’s not the easiest of games though and you’llhave to come first, second or third in the Quarter Final, Semi Final and Finalrounds, before you can save your position.
Choose one of 12 characters, including six from the original game and all voicedby film stars David Arquette, Lucy Liu and daggy pop star Macy Gray.Note that the other boarders all have individual personalities, some feelingneutral towards you while others are your true enemy. Then pick an outfit and a snowboard, all from an initially-limited selection thatwill expand as you progress through the game. Cut to a sweeping series ofcamera shots of the mountainous… er… mountain you’re about to negotiate andyou’ll be filled with fear as you wonder how you’ll make your way down withoutbreaking your neck.
What’s new this time is a couple of new track layouts (“Garibaldi” and “Valdez”)while the rest are altered versions of the existing ones, each of them givena graphical make-over and looking even better for it. While it looks stunningoverall, with your rider moving at lightning speed as well as the scenery,I’m marking it down slightly this time because it occasionally suffers from aslight case of “jaggies” where anti-aliasing is required to smooth out jaggedlines, something not seen on the likes of games that take the time to removethem.
Sonically, EA are leading the way by introducing DTS soundtracks into the gamesthemselves. Even better than Dolby Digital, this particular game isn’t quiteusing the full 5.1 sound system – my Sony STR-DB930 amplifer registers “dts (2/2)” -but it’s impressive enough and a great improvement over standard stereo orsurround sound. From the mesmerising menu sequences, with echoing voices, tothe screaming of your character and the descriptions and comments about thetricks you’ve performed, it’s an aural treat.
The control system is usually fine, but when you crash into a post and can’tget out of the situation, it becomes a dog, making you twist back the wayyou’ve come from before you can turn back in the right direction.
When time is tight and you can’t move forward, it becomes a major frustration.Thanks toJohn Radfordfor the info that pressing ‘select’ will put you back on course manuallyand it can also be used to dodge having to leap over unforgiving jumps asa press of the button places you on the other side!
Where it works fine, you can increase your speed by bending down or withthe adrenaline button. Performing any one of the massive variety of trickscan be done fairly easily, but only providing you have enough room beforeyou hit the powder again.
This time round you can pull off an “Uber Trick”. You do standard tricks to fillup your Boost Bar, then you have 20 seconds to get “Big Air”, press and holdR2 or L2 depending on what you’re told, along with the square button, toreally boost your score, providing you land the right way up.
Overall, SSX Tricky is fantastic, but if you have bought the originalthen it’s still worth getting but you may as well sell off the originalbecause this one has all that you need from it and more. One problem thoughis that it can’t load old SSXsave games into this new release. Why, I cannot say.
Also, this time round there are DVD extras in the form of plenty of backgroundinfo to the game and a chance to hear all the music from the game separately.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.