SSX 3
We dissect EA Canada's snowboarding masterpiece in one of the most detailed reviews on the web.
Published: November 12, 2003
The original SSX was a fantastic way to put EA Sports' new BIG branch on the map. It was also one of the big reasons to get a PlayStation 2 at launch (besides Madden, some would say the only reason), and helped ensure that EA's decision to move into the more extreme sector of sports was a well-founded one. To this day, no developer has had as much success breathing life into traditional sports the way the BIG line has. Yes, there were the Blitz games and NBA Jam before that, but those games lacked the depth that most of the BIG stable has been loaded to near-bursting with.
Which brings us to SSX 3, arguably the deepest and most engrossing of all the BIG titles. Eschewing the globe trotting formula that made the first two games so varied, EA Canada decided instead to craft an entire mountain to ride, and then proceeded to dot the snowscape with literally hundreds of races, trick competitions, challenges and collectables. The result is nothing short of the best snowboarding game videogames have ever seen, and while there are a few nagging problems, the presentation and execution of a massive, three peaked behemoth that you'll try your damndest to conquer is pure gaming bliss from the moment you first drop onto the mountain.
The Über tricks and turbo meter from the first two games have been given the once-over and have been refined a bit. Now there are three levels to your adrenaline (read: turbo) meter, and the entire time it slowly drains unless you keep pulling tricks to fill it back up. Depending on the color (yellow, orange or red; the more varied and impressive your trick run, the higher it goes) you'll get more kick when you tap into your turbo reserves. Übers also now have three levels, where the first set of tricks will simply detach one leg from the board, the second level includes more extreme complete board-separating moves, and the final level locks you into permanent boost for a set period of time, so even if you bail, you'll still retain a full meter. To progress from one level to the next, you'll have to fill the über meter's letters; spelling out über with four successful übers will graduate you to the next tier, and spelling super will gift you with the full-on super über. For the first time you can also pull off übers while grinding, which not only look incredibly slick, but are a fantastic way to keep combos going.
Keeping them going is actually one of the biggest changes to the series. In addition to the new tiered uber system, board presses (accomplished by holding up or down on the right analog stick), SSX's version of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater manual, allow you to string moves together between jumps. Rather than forcing you to constantly balance THPS-style, however, a small clock slowly fills between moves. Pulling a board press for about a second will reset the clock, but you'll loose quite a bit of control in the process. It's an ingenious system that actually feels more natural and makes the simple act of stringing together a massive combo incredibly fun. While you'll add bits of your score to the overall total as you're building the combo, the total trick run score is held in the building combo meter until the clock either ends or you bail, forcing your strike a balance between control and pumping up the score. It's theoretically possible to combo your way down the entire 30 minute mountain if you're good enough.
I've already touched a bit on the new approach to the level design, but it bears pointing out that by moving to the whole triple peaked mountain design, the designers were able to pack a mind-boggling amount of collectable goodies all over the place. Sure, you'll have to ride to your next competition most of the time, but along the way there are hundreds of cash icons and BIG Challenges to keep things interesting while you do - that is if the scenery doesn't have you rendered slack-jawed and blurry-eyed as you carve down the mountainside. The BIG challenges in particular mean that even revisiting a competition location keeps things interesting. Each race, super pipe, slopestyle, big air or backcounty course is open to simply ride around in and pockmarking each of these are hundreds of green columns of light that task you with various challenges, be it something as simple as grinding a trio of rails without falling to finishing a run in a set amount of time to pulling off a huge score on your way down. Varying levels of difficulty mean even when you get REALLY good at the game, there's still something to keep you interested.
That's not to say the remodeled approach to crafting levels is without faults. In fact, the illusion of a huge mountain to ride down is often marred by the fact that you really can't venture too far out of the main courses that snake down the mountainside. Sure, there are plenty of runs, but the façade of a truly open mountain quickly crumbles after the 20th time of being reset on course for going off limits - a problem that's compounded by the fact that there are numerous Out Of Bounds signs on the courses that encourage exploration. There's no clear definition of where you can and can't deviate from the path since there are often times where cutting up and over a hill can drop you into an Out of Bounds area. It's like the game encourages you to explore, but doesn't tell you where you can explore. Couple these inconsistencies with an over-sensative reset reflex on the part of the game should you bail or accidentally fly too far off course, and frustrations can tug down on that perma-grin the game would otherwise have given you.
Other than level design changes, which are significant in that they're infinitely more natural (which is fitting given the new setting), there aren't too many changes to the formula that kept the series at the pinnacle of the extreme sports genre. The controls are just as tight as before, though it seems like you feel the progression arc of your riders' skills as you build them up much more noticeably than before. Because you actually buy all your upgrades - from clothing to accessories to music to rider skills - you're pushed to compete, but you won't win without spending some of that cash. The more cash you spend, the better your rider performs (and looks), and the more money you can grab in events and while freeriding. It's a cycle that can perpetuate itself for literally solid weeks of gameplay, and makes SSX 3 one of the best ways you can spend $50.
If for some reason you do tire of the mountain a bit, however, you can always take the game online. The PS2 version is the only one that supports an online mode, which is a nice coup for Sony lovers, but the online mode itself is a rather poorly designed feature. Signing on and finding a game is easy enough (and the ability to add buddies and message multiple people privately through the EA Messenger is a nice feature common to all the EA Sports online games), and getting all your stats tracked and available online is totally cool, but once you're finished, you're kicked all the way back to the main online page. If you happen to cancel the sign-on process the game goes through after every match, you have to re-log in to the whole service. It's already frustrating to have to repeat the steps of logging in, finding a lobby and then looking for challengers, but to accidentally have to go through the whole sign-on process again is just needlessly cumbersome.
EA tried to conceive of an Xbox Live-style approach when they should have stuck to the more simplistic approach employed by other online PS2 efforts. A full service and a cross-genre messenger is cool, but too many other things were overlooked in the design process. Hell, even 989's approach to the unified interface and features were better implemented with this year's 2004 lineup. You're able to see all the people signed onto the service, see what game their playing and communicate with them - via headset (also an option in SSX 3 while you're in a specific lobby) even if you're in the lobby and they're playing a game. While it's rare to think that EA could learn anything from 989, here's a perfect example of online done wrong for the most part.
Luckily, something the developer does decidedly right is making their games look damn good. SSX 3 is easily one of the best looking games on the PS2, and although the game still can't help but hit a couple rough patches when there are multiple riders on-screen or when taking big curves, it's overall a much smoother experience, and infinitely more pleasing on the eye. Subtle effects like sparkling powder on the peaks, light refractions in ice caves, and an incredibly organic feel to the entire mountainside just solidify the fact that you're not likely to see a more consistently creative, innovative and downright gorgeous snowboarding game for the life of the PS2 - unless there's an SSX4 before we move into the next generation of systems.
It's really the refinements that keep the game looking so good after even hundreds of hours of play time, though. The particle effects for fireworks are wonderfully detailed, often arcing and streaming across the screen in zig-zags or swirls before detonating in front of the riders. The tweening between trick animations is astoundlingly perfect, to the point where it's hard to think of a sports game that's been this well animated. Riders twist and contort their bodies to pull momentum into their favor more than they ever did in past games, and it's something that's at once so natural you hardly notice it most of the time and awe-inspiring when you finally do. I might sound a little overzealous here, but when you really look at how well the riders move their bodies and respond to physics - not to mention how cool it is to see the boards flex during moves and pressed - it truly will blow you away.
Sound has always been another part of the SSX series that has consistently floored me. Since the first game Johnny Morgan and the audio crew at EA Canada have been refining the most interactive music system in videogames, and while there are still some odd moments when the game abruptly mixes n unsavory elements, the interactive music in SSX 3 is easily the most technically advanced on the system. The way the music splits off into varying levels of complexity while doing things like riding off course, getting huge air, running into caves or recovering from a hard bail is as pleasing to the ears (most of the time, anyway) as the game is on the eyes.
There's also quite a bit more variety to the music, and while I'm sad to see the soundtrack moving away from the more break-heavy tunes from the past games, the variety in the new licensed tunes (and the fact that they're as layered as they are), means more people will have something to keep their ears perked up while they play. The ability to customize your playlist from dozens of songs means you can strip out what you don't like, too. Add to this the fact that different riders have different default playlists and things are incredibly customizable.
Even the effects work has been upgraded, though it seems like the overall effects level is a bit lower and overpowered by the music this time around, which makes sense because so much effort was put into the whole radio station aspect of the music's presentation. The DJ that comments on the events you're traveling to or talks about your rider during updates adds some great authenticity to the radio station vibe, though some may flick him off after the comments about general mountain goings-on get repetitive (which is an option). Should you actually choose to ditch the tunes and just listen to the mountain ambience, you find plenty to carve to, even if it's just a digital version of Mother Nature's score. The sounds of slicing through powder, carving across ice and the quips from riders are both more crisp and frequent than previous games.
When it comes down to it, SSX 3 is just an incredibly well presented game. The attempt at creating a full-blown ride-anywhere mountain are marred by some wiggy reset zones, and the online mode should have been better thought out, but the overall gameplay is so tight and offers so many hours of gameplay that it'd be a crime not to recommend this game to anyone that owns a PS2. Go out and buy this game; no PS2 library is complete without it.
Which brings us to SSX 3, arguably the deepest and most engrossing of all the BIG titles. Eschewing the globe trotting formula that made the first two games so varied, EA Canada decided instead to craft an entire mountain to ride, and then proceeded to dot the snowscape with literally hundreds of races, trick competitions, challenges and collectables. The result is nothing short of the best snowboarding game videogames have ever seen, and while there are a few nagging problems, the presentation and execution of a massive, three peaked behemoth that you'll try your damndest to conquer is pure gaming bliss from the moment you first drop onto the mountain.
The Über tricks and turbo meter from the first two games have been given the once-over and have been refined a bit. Now there are three levels to your adrenaline (read: turbo) meter, and the entire time it slowly drains unless you keep pulling tricks to fill it back up. Depending on the color (yellow, orange or red; the more varied and impressive your trick run, the higher it goes) you'll get more kick when you tap into your turbo reserves. Übers also now have three levels, where the first set of tricks will simply detach one leg from the board, the second level includes more extreme complete board-separating moves, and the final level locks you into permanent boost for a set period of time, so even if you bail, you'll still retain a full meter. To progress from one level to the next, you'll have to fill the über meter's letters; spelling out über with four successful übers will graduate you to the next tier, and spelling super will gift you with the full-on super über. For the first time you can also pull off übers while grinding, which not only look incredibly slick, but are a fantastic way to keep combos going.
Keeping them going is actually one of the biggest changes to the series. In addition to the new tiered uber system, board presses (accomplished by holding up or down on the right analog stick), SSX's version of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater manual, allow you to string moves together between jumps. Rather than forcing you to constantly balance THPS-style, however, a small clock slowly fills between moves. Pulling a board press for about a second will reset the clock, but you'll loose quite a bit of control in the process. It's an ingenious system that actually feels more natural and makes the simple act of stringing together a massive combo incredibly fun. While you'll add bits of your score to the overall total as you're building the combo, the total trick run score is held in the building combo meter until the clock either ends or you bail, forcing your strike a balance between control and pumping up the score. It's theoretically possible to combo your way down the entire 30 minute mountain if you're good enough.
I've already touched a bit on the new approach to the level design, but it bears pointing out that by moving to the whole triple peaked mountain design, the designers were able to pack a mind-boggling amount of collectable goodies all over the place. Sure, you'll have to ride to your next competition most of the time, but along the way there are hundreds of cash icons and BIG Challenges to keep things interesting while you do - that is if the scenery doesn't have you rendered slack-jawed and blurry-eyed as you carve down the mountainside. The BIG challenges in particular mean that even revisiting a competition location keeps things interesting. Each race, super pipe, slopestyle, big air or backcounty course is open to simply ride around in and pockmarking each of these are hundreds of green columns of light that task you with various challenges, be it something as simple as grinding a trio of rails without falling to finishing a run in a set amount of time to pulling off a huge score on your way down. Varying levels of difficulty mean even when you get REALLY good at the game, there's still something to keep you interested.
That's not to say the remodeled approach to crafting levels is without faults. In fact, the illusion of a huge mountain to ride down is often marred by the fact that you really can't venture too far out of the main courses that snake down the mountainside. Sure, there are plenty of runs, but the façade of a truly open mountain quickly crumbles after the 20th time of being reset on course for going off limits - a problem that's compounded by the fact that there are numerous Out Of Bounds signs on the courses that encourage exploration. There's no clear definition of where you can and can't deviate from the path since there are often times where cutting up and over a hill can drop you into an Out of Bounds area. It's like the game encourages you to explore, but doesn't tell you where you can explore. Couple these inconsistencies with an over-sensative reset reflex on the part of the game should you bail or accidentally fly too far off course, and frustrations can tug down on that perma-grin the game would otherwise have given you.
Other than level design changes, which are significant in that they're infinitely more natural (which is fitting given the new setting), there aren't too many changes to the formula that kept the series at the pinnacle of the extreme sports genre. The controls are just as tight as before, though it seems like you feel the progression arc of your riders' skills as you build them up much more noticeably than before. Because you actually buy all your upgrades - from clothing to accessories to music to rider skills - you're pushed to compete, but you won't win without spending some of that cash. The more cash you spend, the better your rider performs (and looks), and the more money you can grab in events and while freeriding. It's a cycle that can perpetuate itself for literally solid weeks of gameplay, and makes SSX 3 one of the best ways you can spend $50.
If for some reason you do tire of the mountain a bit, however, you can always take the game online. The PS2 version is the only one that supports an online mode, which is a nice coup for Sony lovers, but the online mode itself is a rather poorly designed feature. Signing on and finding a game is easy enough (and the ability to add buddies and message multiple people privately through the EA Messenger is a nice feature common to all the EA Sports online games), and getting all your stats tracked and available online is totally cool, but once you're finished, you're kicked all the way back to the main online page. If you happen to cancel the sign-on process the game goes through after every match, you have to re-log in to the whole service. It's already frustrating to have to repeat the steps of logging in, finding a lobby and then looking for challengers, but to accidentally have to go through the whole sign-on process again is just needlessly cumbersome.
EA tried to conceive of an Xbox Live-style approach when they should have stuck to the more simplistic approach employed by other online PS2 efforts. A full service and a cross-genre messenger is cool, but too many other things were overlooked in the design process. Hell, even 989's approach to the unified interface and features were better implemented with this year's 2004 lineup. You're able to see all the people signed onto the service, see what game their playing and communicate with them - via headset (also an option in SSX 3 while you're in a specific lobby) even if you're in the lobby and they're playing a game. While it's rare to think that EA could learn anything from 989, here's a perfect example of online done wrong for the most part.
Luckily, something the developer does decidedly right is making their games look damn good. SSX 3 is easily one of the best looking games on the PS2, and although the game still can't help but hit a couple rough patches when there are multiple riders on-screen or when taking big curves, it's overall a much smoother experience, and infinitely more pleasing on the eye. Subtle effects like sparkling powder on the peaks, light refractions in ice caves, and an incredibly organic feel to the entire mountainside just solidify the fact that you're not likely to see a more consistently creative, innovative and downright gorgeous snowboarding game for the life of the PS2 - unless there's an SSX4 before we move into the next generation of systems.
It's really the refinements that keep the game looking so good after even hundreds of hours of play time, though. The particle effects for fireworks are wonderfully detailed, often arcing and streaming across the screen in zig-zags or swirls before detonating in front of the riders. The tweening between trick animations is astoundlingly perfect, to the point where it's hard to think of a sports game that's been this well animated. Riders twist and contort their bodies to pull momentum into their favor more than they ever did in past games, and it's something that's at once so natural you hardly notice it most of the time and awe-inspiring when you finally do. I might sound a little overzealous here, but when you really look at how well the riders move their bodies and respond to physics - not to mention how cool it is to see the boards flex during moves and pressed - it truly will blow you away.
Sound has always been another part of the SSX series that has consistently floored me. Since the first game Johnny Morgan and the audio crew at EA Canada have been refining the most interactive music system in videogames, and while there are still some odd moments when the game abruptly mixes n unsavory elements, the interactive music in SSX 3 is easily the most technically advanced on the system. The way the music splits off into varying levels of complexity while doing things like riding off course, getting huge air, running into caves or recovering from a hard bail is as pleasing to the ears (most of the time, anyway) as the game is on the eyes.
There's also quite a bit more variety to the music, and while I'm sad to see the soundtrack moving away from the more break-heavy tunes from the past games, the variety in the new licensed tunes (and the fact that they're as layered as they are), means more people will have something to keep their ears perked up while they play. The ability to customize your playlist from dozens of songs means you can strip out what you don't like, too. Add to this the fact that different riders have different default playlists and things are incredibly customizable.
Even the effects work has been upgraded, though it seems like the overall effects level is a bit lower and overpowered by the music this time around, which makes sense because so much effort was put into the whole radio station aspect of the music's presentation. The DJ that comments on the events you're traveling to or talks about your rider during updates adds some great authenticity to the radio station vibe, though some may flick him off after the comments about general mountain goings-on get repetitive (which is an option). Should you actually choose to ditch the tunes and just listen to the mountain ambience, you find plenty to carve to, even if it's just a digital version of Mother Nature's score. The sounds of slicing through powder, carving across ice and the quips from riders are both more crisp and frequent than previous games.
When it comes down to it, SSX 3 is just an incredibly well presented game. The attempt at creating a full-blown ride-anywhere mountain are marred by some wiggy reset zones, and the online mode should have been better thought out, but the overall gameplay is so tight and offers so many hours of gameplay that it'd be a crime not to recommend this game to anyone that owns a PS2. Go out and buy this game; no PS2 library is complete without it.
