SSX3 Review
Submitted by: dl4ndow on October 27, 2004
EA Sports Big has done it again. After a long two-year absence, the third installment of the SSX franchise (aptly named SSX3) has emerged to reclaim its crown as the best snow boarding franchise around. It can also easily be stated that SSX3 is one of the years best games period.
When starting the game, you will witness the breath-taking CGI Introduction movie. This movie gives you an overview of the game and its environments. Besides the incredible graphics and digital theater surround sound, one of the biggest differences between SSX3 and its predecessors is that all the events and races take place on one mountain.
The "Mountain" is huge! It has three massive peaks and each peak has its own events and races but in order to participate on each peak, you have to unlock them. To do that, you must participate in all the events and races for Peak One. That will unlock Peak Two. Rinse and repeat for Peak Three.
Racing in SSX3 follows the same format as the other franchise titles (SSX and SSX Tricky) being that you must place in the top three in order to advance to the next "heat" (heat=qualifying round). There are three heats to every race and you must place in the top three to advance. Should you place in the top three in the final heat, you will be rewarded with a trophy/metal and money.
The events in SSX3 have been improved from past titles. In addition to the main stay of trick riding in Slope-Style, two new events have been added called Big Air and Super-Pipe. Big Air is similar to Slope-Style except these tracks are shorter and focus more on tricks and air time whereas Slope-Style combines tricks with big air, half-pipe, and rail-riding. The Super-Pipe event takes place on one huge half-pipe where the goal is all about scoring points with big tricks. These events are timed but they do allow you to be creative and the scoring system is based on how creative you are with your tricks. You will again participate in three heats but you must finish within the top three in order to advance and receive metals/cash. Just remember to finish in the allotted time or you won't receive anything.
The major difference when competing in these races and events as opposed to SSX and SSX Tricky is that you will be able to set your own game-play style. For instance, if you are winning the races and events with ease you can adjust the AI of your opponents to Super AI. Do you want to participate in a "rough" race? You can set the AI for rough and physical play so look out; they'll be gunning for you!
Being on one mountain also gives you the freedom to explore the environment. These free-roaming periods of exploration allow you to truly gather in the scope of the mountains and the beauty of the graphics. You'll be able to ride free of time constraints and trick to your hearts content. If you do "need" a goal to accomplish, this free-ride section has that for you as well. As you are exploring, you will discover "challenges" that you can participate in. There is a large variety of challenges to participate in such as jumping through a certain number of hoops or finding the right line down the mountain with the least amount of air-time just to name a few. Upon successful completion of these challenges you will win money.
The ultimate goal of the game is to conquer the mountain! But in order to do that, you will not only need your mad skills, but you will also need money. To earn money you will need to successfully complete challenges and win races and events. With the money you've earned, you can upgrade you characters attributes (i.e. speed, stability, tricks, etc.) and compete in more difficult competitions. Earning money will also allow you to customize your characters appearance. You will have a variety of gear to choose from including but not limited to hats, coats, pants, and ect. etc. etc. The one other thing you may do with the money you earn is buy rewards. Rewards are many ranging anywhere from concept art to music to movies and surprises (i.e. secret hidden characters).
Music is one of the rewards you may purchase with the money you earn and the soundtrack to SSX3 is top notch. The soundtrack includes remixes of popular tracks and also exclusively made tracks from popular artists. With the music that you purchase, you can customize a play-list and listen to that as you play.
SSX3 masterfully combines game-play, graphics, and music to provide a most enjoyable experience. With the addition of its customization ability, hidden treasures, and the on-line component that allows you to play with your customized character against people from all over the world as well as track you progress and standings, the replay value will keep us all very busy for quite awhile or at least until the next SSX title arrives. So what are you waiting for? GO HIT THE SLOPES!
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