SSX 3 proclaimed as BEST snowboarder ever... (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

Has anybody confirmed that the XBox version maintains a solid framerate? 'SSX Tricky' for the XBox seemed much more choppy than the PS2 original.

 

[Troy_M]

Relax, all of you. I just picked this up for the xbox and this is now one of my favorite games of all time. This game blows SSX:Tricky out of the water, and I am only 4% through the game. There is so much to do it is mindboggling.

The framerate is perfect, the graphics are beautiful, the sound is THX certified, the music is great, the tricks are much easier to pull off than in tricky. The recovery system is ingenious.

Wait till you get to the last race on the first mountain...whew!!! The race is about 15min long, with only 1 loadtime in between. This is the ultimate snowboaring game. I honestly couldn't have imagined a more fun game. I wish I had a week off from work to just eat, sleep, and play this game...it is that good.

 

[Scott L]

Dang, the more I think about it I don't go online for consoles at all. I'll give both the Xbox and PS2 versions a rent and report back.

 

[Dave F]

I played for about 2 hours & I'm not sure what to think. It doesn't have the immediate grab that SSX had, but hopefully it will grow on me. The way that the music is handled is a very nice touch though.

I can't really comment on the framerate. In Tricky, it sounds like most complaints were when there were a lot of players on the screen at the same time, but I never find myself in that scenario. I'm either way ahead, way behind, or off on some alternate path, so I never really experienced slowdown in Tricky (or in SSX3 so far).

One thing is for certain: the developers played a helluva lot of Amped while working on this. It seems like they took the whole concept of Amped & dressed it up in SSX clothing.

-Dave

 

[Dave F]

Lots and lots of product placement this time. There should be a challenge bonus for identifying all of the ads: dnL, Element, Stuff, ...

I hate that.

-Dave

 

[Dave F]

Best Buy has a free PDF of the Prima Hint Guide at the Best Buy. Nothing great, but it's free.

-Dave

 

[Mark Giles]

My local game store just called me letting me know my copy is in...I wont be able to play this until Thursday because of work. SSX was my first PS2 game I ever played. And this was the first day they released the PS2 in the US. I'm a true SSX fan. And Online play? I can't wait!!!

 

[Dave F]

Okay, initially I didn't know what to think. Now after a marathon session, I love it. There are a few runs that are just insane.

I have seen a few areas of some choppy framerate, usually lasting 3 - 4 seconds. The run that looks like Merqury City seems to be the worst. It's annoying when it happens but it's gone immediately.

Peak 2 has the best videogame representation of a blizzard that I've ever seen. =)

-Dave

 

[Jeff Adams]

Anymore reviews? I am seriously thinking about pick this one up. I have not bought a snowboarding game for a while due to I have thought they looked pretty unrealistic. How realistic is SSX 3?

 

[Dave F]

It's absolutely unrealistic. Amped 2 will probably be a better fit for you, if realism is a factor.

-Dave

 

[Damien]

Anymore reviews? I am seriously thinking about pick this one up. I have not bought a snowboarding game for a while due to I have thought they looked pretty unrealistic. How realistic is SSX 3?

All of the reviews so far are 9's. It's designed to deliver an adrenaline rush to the common consumer, and the only way to do that is to have the over the top antics. If you want realism, you should take a serious look at Amped 2 on the xbox, shipping next week.

Last thing - SSX3 is the only game to let you explore an entire mountain at your leisure

 

[Mark Giles]

I like it. All I've played are online races and freestyle competitions. It's graphically stunning. That's the first thing that comes to mind. At some points your going off this huge drop and you fall into nearly complete fog. Then it clears right before you land. I like the way the music attenuates when you slow down then goes back to normal when you resume speed. definately more interactive than 1 & 2. The lobby's(both online and the main menu)are not as exciting as the first two installments, but the gameplay makes up for it. These tracks are HUGE!!! I'm sooo lost during a race. I'm getting my butt kicked on circuits I play for the first time. Sometimes I'm lucky to be behind my online component just so I can know what path to go down. Just like T-R-I-C-K-Y, you have to get all the letters in SUPER UBER to do a super uber trick. Ive been about 2 letters away so far. Not sure what kind of trick they have you doing at that point. There's one track that is a very large half pipe. It's so big, when you take air on one side, your in the air forever. I thinkin you can pull off 3-4 uber tricks. Very fun game to play.

 

[Jeff Adams]

I gave in and bought it. I played it last night for about 2 hours. My thoughts of the game. VERY VERY fun! The moves and tricks are completly over the top and unrealistic but it's still a fun game. Gameplay is great. I like when you are in the back country or go off the path you get into deep snow. Me being a snowboarder, you always look for that deep powder. What also impresses are the graphics. Wow! The snow, the mountains, I like how it goes from sunny to cloudy to fog. It's sweet. On the PS2 it has an anamorphic setting and a DTS soundtrack. The DTS soundtrack is the best I have ever heard on a video game. If someone is behind you to the left you can hear them in your left rear speaker. This discrete sound is sick. Anyway, those are my initial impressions of this game.

 

[Tyler DJW]

I've never played the SSX series but I've watched the trailers for SSX3 and it looks like a lot of fun. I'm tired of the AMPED v. SSX threads! I'm a huge Amped fan and I don't think the two games look a lot alike. I think I would like SSX too, but for different reasons.

The attention to details in the environments(fog, deep snow) has me intrigued.

 

[Steve Y]

The developers mentioned they wanted to go for a more balanced approach to the "crazy tricks" in SSX3, but my impression is that the "tricking" is even crazier now.

I do like that there are the three different "levels" of trick - the standard grabs and tweaks, the tame one-footed kind, and the crazy spinny kind... part of the reasons the tricks are crazier is that you can tweak out an UBER for as long as you want... sometimes your character resembles a helicopter rather than a snowboarder!

In fact, getting tricked out in SSX3 is far easier because the tracks provide *many* more opportunities for "big air". (partly due to the nature of the halfpipes and, duh, "big air" competitions).

The SSX series has gotten progressively easier with each incarnation of the game - part 3 is no exception. In fact, this is probably my only criticism of the game.. within an hour I had opened up the second peak and scored golds on several peak 1 tracks... and I consider myself the sort of player who generally takes months at these tasks.

To be fair, the game "upped the ante" on several of the high scores and forced me back for more. I just couldn't stop playing this fun game and thus was "forced" into achievements that would normally leave me not wanting any more. Also, I've been playing SSX1 and 2 like a madman lately, and was "in the groove" and ready for more.

Even if the framerate and detail suffer occasionally (I have the PS2 version and Metro City does have some problems in that area) the sense of atmosphere has improved considerably. While containing less "rock solid framerate and detail" than the first two, it makes up for this in color, atmosphere, and an organic sense of real powder, real fog, real logs... etc. Don't get me wrong, it has the best graphics so far, and is often smooth as silk.

That said, it's also the most involving game of the series. Not only can you open up every single character from both SSX1 and 2, and tweak your characters' appearances like never before, and be confronted with numerous tasks apart from simply "medalling" in races -- there is also a real sense you are navigating a mountain and not a menu system. (but if you simply want to skip directly to competitions at any time, you can.)

They have the core gameplay absolutely nailed. You can just fly down the mountain doing nothing in particular but spinning and tricking and still have tons of fun. Once you get into the "manual" combo-stringing techniques, handplants, and uber-rails, it gets even more insanely addictive.

I'm slowing down my progress so I can savor every second of this great game!

s

 

[Doug Schiller]

So far, I love it but I won't be getting rid of Tricky anytime soon.
I think Tricky worked perfectly.
I'm struggling getting used to how tricks and combos work in SSX3 but I'll get the hang of it. I'm not sure if they are using a different engine but jumps that I think are major air, aren't and vice versa.

I also play Tricky on the Xbox but bought SSX3 for the PS2.
The characters seem much smaller and harder to see than Tricky, even at 480p 16x9. I feel like I'm racing against time more than other riders. The tracks are so huge, I sometimes only see the other riders once or twice during the run. This might have something to do with the elimination of the rubber band AI (which I kind of miss because it helped you if you were too good or too bad).

I still miss Raheem and the fantasy courses (maybe unlockables).

 

[Roger_C]

On the PS2 it has an anamorphic setting and a DTS soundtrack.

Am I missing something? I picked the widescreen option but I have black bars.
I got the PS2 version and a widescreen TV.

 

[DaveF]

The SSX series has gotten progressively easier with each incarnation of the game - part 3 is no exception

I'm glad to hear that! I enjoy SSX Tricky on my GameCube but don't have time to play consistently and master the tricks. And even if I do learn tricks, I will walk away for several months and have to re-learn them all. (I have the same trouble with THPS3). And easier game is exactly what I'd enjoy right now. This may be a good Thanksgiving purchase.

 

[Steve Y]

Roger, there are separate settings -- one for "widescreen" (bars) AND one for "anamorphic" (which you won't notice has taken effect until you leave the menu and go back to the game) ...

Having played many of the courses on Peak 2, I can say that the game is definitely not TOO easy. However, I find myself medalling on some of the courses anyway, which is saying a lot. I mean, I still haven't opened up "untracked" on either SSX1 or 2. Still, on Peak 2 I'm seeing little more than bronzes and the occasional silver.

I like that you can keep going back and winning more (though not as much) money by medalling in competitions. The first two games didn't have quite as much incentive to go back (except that it was fun, which was enough).

Thankfully, the game gets progressively harder as you go along, so by Peak 3 there should be some crazy insanity on-par with the difficult races in the first game. At first it seemed far too simple just because I had cleared Peak 1 so fast and the "big air" and "pipe" courses seemed so short. In hindsight, there's still plenty to do... by the time all the peaks are opened, there will be more than enough.

I do like the new physics model ... the characters have this sort of "bounce" to them that makes them seem more like people and less like polygons. (1080 for the Nintendo64 had a similar approach, though without the "big air")...

The courses, as I mentioned before, definitely give more air opportunities. On the "snow jam" race I consistently achieve "super uber" midway through the course. I much prefer that the "super uber" boost does not last indefinitely. On the longer courses that would make it far too easy to blast through everyone.

The "peak jams" are a blast to play... you go ALL the way down the peak... it took me 13 minutes to get all the way to the bottom! Along the way they block off the entrances to the competitions (all the "dead end" runs) with arrowed fences so you never get confused. But talk about marathon... just awesome. The only game that's ever approached this scale is the very fun "downhill domination".

Something to mention about unlockable "cheat characters" - they don't have their own set of statistics and are NOT selectable from the character screen (from what I've seen so far). Each "real" character (Kaori, Nate, etc.) simply has the opportunity to buy/unlock these characters and then select them at any lodge. You can then ride "as" that character for as long as you want, although they didn't appear to record any voices for them (bummer). You also can't buy gear for these characters.

Hey, but it's still cool to be able to play as Jurgen.

s!

P.S. - the characters do seem "smaller" and they are less detailed (the latter decision probably made to improve framerate). Selecting the "near" view generally brings the boarder "better into view".