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64 of 65 found the following review helpful:
 Incredible, but not without flawsOct 24, 2003
By Robert Graves
Brand new from EA is the latest in the successful SSX snowboarding saga, SSX 3. Whether this is your first SSX game or you're a faithful follower of the previous two, this game will flat-out amaze you. No other snowboarding game so perfectly combines the reality of the feel, touch and appearance of gliding through the snow with the jaw-dropping physics defying stunts you'll be able to easily execute from the moment you pick up a controller.Several new additions are found in SSX3, most notably the Conquer the Mountain mode of play. In this mode you select a snowboarder and build him or her up - like in the previous versions of the game - except this time you're doing it for cash in order to purchase various accessories and abilities. Rather than take you all over the world to snowboard, SSX3 keeps you in one location - a gigantic mountain with 3 separate peaks. Each individual peak is bigger than entire contents of the SSX Tricky (wow). You begin on peak one and as you win medals in different venues, you eventually unlock peak two, and so on. The events you'll compete in on each peak are the old familiar ones - racing and freestyle - as well as some very cool new ones: Freeride, where you collect icons for money and perform various missions; Big Air which is usually a very short run where you try to land huge scores in only a few jumps; Rival Challenges where you have a one-on-one duel with your nemesis down the mountain, trying to beat their score or best time; the Superpipe, an event where you ride the length of a pipe garnering unbelievable air; Slopestyle, which has you basically in a gigantic downhill snowboard park. It's up to you to find your own route down and score the most points; and the enormous Peak Events. This is worthy of its own section. There are 3 Peak Events, one for each peak. After you have medaled in all of the freestyle or race venues for a given peak, you'll then compete in the Peak Event where you'll race from the top of that peak to the bottom, usually encompassing 3 - 4 of the venues from that peak. Peak one's race is over ten minutes. Peak two includes not only it's own trails but also peak one's trails. This race is over twenty minutes. Lastly, Peak three's event takes you down all three peaks for over a half hour. Back also are the Uber-tricks, but there's a new slew of super-Uber-tricks, as well as rail Uber-tricks and board presses, which allow you to spin on the tip of your board while either on the ground or on a rail. The addition of the rail tricks are great, but I'm not thrilled with the Uber-tricks. Many of them are simply the same exact ones that the characters performed in SSX Tricky. Most of the old characters make an appearance here as well as a few new ones, the most popular sure to be the 12-year-old prodigy Griff and the cute 18-year-old Allegra. Each character has a designated enemy with whom they'll square off in the various one-on-one Rival competitions throughout the game. The graphics are far better than its predecessor, SSX Tricky, which was outstanding in its own right. The snow is amazing. As you change from powder to hardpack to ice, you can not only hear and feel the difference of the board on the surface but you can also tell by the way the light glistens of it. This game provides seemingly endless game play, allowing you to travel literally hundreds of unique routes down each of the dozens of trails with ten different riders, each with their own special characteristics. The music is one-of-a-kind. With everyone from the Black Eyed Peas to Fat Boy Slim, you'll never get bored of hearing the same lame soundtrack over and over again. SSX3 also employs a unique mixing system - The music is mixed in real time as you play, meaning it changes depending upon how you're performing. If you are cruising along with tons of momentum expect the music to be busy, loud and aggressive. If you catch air, often the drums will drop out while you soar, which will usually lead to a huge musical entrance perfectly timed with your landing. However, a few negatives. Everything can't be perfect. The game is touted as allowing you "go anywhere" and true, there is a huge realm in which you can travel, the biggest I've ever seen in a game. But every once in a while if you stray off the beaten path only a little - and I mean only a few feet (in the game scale obviously) - you will be out of bounds and reset to the path again. They would've done better to expand these narrow areas of play, since it brings down what is otherwise a huge game universe. As previously mentioned, the Uber-tricks are basically the same as in other versions of the game, except for the new characters. I was really hoping for more amazing stunts. Additionally, I would've liked more interaction with the "plot" section of the game. There could be more inter-character drama, more clothes to buy, etc. Lastly, it can be a little complicated to know what you're supposed to do. It's not easy to figure out how to get into the lodge, buy attributes, compete in different events, etc. If you're wondering, you need to go to the transport, then pick which course you want to go to. Once there you'll find yourself snowboarding and you'll see signs for the different events, simply follow the sign to the event you want to do. And to get to the lodge, you need to go to the transport, select which peak you want (each has it's own lodge), then select the "station" option. Once there you'll be snowboarding along and you'll see the signs for the lodge. Just glide in and enter. Even with the flaws, I couldn't give the game less than five stars. It might be the deepest game you'll own.
33 of 36 found the following review helpful:
Third time definitely has charm...Nov 01, 2003
I'll be blunt: I don't like sports games. I loathe them. A total waste of time in my opinion. I prefer arcade, RPGs, platformers, etc... pretty much every other type of game around. Sitting down to play a sports game is about the same as having my nails pulled out.. plain, unadulterated toture.
But SSX3 isn't like other sports games. It's not a game that you have to be a hardcore sports nut to appreciate and enjoy. It has what so many other games (sports and other genres) have forgotten.
Fun. It's flat out, addictive, grab you by the throat fun! It'll keep you saying "just one more race, I can nail that trick!" until 3:14am in the morning. It's as superior to SSX Tricky as Tricky is to every other snowboarding game out there.. and that's saying a lot! SSX3 is a sports game that cuts across the lines and appeals to people from all walks of life.
Do yourself a favor and try this one out. You'll be glad you did.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Bigger, and better than everJan 20, 2004
Unlike SSX Tricky where you go to a bunch of different places, there is one mountain here, one HUGE mountain. No wonder it's called big mountain! There are three different events to do. Freesyle, Race, and Freeride. The freestyle is three different events, Big air, Super Pipe, and slopestyle. Big air is exactly what it says, BIG air. You go off huge jumps and do ill tricks on a short course. Super pipe is new to this game and is very fun. You go down a pipe doing combos and just trying to get your best biggest greatest score. Slope style is like SSX Tricky freestly, only bigger, and better finding your own uniqe line to get big points. The race is a hard, fast race down a long course with enemies and friends around you. You have to a good racer, and as smart, and tricky as you can be 'cause your gonna want to find shortcut's, and knock opponents off their feet. When you get gold here, you either deserve it, or not. Free ride is a ride down any trail (race event, freestyle event)to get collectible's, and do mission's for cash. Also when in frees ride doing tricks gets you money, but not much. When you get cash you can spend it on stat's, clothes, or boards. It is cool because in SSX Tricky you just won a board, and couldn't buy what board you want, or clothes. There are also new characters like Griff, Alegra, Viggo, and Nate, all very nice, and fun characters to play. Also you have Mac, Elise, Phsymon, Moby, Kaori, and more back from SSX Tricky. All these characters have different rivaleries. (like Griff, and Mac) Another thing is the new EA Radio BIG where D.J. Atomica gives you info, and such about the mountain. The music is also great. Depending on your performance the music is different say your doing well, the music is fast, and strong, then when you catch big air the music pauses, then BANG comes roaring back in as soon as you land. Also the graphics are awesome. You can see theight affects, the powder and ice, and hardpacked. Also there are avalanches, Ice breaking under your feet, trees falling, and high winds pushing you off course, this game looks, and sounds great. Also after beating all the races, or freestyle events on that peak you get a peak race first agains your rival in that peak's backcountry, then down the whole peak. These races are long, and hard. Peak 1's race is 10 minutes long, including two courses. Peak twos race is 20 minute's long going down peak 2, and 1. Peak 3's race is over 30 minutes! down peak's 3, 2, and 1. These will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat at the end of the awesome run. There are a few flaws though. The Uber tricks aren't very good, basiclly the same as SSX Tricky. Also it's hard to get to the lodge, and such at first. The lodge is at a the station on each peak (Red station, Blue station...) just transport here, or follow the sings to get to the lodge to but stats, clothes, and boards. Over all a very fun game, and I hope yoiu enjoy it as much as I do!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Third Time's the Charm!Oct 18, 2004
By D. Neal
"Rogue Pencil"
What's the Skinny?
SSX3 is the best of the lot. Not entirely free of annoying idiosyncrasies, it is still superior to its predecessors and one of the better games you'll ever play.
I'm going to start with the bad stuff. Trust me when I say you will happily forgive EA's few errors, but nevertheless, they are there.
1. The menus don't work the way I think they should. It's easy (in fact, mandatory) to go through a lot of unnecessary loading. For example, you can't change your outfit without loading the mountain, THEN going to the lodge, THEN loading the lodge, THEN loading the character file.
2. The cameraman is a bit of a doofus. Most of the time, the camera is good, but when it goes wrong, you essentially have to fall down or go out of bounds to fix it. If you're going slow or trying to explore, you can get the camera pointed UP the slope, or in some other useless direction. Once you do that, it can be hard to turn it around without wiping yourself out.
3. Out-of-bounds areas are not clearly delineated and, at the same time, they are much easier to reach than in prior games. You will get a lot of automatic resets while you're figuring out the courses.
Now, on to the good stuff.
The Courses
The game takes place on one mountain, instead of all over the world. There are three peaks with difficulty relating directly to altitude. You begin on peak 1 and must complete certain events to ascend to the second and third peaks. Each peak has about half a dozen different trails in a fork-of-lightning configuration, not unlike the trails at a real ski slope.
Rest assured, however, that you won't find courses this crazy anywhere on Earth. Gone are the giant pinball machines from Tricky, but the 500-foot jumps, loop-the-loops, and pretzel-shaped rails are just as prevalent as ever. The tracks are all new, although some short sections naturally bear resemblance to earlier efforts.
Overall, the tracks seem more difficult, designed to keep you on your toes at all times. This is especially true on Peak 3, where tracks like Gravitude redefine your notions of how hard it can be to run a good line. Gone are the easy high scores on Garibaldi-type straightaways. Most of the peak 1 tracks resemble a cross between Elysium Alps and Mesablanca in terms of the way they are built and the feel you get from playing them. The concept of it being a mountain instead of a totally prefabricated area means there are more rocks, pits, trees, and ramps that don't quite line up properly than there were before. Large sections of the mountain resemble the Untracked courses.
The designers have taken the concepts of multiple paths and hard-to-reach areas to extremes. Just when you think you've found the fastest/highest/trickiest path, you spot a rail somewhere nearby that represents something even more insane. I've seen areas which were obviously playable that I still don't have the foggiest idea how to reach.
Also, since the tracks are connected, you can choose your experience as you go, deciding only when you reach a fork what it is you want to do. It's possible to freeride the entire length of the mountain, a single, uninterrupted run that takes half an hour to complete.
The Events
Racing: same as in earlier versions, except since the tracks are now part of one mountain, you can do a short race from point B to point C, then do a longer race from A-B-C-D. Eventually you'll be challenged to an All-Peak Race, from the top of the mountain to the bottom, covering about nine tracks.
Slopestyle: this is Showoff mode. It's pretty much the same as in previous games, except you can do longer, multi-track runs like you can in Race mode.
Freeride: this is no longer just an empty course. There are BIG (TM) Challenges strewn all over the courses. Each challenge has a goal: hoops to ride or jump through, items to retrieve, a score to beat, and so on. Challenges range in difficulty from fairly easy to mind-shatteringly difficult.
The Tricks
The trick setup has been changed in several ways. There are now two classes of Ubertricks. Normal Ubertricks are prolonged grabs like the ones the shoulder buttons produce. Super Ubers are the flashy board-releasing moves from Tricky, plus a host of new ones. Doing normal tricks until your boost is built up opens the door to Ubers, and then to Supers. Also, you can do Ubers on rails.
EA also balanced the scoring system: in Tricky, Ubers were the only way to get a respectable score. Now they aren't worth much more than Misties and similar tricks, so it's harder to get those astronomical scores in Showoff mode. This is balanced by the ability to do combos. Taking a page from Tony Hawk, EA has made a system whereby you can do tricks within about two seconds of each other to create a sequence that earns a bigger score than the tricks would have on their own. You can do board pulls to aid in this process.
The boost dynamic has been altered: it burns much faster than it used to, and you sacrifice the whole contents of the meter if you fall.
The Characters and Extras
Most of the cast of Tricky is present, along with newcomers Allegra, Nate, Griff, and Viggo. Zoe and Moby are still my favorites. You get ten characters right away, and I am told you can unlock everyone who's ever been in an SSX game. Unfortunately, the unlocked characters do not have voices.
In SSX3, everyone's starting and maximum stats are the same. Anyone you want can do anything you need. You upgrade using money, which you get from victories, Big Challenges, particularly impressive tricks, and collectible snowflakes.
Money is also used to buy new outfits and accessories. Rather than a number of prearranged costumes, every character has multiple shirts, pants, boots, boards, gloves, sunglasses, hats, belts, bracelets, and so on, which can be arranged to your taste. There are tons of things you can buy or unlock to add more flavor (for example, Moby has a Skull Face Paint option you can unlock - it looks creepy). Different board designs are available but boards no longer give stat bonuses.
The Graphics
In a word, stunning. Powder sparkles. Jackets flap. Ice shines. Boards flex under pressure. Avalanches shoot up clouds of silver spume. Poetry in motion, all of it.
The Sound
First, the DJ. Alas, Rahzel is no longer with us. His replacement, Atomika, is, at least, not annoying. Rather than calling out trick names, he broadcasts Radio BIG. This is basically music interspersed with news about the game characters.
The soundtrack has the phat beats Tricky favored, and a bit more alternative. It's not bad, but I really miss "Song for Dot." The character voice talent is all different, except for Bif Naked as Zoe. Voices are much less over-the-top than in Tricky. For the most part, this is good, although Psymon will just never be the same without Jim Rose.
The best feature of the sound is the ability to customize. Don't like Atomika? Shut him up. Don't like the music? Make your own playlist, or shut that off, too, and just listen to the mountain.
The Conclusion
You will play this until your thumbs bleed. Buy it.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
The best of all SSX gamesJan 25, 2004
By a girl gamer
While I despise all sports games, the SSX series has always had a special place in my heart. This is definately no different with the newest installment: SSX3. The gameplay from SSX Tricky which I found immaculate has managed to improve (I happen to think pressing two buttons for uber tricks is more fun seeing as though it IS supposed to be a higher-scoring move), the graphics are MUCH better, the music is more to my personal liking, and Kaori Nishidake DOESN'T sound like a 4 year old (hurray!). The clothing is a lot more "trendy" (as opposed to the seizure-inducing brightness of SSX Tricky). This game opens up a LOT more in the customization area. You can change your various uber trick and rather than having preset stats, you buy attributes. The races are a lot quicker and slopestyle and superpipe has been added to the list of freestyle events. You can scale the entire mountain to get from place to place or use a transport if you'd like. There are text messages between you and the other riders as well! I do, however, lament the loss of the cutscenes between characters that was in Tricky...but all in all, this game is better than Tricky. It's faster, more immersive, and exuberant. Contrary to what a previous reviewer said about the Trick Book being taken out of SSX 3, there ARE Trick Books...only in this game they're called Monster Tricks. Basically, these are high scoring tricks that net you high points...should you execute them PRECISELY as indicated and land the trick successfully. That said, SSX 3 is the best snowboarding game out there, period. The pros far outway the cons. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
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