The Third Heat Is EA’s Winning Run
Written: Nov 01 '03 (Updated Nov 01 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gorgeous Graphics, Awesome Controls, Fun As Hell, Kicking Soundtrack, Tons Of Crap To Do
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: FYI, I'm not posting this in the wrong product placement!
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| JiggyJay's Full Review: SSX for PlayStation 2 |
Jason: Due to popular demand, I asked Chester to help me write this next review and he was glad to.
Chester: You love me! You really love me!
Jason: Okay, dude. Stop. Alright, so since our last review on Soul Caliber II we’ve come to play a lot of games and one of the games we started playing (and got hooked on) was SSX 3.
Chester: You might remember when Jason wrote a review on the original SSX game and he came to love the series and so he was super excited when he found the third one was going to be released.
Jason: It’s true. I was in Software Etc. and was browsing through the aisles when I saw an ad for the game and I immediately preordered it.
Chester: The SSX series started with the original SSX game and later followed a remix of the first game entitled SSX Tricky. Now, a while later the third comes out and quickly began being called the best of the series.
Jason: And I fully agree! Not only is this game long and very fun to play, the graphics are the best and the controls are just perfect, but we’re going to get to that later.
Chester: In SSX 3, instead of having a lot of different levels, the whole game takes place on just one mountain with three peaks. Each peak has a lot of different “levels” in it with a wide variety of different challenges and things to do like racing or just riding down the mountain and having fun. Or you can participate in one of the new additions to the series like the Big Air and Superpipe challenges where you put all of your skills to use and try to bust out as many tricks as possible.
Jason: What I’ve always enjoyed about this series is that you can do so much. You don’t like racing games, try your best at the Big Air stuff where you try and get a lot of air to put a lot of tricks into effect. You don’t like going down a humongous hill and busting tricks out? Try the Racing circuit where you try to match your talents with some hard AI.
Chester: And talk about characters! Holy crap there are a lot of characters including some from the last game and each one has specific Uber tricks (we’ll get to those in a second) and has various different speeds whether riding down the hill or doing tricks.
Jason: The goal of SSX 3? Try to earn 100% of the mountain and own it (which we have yet to do㐒% more to conquer!) and earn cash that you get from competing to buy new equipment (boards) and to try and customize your character with tons of different clothes. You can even unlock (buy) more characters that you can use in the game.
Chester: Ooh, and tell them about the trick system!
Jason: Oh, man, is this the best I’ve ever seen! The controls are so tight and easy to master that you will be rocking out in the game within minutes. You have a lot of cool tricks to bust out with the shoulder buttons along with Uber tricks that you can unleash when you fill up your Trick Meter that’s a gauge that fills up when you do tricks. These Uber tricks are awesome and earn you a lot of points. And you can get even more points now with the new manual maneuver no incorporated into the game. Like in the Tony Hawk games, you can now link together tricks through manuals that you perform with a simple toggle of the right analog stick.
Chester: If you wanted to (or if you could), you could even bust out tricks in a single combo all down the mountain. And this time around when you fall, the way you recover is to press the square button immediately after you eat sh!t. This is really important especially when you are racing because a fall could cost you the whole race.
Jason: Speaking of that, you will get frustrated in SSX 3. Sure, the Artificial Intelligence (the computer) isn’t the hardest I’ve come across, but as you get to the middle of the game the levels get really hard and complex where you have to think beforehand what you are going to do and the AI start being bastards. Speaking of the AI, something I found cool was that you could charge up a hit and slap your opponents (which is much better than what the original game and Tricky did) so hard that your Trick Meter will fill up full and they will even hold a grudge and be angry at you the whole run and even longer. You make your own rivals. This has to be the coolest thing in the game besides—
Chester: The graphics! Oh, dude, let me talk about the graphics!
Jason: Okay, but—
Chester: The graphics in SSX 3 are probably some of the best I’ve seen as of late. They are so lush and rich in color. They’re so pretty and beautiful. Oh, the way the sun glistens off of the white, white snow! The way the sun sparkles off of the camera lens! The way that your board wake on the snow looks so realistic! The way how when you go off of a jump way in the air you can see miles ahead of you and get a glorious look at the horizon! The way—
Jason: So, in other words, the game has great graphics.
Chester: …How…dare…you!
Jason: Truth be told, folks, these graphics and textures have yet to be upstaged. The developer really did a fine job tuning up these graphics to try and give them a realistic edge that the series really needed even though you still have the very fantasy-like pyrotechnics stuff and insane over-the-top tricks. These graphics are so mind blowing and gorgeous that they have to be seen to be believed.
Chester: Yeah…that’s exactly what I meant.
Jason: What’s wrong, Cheesy Chester?
Chester: I hate when you call me that, JiggyJay!
Jason: Hey, go screw yourself, you bastard!
Chester: Fuxk off and let me write the review since I’m the better half!
Jason: Oh, so you think that you can get a Very Helpful or dare I say it, a Most Helpful out of these people? They like me, not you. Me!
Chester: We’ll see about that!
Jason: Fine, go and finish the review! You’re nothing without me!
Chester: Be quiet and get out of here!
(Door slams, booming footsteps grow quieter)
Chester: Now then, where was I? Ah, yes! The graphics are really good. Next up, why don’t we talk about the music in the game? The soundtrack and the sound was very much superior to anything accomplished in the earlier games. The voice acting is much better and they’ve finally got rid of the annoying DJ and replaced him with a radio host whose voice is fabulous and appropriate every time he talks. The music, although still littered with Techno themes, has some rock music in it from the likes of MxPx to Yellowcard. The snow being shuffled as your board slashes through it’s white surface is a very realistic sound and is really a good sound to here. And…the…um…explosions from the pyrotechnics also sounds cool as well as the wind rushing as you do tricks. And…when you hit a wall or a bar, the TWANG that comes is also really…realistic. Uh…and—
(Footsteps start up again and the door slams open)
Jason: I just wanted to say that I’m sorry and that I came back to help you finish the review since you need it.
Chester: Actually, I was doing fine until you burst into the room…hey, I’m sorry, too. It will never happen again.
Jason: It won’t. You just have to remember the thing that I said to you when I let you join me: “I’m John Lennon, you’re Paul McCartney”. You have to remember that! Come on, we’ve got to get out of here so say a final recommendation.
Chester: Alright, but I thought the term you used was that you were Michael Jackson and I was Macaulay Culkin, but whatever you say, bro. Well, y’all, that’s our review and I just have to say that this game is one of the coolest to come out this year and is a definite must buy. We give a lot of five star ratings, but this one earns every sparkle of a star. You cannot miss this title especially if you are a snowboarding/racing fan! Screw 1080 Snowboarding and Shaun Palmer’s Pro Snowboarding--buy SSX 3 because you won’t be disappointed.
Jason: Talk you later, everyone!
© Jason Haskins, November 2003
© Chester “I’m Not A Real Person” Cheese
5.00 rounded to the nearest star equals a perfect in every way five stars
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
JiggyJay
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Jason Haskins
Location: Portland, Oregon
Reviews written: 630
Trusted by: 301 members
About Me:
I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, it's because I hate plants.
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