Number 50: SSX3, EABig 2003
Intro:
Much much happier about the presentation. The music and "radio announcer" built tension well, while the visuals were mostly rediculous clips from the game itself, interspersed with clips to demonstrate characters and locations. It reads much more like the introduction to a sports event than to a videogame.
Getting Going:
Am I just dumb, or is there no training mode? I found no prayer, short of the control options screen, for a player to learn the controls outside of previous experience or just taking to the game and learning the hard way. The messy physics and lack of explanation make getting started very difficult (at least for people like me who have no luck with snowboard or skateboard games).
Fun:
After getting over the learning curve, this game is actually a lot of fun to play. Different modes reward players for different skills, and play is rewarded with money, which can be used for cosmetic upgrades like new hats or pants, or for upping a single character's stats a little bit at a time. There is a long way to go for each statistic,and with so many characters availible from the start, I feel like I'm being punished for not having all day and night to put into this game so I can maybe unlock one new area with a half decent character.
Visuals:
A bit dated. I don't see anything new in this version (graphically) that I hadn't seen in SSX Tricky. The interface design more smooth and illustrated looking, much more like EA's other games, which is a lot easier on the eyes than the garrish 3D everything of SSX Tricky's menus.
Intelligence:
Do virtual snowboarders dream of electric powder? It's hard to tell, since the regular AI on the easier maps seem statistically inclined to fall over a few times each round and react little to the player's presence, aside from some offhand and awkwardly written heckling.
Immersion:
If I'm on a mountain, I would expect it all to be availible to me. Unfortunately, I spent lots of my learning time finding the "off limits" areas by accident, areas where are so often close to the track or an offshoot from the track. The city level on Peak 1 is PACKED JAM FULL of alleys that lead nowhere, except to being placed back on the track by a mysterious white-out. Some of the "radio" messages are frustrating, such as "Going snow boarding? Gotta bring the Yellowcard!" when what made me love the intro was the return to housey-trance music that I associate so much more closely with the experience of snowboarding.
Cameras:
While the camera usually does a good job of being dynamic, certain areas of the track love obscuring how high you are, or the next bend in the track, so that I find myself jumping and grabbing blindly, praying my shadow might come back into view that I might know when to release my tricks so I can land properly.
Control:
The controls are alright, but spins and rolls demanding a different control mechanism from normal turning seems silly. And four different board grab buttons? Picking up the controls would be tricky if I hadn't studied the controller options screen, but once the mind maps all the buttons control is pretty easy. Unfortunately, the physics are pretty wacky, so much of the game becomes just learning the track and figuring out how to exploit the strange physics.
Ideas:
The attempt at free-roam was admirable, but when the player can only travel downhill, it defeats the purpose and turns those sequences into a needlessly frustrating and longwinded menu screen that doesn't allow the player to go back on a decision. Winding up for spins was a nice feature I hadn't noticed in SSX Tricky, and is the only worthwhile change I've detected. By now, the wacky snowboard genre is pretty dead, except for EABig beating this dead horse every couple of years and seeing if money comes out.
Memory:
This is a fun game, but it brings little new to the series and demands a lot of time and energy in order to progress. If I loved snowboarding, or was twelve years old and had all the time in the world to play this, it'd be a lot of fun. But nay, snowboarding only "looks cool" to me and I'm a sick college student with another fifty reviews to do between classes and work. The execution is great, though, if a little dated.
Much much happier about the presentation. The music and "radio announcer" built tension well, while the visuals were mostly rediculous clips from the game itself, interspersed with clips to demonstrate characters and locations. It reads much more like the introduction to a sports event than to a videogame.
Getting Going:
Am I just dumb, or is there no training mode? I found no prayer, short of the control options screen, for a player to learn the controls outside of previous experience or just taking to the game and learning the hard way. The messy physics and lack of explanation make getting started very difficult (at least for people like me who have no luck with snowboard or skateboard games).
Fun:
After getting over the learning curve, this game is actually a lot of fun to play. Different modes reward players for different skills, and play is rewarded with money, which can be used for cosmetic upgrades like new hats or pants, or for upping a single character's stats a little bit at a time. There is a long way to go for each statistic,and with so many characters availible from the start, I feel like I'm being punished for not having all day and night to put into this game so I can maybe unlock one new area with a half decent character.
Visuals:
A bit dated. I don't see anything new in this version (graphically) that I hadn't seen in SSX Tricky. The interface design more smooth and illustrated looking, much more like EA's other games, which is a lot easier on the eyes than the garrish 3D everything of SSX Tricky's menus.
Intelligence:
Do virtual snowboarders dream of electric powder? It's hard to tell, since the regular AI on the easier maps seem statistically inclined to fall over a few times each round and react little to the player's presence, aside from some offhand and awkwardly written heckling.
Immersion:
If I'm on a mountain, I would expect it all to be availible to me. Unfortunately, I spent lots of my learning time finding the "off limits" areas by accident, areas where are so often close to the track or an offshoot from the track. The city level on Peak 1 is PACKED JAM FULL of alleys that lead nowhere, except to being placed back on the track by a mysterious white-out. Some of the "radio" messages are frustrating, such as "Going snow boarding? Gotta bring the Yellowcard!" when what made me love the intro was the return to housey-trance music that I associate so much more closely with the experience of snowboarding.
Cameras:
While the camera usually does a good job of being dynamic, certain areas of the track love obscuring how high you are, or the next bend in the track, so that I find myself jumping and grabbing blindly, praying my shadow might come back into view that I might know when to release my tricks so I can land properly.
Control:
The controls are alright, but spins and rolls demanding a different control mechanism from normal turning seems silly. And four different board grab buttons? Picking up the controls would be tricky if I hadn't studied the controller options screen, but once the mind maps all the buttons control is pretty easy. Unfortunately, the physics are pretty wacky, so much of the game becomes just learning the track and figuring out how to exploit the strange physics.
Ideas:
The attempt at free-roam was admirable, but when the player can only travel downhill, it defeats the purpose and turns those sequences into a needlessly frustrating and longwinded menu screen that doesn't allow the player to go back on a decision. Winding up for spins was a nice feature I hadn't noticed in SSX Tricky, and is the only worthwhile change I've detected. By now, the wacky snowboard genre is pretty dead, except for EABig beating this dead horse every couple of years and seeing if money comes out.
Memory:
This is a fun game, but it brings little new to the series and demands a lot of time and energy in order to progress. If I loved snowboarding, or was twelve years old and had all the time in the world to play this, it'd be a lot of fun. But nay, snowboarding only "looks cool" to me and I'm a sick college student with another fifty reviews to do between classes and work. The execution is great, though, if a little dated.