VIDEO GAME REVIEW: 'SSX' shines despite tricky moments
“SSX” does exactly what a reboot of the highly-regarded snowboarding series should; it takes everything that was great about the previous games and makes that the main focus while also adding to the basic formula.
The same basic gameplay from past “SSX” titles is still present, with some small tweaks. Players try to do huge tricks to build up their combo meter so they can reach Tricky mode and also fill up the boost meter.
There are more than 150 drops in the game for players to conquer, so there is plenty of content to keep players busy for quite a while.
There are three basic kinds of drops in the game, Trick It, Race It and Survive It. The trick and race modes are pretty self-explanatory; Trick It is where players try to rack up the highest score and Race It is where players try to get to the bottom of the drop with the fastest time.
There are nine drops in the game called Deadly Descents, and this is where Survive It comes into play.
Each Deadly Descent has a unique obstacle endangering the player. One of the coolest descents has players clearing huge gaps with a wing suit; it’s fun and thrilling trying to survive each gap.
One of the least enjoyable descents has players navigating through low visibility with pulse goggles, which is frustrating to play through and really boring to look at.
There is also a story in the game surrounding the Deadly Descents that is incredibly unnecessary and all-around dumb. Who is really going into “SSX” hoping for a story in their snowboarding game?
It doesn’t help that the story is mostly told through atrocious motion-comics.
Everything in “SSX” usually works great, but it can be extremely frustrating when something doesn’t work like it should. In the end, “SSX” offers a great experience more often than not to new and old players alike.
