Platform: GameCube, PS2, X-Box (I think); this Review is based on the GameCube version
Before I begin, this game has characters,
such as...
Eddie: A guy with a big afro
Elise: The girl that gets WAY too much
attention
Kaori: The Japanese girl that can only
say things like “Yoko yoki!”
Marty: Some guy who thinks he’s cool
Zoe: A girl who’s living in the 80s
Marise (I know it’s spelled wrong):
Another girl who’s too much into herself
JB (I think): Another guy who’s supposed
to be cool
two other losers who I don’t even remember
Then there’s tracks, with places such
as...
Somewhere in Europe
Japan
The Alps
Merqury City (really New York City
before 9/11)
Tokyo
Hawaii
A desert place
The middle of nowhere (seriously!)
Somewhere else I can’t remember
Finally, you have to realize that SSX
was the finest snowboarding game ever made. Great tracks, excellent
graphics, shortcuts, awesome tricks,
incredible sound and sound effects, and more. I am judging this game
for improvements off that one, because
everyone expected more out of Paper Mario than Super Mario RPG
and more out of Dr. Mario 64 than Dr.
Mario. You know what I mean, don’t you? You'd better, or you won’t
understand the way I’m grading it.
Once a game sets a standard, a sequel must meet that standard. Even if
it’s good by comparison to other games,
it’s got to be better than the first. I own SSX, and love it. It’s the
only PS2 game I’ll play as much as my football game. I got someone to buy
me an early Christmas present, and hoped that this would be the GameCube’s
finest early game. You know where I’m leading, so I’ll start the Review
now.
Graphics: ***
Great. Of course they’re a lot better than the first, but some things were still missing. How about the glass that breaks off the signs? Or the gates that would be taken off by hitting them? The spiral thing in one track does not look as good as in the first. As in the first, you may ask? A repeat track? I’ll mention that in a bit...
Sound: ***1/2
Well, with all those famous voices and more music, the sound is a ton better this time around. It still wasn’t quite perfect, however, because for one thing, wouldn’t it make some kind of noise if a snowboarder went full speed into a rock? Just wondering.
Characters: *
I’ll give that star to the cute Japanese girl in this game. As for the others? There’s the only white guy I’ve ever seen with an afro, who’s living in the 70s, and then there’s that girl who thinks we’re in the 80s. Or how about “too much Elise”? First of all, if you want a girl to be the main character, at least make her hair longer than the guys’ hair. From the neck up, I can’t tell whether she’s a guy or a girl. Oh, yeah, I get a little sick of seeing her ALL OVER THIS GAME! There’s other characters, EA BIG (the makers of this game)! Did I mention only two are unlocked at the beginning? But that isn’t the bad part of this game. It’s coming.
Gameplay: *
You’re supposed to be able to make moves
when you jump and are very high in the air. For some reason my
character can’t ever make it past a
180? trick. I could do 540?’s and 900?’s in SSX, so it’s not me. It’s the
way the game works. Plus, if this is “tricky”, you should be able to do
some tricks, or at least be able to jump over a small six-inch high fence
thing. But for some reason you can’t.
Controls: ***
Another show-off of the GameCube controller, like Luigi’s Mansion? Hardly. They actually use the controller for good, not just to show it off. The C Stick is used to attack your opponent if your two boards are next to each other, so your boards practically must be glued to each other to have any chance of attacking them, because you never are that close except in the first two seconds! Your Y button restarts you. So if you have boosts, don’t hit it or you’ll lose them, or at least some of them. R grabs the board, and A jumps, oh, and B boosts. Not bad. Does the Control Pad work in this game? Yes, it does, actually. Surprise, surprise, the Control Stick also can control your character’s speed, brakes (well, slowing down), and direction, as does the pad. L also grabs the board, and X, it’s on the controller. I forget why, though.
Tracks: no stars
“What?! No stars?! This guy’s crazy!
I’m not reading this Review anymore!” I know what you’re thinking. I’m
slanted against this game or something.
Actually, it’s more like there are only two new tracks and the rest
are repeats. THE REST ARE REPEATS!
THE GAME IS THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL EXCEPT FOR MINOR CHANGES IN THE ORIGINAL
TRACKS!!! Why buy SSX Tricky if you have SSX? Because the commercials and
the magazines and the Internet have it hyped up so much. Even the stores.
But I promise you, if you want a brand-new experience in snowboarding,
wait until they fix this one next year. Why no stars at all? Because even
though these are basically the same tracks, which got stars, there’s no
point in putting the same thing in. I can see them as bonus tracks, but
those are the main tracks! Imagine if Mario Kart 64 had all the exact same
tracks, and maybe two different ones, and only minor changes. It would
be practically pointless to buy it, if the graphics were the same as the
original. I don’t like having two games that are almost exactly the
same. At least Madden 2002 is a ton
different from Madden 2001. Five new modes in that one, I think. This
game has no new modes, two new tracks,
and four new characters, so only six new things that are really
trivial, and the rest of the game is
the same as SSX. What am I saying? If you have SSX, don’t buy this one.
Tricks: *
There’s these new über tricks that
can only be used if you have your boost meter completely full, which is
nearly impossible thanks to the lack
of good normal tricks. You just can’t do NORMAL TRICKS in this game!
You can’t do any more than a frontside
or backside 180?. I already mentioned this before, but it’s worth
saying again, that in the original
I could do possibly a 900?. The producer said it would be “a 10 in racing
and a 10 in tricks”. He’s absolutely
correct, if he means 10 out of 100.
Replayability: *1/2
If you didn’t play last year’s version then you’ll want to play this one over and over again. But if you do, this game is old the minute you purchase it.
Fun Factor!: **1/2
You know what, amidst all these shortcomings, this game is actually pretty fun. I can’t give it everything because you can only play two players and if it’s a blowout race there’s a little bit of a lack of excitement, but this is a positive thing.
OVERALL: 1/2
What am I exactly trying to get across
to you? If you have SSX, don’t buy this game, or even rent it. If you
don’t have SSX, then this is still
not worth getting if you own a PS2. Just buy SSX for $30 or less. For GameCube
and X-Box (maybe), this is as good as it gets for snowboarding. But although
so many others rank this game as perfect, they don’t realize they’re playing
SSX again. It’s the same game, except tricks are harder to pull off. Much
harder. I HATE REMAKES, so a remake will NOT be rated higher than the original!
It’s pointless to buy! I wasted $50 on it. Only cough up the cash for GameCube
or X-Box (possibly). If you have a PS2 then skip it.