SSX 3 (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

We move from Sonic last Sunday to snowboarding tonight with the SSX series, namely the third entry in the series: SSX 3. Does this snowboarding game stick the landing, or does it wipeout and eat some snow in the process? Here's the SPC review for that answer, for those uninitiated. 

A literal peak snowboarding game, but is it figuratively peak as well?

Back when extreme sports were all the rage in the roll over to the new millennium, game publishers and developers followed suit to cash in on the craze. Fortunately, unlike something modern like many publishers going all-in on controversial at best and stupidly harmful endeavors like the pursuit of AI, the cash-in on this particular craze was one that greatly benefited gaming with a robust and quite frankly, embarrassment of riches of great games. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater no doubt led the way in general, but for what THPS did for skateboarding video games, SSX arguably did for snowboarding. 

With multiple entries spanning three console generations and multiple platforms, SSX has since taken a slumber, but the clamor for a new entry is intense for many to this day. With the winter season upon us (at least where I am), I figured it'd be a good idea to finally dive into the series. Of course, a smart person might have started with the first entry, the PlayStation 2 launch title and original SSX. "No," said I! I went for what most consider to be the greatest entry of them all--SSX 3--because like Frank Sinatra once sang, "Nothing but the best is good enough for me." Ah, yes... A Frank Sinatra reference in an extreme snowboarding game review. How appropriate and timely as always, Phil. 

Whoever said "look before you leap" didn't play the SSX series.

At any rate, SSX 3 sees players challenge three different and unique peaks within the main mode of the game: Conquer the Mountain. Here, the main goal is to obtain enough money earnings through various methods and means in order to qualify to upgrade your rider's pass and move on to the next peak, where understandably, the courses, the competition, and the mountain itself all become much more unwelcoming and challenging. 

Each peak has a selection of races and freestyle events to participate in, each of which are three rounds basically. Races are point A to point B downhill competitions against five other competitors where knowing the course and its multitude of shortcuts--and I do mean that, as each course contains A LOT of alternate paths--is partially a way to ensure victory. Even still, it takes more than course knowledge to overcome the odds, as execution and nailing tricks, not bailing, and wise boosting are what it takes to outrace your rivals down the mountain. 

Chill, bruh--the race only just started. Plenty of time to take the lead.

Part of knowing the course is realizing what paths and overall routes are best to take of the dozens upon dozens available on any particular course. Just because it's optional doesn't mean it's always the fastest way down, but usually if a shortcut takes a good amount of work to discover or reach, it's typical worth the effort to nail it. Sure, "SSX Out of Bounds" glass panel signs are meant to be ignored and smashed through to reveal alternate shortcuts and ways down courses, and these generally shave plenty of seconds off your time in practice. Some shortcuts aren't marked so clearly, and these demand being in the zone mentally to nail without completely screwing up--the latter I did more than I'd care to admit.

Freestyle events forgo the need for speed, and instead require you to trick as much as possible down the course, whether long-form courses or short super jump or halfpipe challenges. Either way, discovering the subjectively correct line to take, all the while nabbing midair trick multipliers, keeping your combo going, and making sure not to bail in the process, is the key to placing at the top of the podium. 

With about a dozen riders, loads of customization opportunities, and lots to unlock, 
you won't get bored of SSX 3 quickly by any stretch of the imagination.

Really, the jump from racing to freestyle is humbling at best and downright frustrating at worst. SSX 3 essentially feels like the type of game that expects you to have working knowledge and expertise of past entries to fully grasps all the intricacies of the multiple systems the game possesses. There's learning not to fall flat on your face or butt every time you attempt to do a flashy trick, for one; there's experimenting with the combo system, trying to control your rider's snowboard especially on inertia-inducing, slippery surfaces like ice, attempting to make death-defying leaps over steep drops and falls, and this is all the while chaining tricks together to get enough points to even feel like you're competition-worthy. 

Dude, now's not the time for a high five.

At first--and if you're at least like me starting out--you won't be. Your rider will suck snow--sometimes literally. Between learning when to leap off jumps, holding the shoulder buttons to do grabs, pressing the D-Pad left and right to spin, or up and down to flip--these moves can be quite the challenge to pull off initially. This is especially so when your rider starts out with limited stats. Fortunately, the money you earn in competitions, from performing tricks in the free ride mode, finding collectible snowflakes scattered all around the courses and peaks, and otherwise snowboarding like an even more pumped-up Shaun White (he's still a reference folks will get, right?) can be spent on boosting your given rider's attributes. From speed and acceleration to how a rider's toughness and stability when riding, all of these stats go into beefing up your character to make him, her, or them this mountain's worst enemy.

Of course, it's not just spins, flips, and grabs that are available to you to trick out with your snowboard out. Instead, as you perform well and successfully land tricks, a special meter called the Uber Gauge rises and increases in amount. As it fills, you can opt to exert some of it with some boosting, or you can let it fill all the way to be able to perform special tricks known as Ubers. Continually pull off Uber tricks to spell out SUPER UBER to get the ability to perform... well... Super Ubers, coincidentally enough. These massively cool, customizable (in the sense that you can choose which ones to equip to your rider), and challenging to pull off tricks are the keys to scoring massive amounts of points, keeping your speed high in races, and otherwise pulling moves off that even Jagger would be like, "Slow down." (We're really running the gamut of musical references here in this review, aren't we?)

The halfpipe is perfect for gnarly trick potential. ...Gnarly is good in snowboarding, right?

That said, there are frustrations to SSX 3. Again, so much of the game and its systems--whether movement or trick-based--seem to imply understanding and expertise of past entries. This is especially so in the free ride-exclusive BIG challenges. These are generally easily failed, incredibly difficult snowboarding tasks that range from jumping through rings, gathering collectibles in a tricky snowboarding line, or worse yet, having trick types called out at you to nail. The latter is a bit taxing due to not knowing an Indy from a Stale Air, or hell, even an Illinois, if the game is trying to talk Midwestern States to me instead. What do I know--not what button combo does any trick--that's for sure!

Speaking of BS Rail, sometimes approaching and connecting to rails TO grind can be some serious BS!

Upon smashing through the races and freestyle events (sometimes with your rider's probable broken bones) of a given peak and winning enough earnings, you get the opportunity to take on your rival in a solo, one-on-one race as well as a trick-off competition. Both race and freestyle disciplines and mastery types against your rival stand in your way before you can board a plane to the next peak. 

Perhaps one of the coolest aspects of SSX 3 is how the three peaks are interconnected. The final challenge of each peak is a race down multiple locales from that given peak in order to beat a specific time or in a freestyle event, a specific score. Snowboarding, racing, tricking, and so forth down one continuous, interconnected, lengthy series of courses without a loading screen in sight is one hell of a trick--caverns and such being obvious loading screen masks aside. It all leads to the Peak 3's ultimate challenge--a ride down all three past peaks, featuring a number of different courses from all three peaks. It's an absolutely awesome ride, and generally you'll have your snowboarding sh*t together to perform admirably enough that time isn't a factor. Nothing like the idea of failing a thirty minute ride down the entire mountain, right?

Wait a minute. Why is the city upside-down to my rider? ...Oh, dear...

SSX 3 sports a career mode, the aforementioned Conquer the Mountain mode, for every playable rider in the game. Each starts from scratch in their respective careers, so that means that the concept of completing the game could theoretically have a particular player want to beat each and every character's career 100%--winning gold in every event, finding and collecting all Snowflakes, and clearing every BIG challenge, too. ...I'm decidedly just happy clearing Conquer the Mountain somehow only the one time... and that could have shaved some years off my life with how stressful it was at times, too. 

I got me some big air, baby!

I was amazed by just how much went into the production and presentation of this game, as an aside. DJ Atomika delivers cool radio riffing and brilliant banter between songs, of which the song selections offers myriad genres--from R&B, to rap, to alt rock. If you want something to boost your adrenaline, you'll get it with the SSX 3 soundtrack. Graphically, the game is a stunner still, especially the particle effects like most obviously that of snowfall. Seeing your snowboard realistically carve a path through the snow is something pretty much required for this type of game, and SSX 3 doesn't disappoint here either. Lighting effects like the sun shimmering in the distance, lens flare, and moonlight glistening on the snow make for delightful visuals, as does awesome plane flybys or fireworks lighting up the sky while pulling off tricks off a huge steep drop or while simply soaring down the mountain. It all makes for a spectacle of a snowboarding game that is most welcome.

I'm like that Wii U Miiverse "water guy", but for me, it's a good sunset that gets me going.

This being my first SSX game aside from the Wii's SSX Blur, I can't make an informed enough judgment to say whether this third entry in the series sits at the top of the mountain or not. I can, however, say that I definitely see the reasoning and arguments from franchise veterans as to why SSX 3 is so highly regarded and loved. That said, it can be a damn frustrating experience for beginners with a high challenge level, steep skill barrier of entry, and loads of wipeouts and bails to be found as you attempt to "get good".  

Whether the initial bouts of immediate frustration are worth the reward of slowly (and I do mean slowly) but steadily learning the ins and outs of the game is another subjective thing that will depend on your resolve and level of patience. For me, and not just because I wanted to review this game, I'm glad I gave it a proper chance and stuck with it. I LOVED the course design so much, and how there are a plethora of pathways, secrets, shortcuts, and ways to go about traveling down each track. I enjoyed eventually gaining some skill in becoming able to be competitive in freestyle events and even go as far as to win gold on them all. Sure, for every event I won, I had dozens of attempts of frustrating falls, fails, bails, crashes, and wipeouts, but it was rewarding to me in the end. So much so, that I have a copy of the original SSX heading my way as I write this review.

If it's nothing but downhill from here for the rest of the series' games that I sample, then I'm at least glad to have experienced the creme de le creme here with SSX 3. Either way, this third entry is one hell of a snowboarding package, both overwhelming in positive and negative ways, but well worth playing for any extreme sports enthusiast or just gaming fan who wants a proper challenge and enjoyable snowboarding title to play.

[SPC Says: B+]