SSX 3

"Tried and True Gameplay - With a New Face"

I fell in love with SSX Tricky, and I knew I would love SSX3 as well, which I do. The odd thing is that I am not into sporting games at all, so the fact that I love these games baffled me. I finally realized why, and it has nothing to do with snowboarding, it's just the gameplay.

Thinking back to the SNES, SSX3 has essentially the same gameplay as Uniracers. If you don't remember the title, it featured little unicycles racing along tracks. There were opportunities to boost your speed by performing tricks, so it wasn't just about getting there, but getting there with style, which would in turn, get you there faster. There were stages with a half pipe in which you just focused on racking up the points with tricks as well. The game also encouraged course memorization to perfect your game, so you would have to play the course various times to know when the jumps or loops were coming up, or when there was a hazard to avoid or jump over.

Anyway, it's funny how those words could describe either a game from the 32-bit Nintendo console from years back featuring little 2-D unicycles, or a graphically impressive hard-core snowboarding game running on today's latest gaming technology.

So my message to those on the fence about this one, perhaps leaning away from the game because they're really not ''into'' sports and snowboarding, would be this: Don't miss the opportunity to experience the fun involved in the gameplay of SSX3. I, personally, can't get enough of it.

Gameplay - As explained above... Very, very fun and addicting. Whether or not you care much for extreme sports and snowboarding.

Story - Not a lot. There is just a tad of background on the characters, and just a bit of dialog and messages going between them. But I certainly wouldn't call it a story. The game simply doesn't need a story though.

Graphics/Sound - I'm not really the type that examines such things closely. To my eye it looks and sounds great. I do notice a definite improvement over SSX Tricky graphically. The music is varied and fun to listen to in my opinion. Later in the game you have the option to select which songs are played while you play.

Play Time/Replayability - Very, very high Replayability. Tons of stuff to find, unlock, and earn. Not to mention it can be done all over again with new characters. Play how you want, switch off between a couple different characters, upgrading one with speed and stability, and another with tricks... or max out everything on your favorite character before playing another. However you choose to play the game, it's gonna last a while.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/03