SSX Blur

"Best ssx game yet"

Many people will complain about the controlling of the game, but once you let the scheme sink in it works and will feel natural. My advice will be to come in with an open mind.

SSX Blur has 3 main games modes: Career, Quickplay, Multiplayer and also includes a tutorial for new users. Once you start the tutorial you may become a little skeptical, but don't worry I had the same feeling. The biggest hassle for newcomers is performing uber tricks, but I'll explain the control scheme later. First let's explore the career mode. You start out with 4 characters, and will be able to unlock a total of 12. At the character select screen you can choose your board, or if you want, skis. For each character you can unlock 25 boards and 25 skis which totals out to around 600 boards and skis to unlock. Now that you've started a career, you'll notice the load times are pretty quick which is a nice bonus. There are 5 event types, Big Air (A short event with big ramps, try to collect the most points by performing tricks) Slopestlye (Try to collect the most points while racing down the mountain.) Race (Simply try to be the fastest down the mountain.) Half-Pipe (Try to collect the most points, obviously on a half-pipe) and the last is Slalom which is the game's second most criticized feature next to control. In Slalom you have to clear flags by quickly and carefully moving left and right around flags, if you miss a flag you get a time penalty, you win by getting to the end in the quickest time. Many people have problems with this event, but just like with uber tricks, practice makes perfect. By doing well in events you unlock characters, concept art, and tournaments and get points for your leader board score. Being the leader of the leader board is the point of the game, and by being in first place you can unlock items. Tournaments give you the most leader board score points and will unlock new peaks. There are 3 peaks in the game which contain around 8 events each. Beating events won't take real long, and once you become pro they'll be a breeze. In free ride you can do one vs. one challenges which unlock new boards and skis. Also in free ride you can collect uber tokens which unlock new uber tricks for your boarder. Each character has a separate career so you have to beat it separately for everyone, which adds replay value but may become tedious. The SSX formula has worked in the past, and still works, Blur makes minimal changes and older fans of the series should be satisfied.

The graphics are pretty good, nothing to complain about. The character models are overall good but not as good as they could be. The game looks especially good when you pick up speed and the blur effect kicks in, jumping off huge cliffs when going fast gives you an immersive feeling. The tracks look good, but there isn't a whole lot of variety. The city tracks from SSX3 are missed, but for newcomers there isn't much to complain about.

The sound is, respectively, the same as the graphics. It's not going to blow you away, but it doesn't hurt the game. There no licensed tracks in the game, but I found some of the generic tracks refreshing. The sound fits the mood of the game well, but some people will not like that there are no licensed tracks or SD Card compatibility.

Control is huge in a game like this, and I found the control to be complex but fitting once you learn it. You get into the air by jerking the nunchuk in an upwards motion. When in the air flicking the wii remote backwards will cause your boarder to do a backflip, and forwards a frontflip. Grabs are performed by holding Z and moving the nunchuk forward, backward, left, and right; each performing a different grab. Flicking the Wiimote left and right will perform a spin.Ubers. When I first got the game, and I tried to do ubers I got very frustrated. Ubers are performed by holding A down and drawing one of the uber trick shapes which vary from a loop, to a Z, to a heart shape. It's annoying because you do not know if the game recognizes that you are drawing the shape. Luckily there is a practice section of the tutorial mod where you can practice drawing uber shapes. I can now perform ubers with no problem, just the same as I can beat slalom with no problem. When you've completed your trick you simply tap A to get ready to land it. Apart from the trick control scheme, Z is used as boost and the C button is used to pivot or turn your board. To turn there are two options, and you can customize it in the options menu. You can either use the control stick on the nunchuk, or turn the nunchuk on its side to carve, or a mix of both. The controls take practice to get used to, but it feels natural after playing the game for a few days.

The game has good value, completing a career for one character won't take too long, but getting all characters through career mode and unlocking boards/skis/and concept art add great replay value.this is the best snowboarding game ever .

10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/07