SSX Blur

"Truly an acquired taste."

The latest installment of the SSX series released in March of 2007, SSX Blur is most definitely one of those games that simply does not garner attention. Its box cover does little to inform potential buyers, the controls aren't necessarily the easiest to learn, and it doesn't enjoy the typical "EA Games" treatment (attention-grabbing detail, advertisement, etc.) that cause other games in the genre--and even in the same SSX series--to sell. Due to some inexplicable series of events, I managed to own SSX Blur despite never previously owning a sports game title, much less owning an SSX title. Being a complete newcomer to the series, I was greeted by both extremely positive advantages and some frustrating disadvantages.

According to every source already familiar with the series, the game completely reinvents the controls, and this thus become the main "issue" with the game, good or bad. To control the snowboarder, players must typically use the control stick to accelerate/decelerate and make small turns. Beyond that, motion sensing kicks in. To make larger turns, players must tilt the entire nunchuck unit to the desired direction. To jump, players must flick the nunchuck upwards or press A, and in the air players do tricks by combining flicks of the Wii remote in any of the 4 directions (up, down, left, or right), make grabs with pressing Z and tilting the nunchuck, and hold A and "draw" specific shapes with the Wii remote to perform Ubertricks and truly rake in the points. Players can make several combinations of of these, such as doing more than one Ubertrick in the same jump or flicking the Wii remote to a direction while performing a grab at the same time. Sound overwhelming? It is at first, but not to the unplayable point.

Being a complete novice to the snowboarding genre, I stand as clear evidence that the controls are not impossible. Indeed, when a total beginner manages to master the controls, surely other veterans already familiar with the formula should be able to adapt easily. What the game does require, though, and what could very well be considered a negative aspect, is time. Every player must invest time in learning the controls, and it's during this process that much frustration will arise when players just can't get any trick to work. Add in the fact that the tutorials only cover the most basic of the gameplay aspects and the frustration will only be augmented for those who aren't too patient. However, it won't take more than 45 minutes to get to know the game, and afterwards the controls truly just come naturally. It takes some getting used to, and no, no one will be able to just pick up and play game naturally in the first try. Some consider it a fatal flaw of the game, but I just consider it a minor one given the controls are very rewarding afterwards.

The actual gameplay, however, is pretty straight forward. The career mode of the game is divided into three mountains (aptly named "peaks"). Players enter a sort of "free roam" mode where they can traverse the peak in their snowboard or skis (whatever the player picks), collect shards to unlock more Ubertricks, and come across events scattered throughout. There's also an option to directly jump to these events without having to "explore" the peak every time, giving the player a nice option.
Events come in 5 flavors: slalom, race, slopestyle, half-pipe, and big air. Although I won't go into specific details, each provides respectable variety in the game formula, not feeling too repetitive while at the same time being so different that it feels like people are playing a different game with each. The flaw with these, however, is that they're much too easy to get a gold medal in. Just making sure no huge mess-ups are made and rather knowing the track will get any player first place, which isn't necessarily the most rewarding experience. Even the tournaments (a series of back-to-back events against a group of other CPU-controlled players) don't require much skill to succeed in them, mainly because players can restart any event with absolutely no penalty. Only the Challenges scattered throughout each of the game's three peaks (specific missions like hitting targets or going through hoops) provide occasional challenge, but these are few and far between. Overall, the game's format is acceptable, but the overly-easy difficulty of the events and tournaments can really aggravate players looking for a challenge.

Other than career mode, the game does little to provide variety with respect to modes. There's a Quick Race mode which is a single random event, a Multiplayer mode which is marred by a much choppier frame rate than usual and a very limited choice of events (although still pretty entertaining), a gallery for viewing concept art, and that's pretty much it for SSX Blur. Of course, that's not to say that the game itself is highly unexciting, but other than the bulky Career mode which will keep players busy for quite a while, there's little else to do. It's also worthy to mention that in Career mode, every single character has his or her own progress. It's certainly an...interesting...design choice and can sometimes even lead to frustration when all the player wants to do is change the character to provide a little variety in Career mode, but can't because choosing another character would mean starting all the way from the beginning of the career.

The music and graphics are of respectable quality, which certainly compliments the overall presentation of the game. Although SSX Blur does not have licensed music (which I thank EA Sports BIG for, given it seems that licensed soundtracks sometimes feel more like shameless advertisements than a unique game aspects), many of the tunes are pretty catchy, and the game utilizes the new trend of "interactive music" pretty well in this game. The graphics can be a mixed bag, though. The characters in the game have a respectable polygon count, and some of the mountain backdrops look VERY nice, but the leaves on the trees and some textures like the ones on the rocks are pretty low-resolution, which is disappointing at the very least. However, rushing through the tracks at blurring speeds (which is what players WILL be doing) will make players not notice these low-res details anyway, so it's not a huge issue. Menus and the interface are pretty straightforward, although sometimes the text is too small to read when playing in non-widescreen TVs.

Overall, SSX Blur provides some of the most unique (in a good sense) controls and fun gameplay that Wii gamers could ask for in this year. Some minor inconsistencies and flaws are scattered throughout, but the overall package (if only for Career mode) is of respectably high quality and provides pretty good hours of entertainment. Although the game doesn't really do much to teach newcomers to the series in what specific tricks are, finding them as players play is probably more entertaining anyway. SSX Blur may seem like a lackluster deal at a first glance, and it certainly won't win any "Game of the Year" awards, but it's truly one of those games that players tend to like more the longer they play, for investing enough time on this game yields some pretty good entertaining hours. Definitely recommended, both for sports game fans or not.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/25/07

Game Release: SSX Blur (US, 02/27/07)