SSX Tricky

"So-So game that could have been great"

After all the hype I heard about this game, it ended up being the first one I bought for my Xbox. Unfortunately the end result doesn't even come close to living up to all the hype and great reviews that this game is getting.

GAMEPLAY:
The game is divided into a Single/2 Player event that lets you compete or practice on one track in the game, and a Single Player World Circuit where you compete in both races and trick competitions to unlock characters and levels.

As for the controls, they are a mixed bag. Grabs are easy to do, but only when the game actually decides to accept that you hit the JUMP button. Other tricks such as flips and spins get more difficult as you have to use the left Analog pad to steer and digital pad to flip/spin, at the same time you are also using the button combos to do your additional tricks (this makes it necessary to have thre hands in order to play the game is you wish to pull of some of the more difficult tricks).

Also, the game suffers from piss poor collision detections. You can easily get wiped out by a pole or something on the track, even though you can see the between it and your board. Grinds suffer the same problem as many times you will find yourself going through the pipe/fence instead of grinding on it. The same thing with point multipliers as you often pass right through them without the game detecting you did. This may seem trivial, but after the third level of SHOWOFF mode in the world circuit, this poor collision detection will really screw you over (most particularly on Mesa Blanca, Aloha Islands, and Alaska). This causes the later levels of the game to become so frustrating, that it takes the fun away from the game, and last time I checked people played games for FUN and to escape from frustrations.

GRAPHICS:
The characters models look good (not much better than their PS2 counterparts), and they are very colorful. Where the game shines graphically are the textures, as it makes very nice use of the Xbox in that department. The tracks look really nice, and the bumpmapped snow is a very nice touch.

SOUND:
It sounds good, unfortunately it is very obnoxious. I've found myself on too may occasions turning off the MC/Announcer, and highly considering turning off the character voices as well (Billy Zane's voice acting for Brodi Being the only tolerable one in the entire game). Also, that damn ''Tricky'' song was never very good to begin with and it only becomes worse when you have to here it every time you can do am uber-trick.

OVERALL:
I highly suggest renting this game before purchasing it, as control problems, poor hit detection, and an extremely steep change in difficulty early in the game can make it a more frustrating than necessary experience for any gamer looking just to have fun.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/02, Updated 03/10/02