A complete study in "don't know what you've got 'till it's gone." It's not perfect, but it's a very fun evolution of SSX, and, with hindsight, I've realized it's probably where I'd want the series to end.

2012 is SSX realized as a "flow-state game," foregoing rigid and deliberate control for something looser and laidback. Uber tricks are less deliberate and rigid, which is both good and bad, as sometimes I feel like I'm not even supposed to be comprehending what's happening in some of them. The visual flair is also still some of my favorite in the entire series— the shockwaves that ripple out as you touch down from massive air is still one of my favorite effects I've ever seen.

It's a shame that its cardinal sin was, well, being produced in 2012. SSX's characters have never been BAFTA-winning studies in how shredding gnar changes you as a person or anything, but they were at least likeable, goofy caricatures. The redesigns are fine, nothing more, but the character barks and dialogue are very much tinged by the time period. The one thing that really survived is the soundtrack, primarily because Foster The People, Flux Pavillion, The Qemists, et al can very well be considered throwbacks at this point. The one thing that really bugs me about 2012, however, is the fact that it was a clear omen for things to come.

The gear system is horrid. Stats tied to boards, bonuses tied to outfits, limited time mystery items, exorbitantly overpriced super boards to push microtransactions if you just can't complete a challenge— it feels like a coal mine canary dying in reverse. I legitimately think playing this on a less-than-legitimate 360/PS3 ten years after the fact is how I was supposed to experience this game, free from the ability to spend actual, real world money on Epic Glowing Suits and Legendary Boards.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually really came around on the Deadly Descents angle and the different groove of SSX gameplay. While some of the deadly gimmicks are a little more annoying than others, fighting the elements and just trying to get down alive still feels great. There's an alternate world out there, perpendicular to our own, where EA didn't course correct away from the gritty, overly-serious original pitch that I firmly believe would've been worse and even more devoid of character. SSX 2012 is not 100% ideal, and it's absolutely marred by the FOMO landscape that now dominates games as a whole, but the series could've come to a far worse end.

This game means a lot to me. It's a reboot of a series I had never played before but I wanted it so bad. The music and sense of speed, pulling off combo strings that last the entire run- This was the dream blend of Sonic the Hedgehog and Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

Collecting Geo Tag collectables placed by the community was a lot of fun. A really cool concept that makes exploring these slopes really fun. The wingsuit adds so much to this. If you got to some hard to reach spot and were disappointed in the lack of reward for doing so, simply place a geo tag there for other players to find!

The gear system is a tad lame, what items are in the shop at any given time is completely random. Wanting to pickup a new board/suit that looks cool? You better hope it comes with really good stats too. You'll NEED better stats for some of the survival challenges.

Knowing the game was initially going to be all about the "dangerous survival" aspect of the game, I am so glad they didn't stick with it. Easily the worst parts of the experience.
Want a better score? Try rolling for better gear at the shop.
Going down a mountain at the dead of night with nothing but a flashlight, dodging tree debris is fun the first time. As you get further along there are more obstacles causing you to awkwardly get hung up on fallen trees and branches. The absolute worst part of a snowboarding game is that awkward stand-still where you're caught on something and you go back up the mountain slightly and just start sliding around, fighting for control back of the board. Rewinding hurts your score, so it's better to just manually finagle around these obstacles.
Things like managing your body heat or oxygen levels by staying out of the shadows is fun and refreshing the first time you do them, but I hated going back for higher scores.
Going for the best scores over and over with strict restrictions is slow and nowhere as fun as doing tricks and racing at blistering speeds.

I actually had a lot of fun playing this game, in between moments of peak frustration as I failed challenges over and over again. These moments however drove me on to master the controls of the game to a certain degree, but I wasn't willing to commit to anything beyond the main campaign as I knew the difficulty curve to go any further would require more than I was capable of. SSX is a very exciting game, and you're always kept on the edge of your seat as the slopes are very thrilling. I'm not an SSX series purist so can't make any comparisons, but the experience was fun without being anything extraordinary.

Having a ton of fun w it even if it's pretty bad. Everything about it is meticulously engineered around flow: the game goes as far as nudging you around on jumps to ensure that flow is preserved as much as possible, and with as much speed as possible. Unfortunately there are far too many edge cases in the course design, controls, engine, etc. and so often it ends up devolving into obstacle pinball. Definitely not the same as Tricky and 3, and as a distinct product it does "fine."

FYI: there's a slightly-trimmed Android version of the game which is a direct port of the console ver, with about 60% of the tracks and a trimmed story mode/roster (plus significantly downgraded graphics, but it runs well on most devices - managed to get it running well on a retroid pocket). Controls are a little awkward (apparently you can play w a ds3 controller??) but imo it's the best way to enjoy the game: little 1-2 course increments of playtime between things.

You can see that some of the concept art for the level design in this game was kinda similar to SSX3's, there's a bridge with a strange shape and a bunch of arrows indicating different paths to take, thing is, if you want all that to be relevant you need that concept and convert it to what the player needs/wants to do.

The base controls for your characters are so utterly unforgiving that you don't give a shit where you're going, snow/ice surfaces are samey, jump distances are irrelevant since you can interrupt your tricks at any moment, rails are magnets so if you are falling close to one you are getting attached to it, you don't need to balance on rails, you can also end rail uber tricks (foot off the board) on the ground, and to fall off you have to hit something head on, a 100% perpendicular wall or you don't fall, and of course you have a rewind; all this makes the level design basically non existant, with all that i don't give a shit about the concept art bridge when i'm playing the game.

In some of the "making off" videos they had a massive wall of text with messages like "MAKE AWESOME FEEL EASY" and "ELIMINATE FURSTRATION (JANK)"; here lies the issue, if you aren't willing to create different consequences, good or bad, to microdecisions for the player to learn and improve, engagement is the last thing that player will give to your sports game.

The trick point system is basic, basic, basic, more points for flips than spins, just do the uber trick with more points while flipping, hands off before touching the ground, hold the combo with nose and tailpresses and that's it, oh wait the "duplicate trick system", just switch between the 2 best tricks. also instead of putting an event timer or placing trick multipliers throughout the level so you create a route like in SSX3 or even real life, they decided to make a "Flow meter" so if you are stalling too much the multiplier goes down, solution? stall as much as you can while the multiplier is at 20x, that's it. World Records on trick events are 15-20 minutes on a track that should be 3, blackflipping with the same 2 uber tricks the whole fucking time. PAIN

The base game under all this crap is really nice, I coudn't find what engine this game used, but like, is good good, and graphics, while the levels are empty and it renders at 585p30 with FXAA on 7th gen consoles, i really like illumination, colors and models whenever you can see them up close, mostly in the helicopter scenes

Good base but ruined by shitty modern game design.