This is the sequel to the best extreme sports game ever made. Is it better than it? Well no, it's not the best extreme sports game ever made. Is it very good though? Yeah. It is.
SSX3 further refines the gameplay of Tricky by fixing the rail collision detection (thank you), adding grind-tricks (nice!) and adding the ability to board-press on the Right Stick (or manualling, for all the Tony Hawk heads out there). It also introduces the "SUPER Uber" trick meter system, which is effectively the original "Tricky" meter but with a few extra steps. Getting "Uber" means you have a few less-impressive-but-still-cool moves until you land four tricks and then enter the "SUPER Uber" phase, where you can now do the tricks Tricky let you do. Personally I'd cut the middleman here and just let me do the coolest tricks, but I get it for depth's sake. Overall, good additions that help in building combos and keeping your involvement high.
The real bread and butter of SSX3 isn't it's gameplay refinements though, and moreso in it's level design. The game introduces you to BIG Mountain: a set of three peaks on a massive single map with a constant downhill trajectory, and several spots amongst each peak to compete in races and freestyle (points-building) events. The transitions are smooth and natural and the environments are treacherous with all kinds of new hazards to watch out for like avalanches, falling icecicles etc, making the mountain feel more alive than anything ever before. Despite this, I will say the single mountain range really lacks the variety and color Tricky's maps did. Very impressive for 2003 though, I will give that. It all loaded seamlessly too!
Many of the characters from the previous two games return and still resemble themselves, but as a whole no longer feel as over-the-top, and most of the more extreme personalities like Eddie sadly got the boot (Psymon, however, thankfully stays). Character interactions with each other feel much more reigned in than last time too, which may partly be because you no longer have the "rival" system (huge bummer), but at least your character still has a rival at all. In it's place is a new customization system, where you win races/freestyles to gain money and buy new clothes/boards/haircuts, up your stat points, or buy new tricks (!!). Which is pretty cool, I gotta admit.
The new radio host DJ Atomika runs the soundtrack (under the title "Radio BIG") and between tracks gives hints and tips about the peaks, gossips about the character you're playing as a little, and overall gives the game a very MTV Sports coverage energy about how life is on the mountain. I like him, he's got a very friendly energy I enjoy and he seems well-liked amongst SSX fans, but I will admit he's a little sleepy and lacks the loud punchy showmanship of the first two games's DJ Rahzel. The soundtrack itself also introduces more rock and hiphop, probably to actively compete with the Tony Hawk games. There's still SSX's classic electronica bent flowing through at times, but it's definitely a different vibe overall that they went with here.
Overall I like this game a lot, but I'm a little mixed. It's widely regarded as the best game in the franchise, and also apparently sold the best. It's a great game, don't get me wrong! But I can't help but miss the variety in maps from past entries, and I feel it's interest in reigning it's personality in / taking it a tad more seriously was what eventually led the SSX franchise down the path of eroding into nothingness. I don't guess I should blame it for that though. If I'm not gonna blame Sonic Adventure for how Sonic fell down a cliff (despite introducing the ideas that got him there), neither should I do that to SSX3.
You (yes, you) should definitely play it some time. You may even like it the most! So yeah. Check it out. That's all for now in this game review. I've been DJ Azookara. And you're tuned to Radio BIG.
SSX3 further refines the gameplay of Tricky by fixing the rail collision detection (thank you), adding grind-tricks (nice!) and adding the ability to board-press on the Right Stick (or manualling, for all the Tony Hawk heads out there). It also introduces the "SUPER Uber" trick meter system, which is effectively the original "Tricky" meter but with a few extra steps. Getting "Uber" means you have a few less-impressive-but-still-cool moves until you land four tricks and then enter the "SUPER Uber" phase, where you can now do the tricks Tricky let you do. Personally I'd cut the middleman here and just let me do the coolest tricks, but I get it for depth's sake. Overall, good additions that help in building combos and keeping your involvement high.
The real bread and butter of SSX3 isn't it's gameplay refinements though, and moreso in it's level design. The game introduces you to BIG Mountain: a set of three peaks on a massive single map with a constant downhill trajectory, and several spots amongst each peak to compete in races and freestyle (points-building) events. The transitions are smooth and natural and the environments are treacherous with all kinds of new hazards to watch out for like avalanches, falling icecicles etc, making the mountain feel more alive than anything ever before. Despite this, I will say the single mountain range really lacks the variety and color Tricky's maps did. Very impressive for 2003 though, I will give that. It all loaded seamlessly too!
Many of the characters from the previous two games return and still resemble themselves, but as a whole no longer feel as over-the-top, and most of the more extreme personalities like Eddie sadly got the boot (Psymon, however, thankfully stays). Character interactions with each other feel much more reigned in than last time too, which may partly be because you no longer have the "rival" system (huge bummer), but at least your character still has a rival at all. In it's place is a new customization system, where you win races/freestyles to gain money and buy new clothes/boards/haircuts, up your stat points, or buy new tricks (!!). Which is pretty cool, I gotta admit.
The new radio host DJ Atomika runs the soundtrack (under the title "Radio BIG") and between tracks gives hints and tips about the peaks, gossips about the character you're playing as a little, and overall gives the game a very MTV Sports coverage energy about how life is on the mountain. I like him, he's got a very friendly energy I enjoy and he seems well-liked amongst SSX fans, but I will admit he's a little sleepy and lacks the loud punchy showmanship of the first two games's DJ Rahzel. The soundtrack itself also introduces more rock and hiphop, probably to actively compete with the Tony Hawk games. There's still SSX's classic electronica bent flowing through at times, but it's definitely a different vibe overall that they went with here.
Overall I like this game a lot, but I'm a little mixed. It's widely regarded as the best game in the franchise, and also apparently sold the best. It's a great game, don't get me wrong! But I can't help but miss the variety in maps from past entries, and I feel it's interest in reigning it's personality in / taking it a tad more seriously was what eventually led the SSX franchise down the path of eroding into nothingness. I don't guess I should blame it for that though. If I'm not gonna blame Sonic Adventure for how Sonic fell down a cliff (despite introducing the ideas that got him there), neither should I do that to SSX3.
You (yes, you) should definitely play it some time. You may even like it the most! So yeah. Check it out. That's all for now in this game review. I've been DJ Azookara. And you're tuned to Radio BIG.