Score: 94
Overall User Average: 9.43 / 10 (94.3%)
Gameplay User Average: 9.14 / 10
Graphics User Average: 9.43 / 10
Sound User Average: 8.14 / 10
xj74
Date reviewed: July 22, 2004.
Overall: I loved SSX Tricky and this sequel improves on every detail of it's predecessor. EA Big is one of the best arcade extreme sports developers and it shows in this game. If you even remotely like extreme sports games or snow boarding pick this one up.
Gameplay: Absolutely incredible! There are a total of three peaks on the mountain and you start off on the lowest one and unlock the last two in relatively short amount of time. It's nice because they've made the game accessible to everyone. It's easy enough to unlock the entire mountain for the novice players to enjoy, but difficult enough getting golds in every event to satisfy the the hardcore crowd as well. The well crafted with exciting moments spread throughout and riding from the top of the mountain to the bottom is a cool ride taking about 25 minutes to complete. My only gripe about the courses and the game in general are that it is very difficult to determine what is IN and OUT of bounds in numerous spots and made me feel not so free to roam as it appears. The controls have a good feel and quick to respond. This is great game and will make a good addition anyones collection and it doesn't hurt that the price has dropped to $20 either.
Graphics: This is one is much better looking than tricky and the framerate is much more stable. The snow and the particle effects have a great look to it. The characters are well animated and have a great amount detail put in them with the option to change their appearance with numerous outfits and gear.
Sound: Well, I only actually like about 5 songs on the soundtrack and as far as I could see there is no support for user soundtracks. Plus the voice acting is good but not as cool Tricky with some well known entertainers doing the voices.
Suggestions: User soundtrack support PLeeeeease!
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 60 %
tlb2k4
Date reviewed: January 25, 2004.
Overall: Very well done. I was happy with the overall gameplay of the game, and this will be a game that will keep me busy for many hours, I can tell. EA Sports BIG did an excellent job of improving this from the last one, and I love this game.
Gameplay: Gameplay is well done. It's somewhat different from SSX Tricky, but the learning curve isn't horrible. The buttons for the uber system is the similiar; and trickys are still easy to execute. I didn't really care for them changing the fighting buttons to the triggers, but seeing they made Nose/Tail presses for that joystick, it's well justified. If you've played Tricky, you'll have NO problem picking up the controls. You can customize your rider's ubers which is excellent. Elise could do "The Guillotine" or whatever tricky is available on the list. I like the whole buying rewards deal, though some of those are pretty goofy and not really worth buying until it's to the point where it's the only thing you've got to buy. The only real gripe I had from the gameplay aspect itself was that all the characters from SSX Tricky weren't available right away (especially Marisol) but she's unlockable. The soundovers for those you have to unlock are non-existant, which is kind of sad, but a small price to pay for a game with great gameplay.
Graphics: Stunning was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the graphics. The snow effects are ridiculously realistic, and the scenery is always beautiful be it night or daytime. These guys really outdid themselves on making even the smallest detail good.
Sound: The soundtrack was decent. The thing that killed me was that there was no custom soundtrack feature. The soundtrack is decent, but when you isolate it out to the seven or eight songs you like, they get old really fast. I'd definentely would have liked the whole playing your own music down the mountain deal, but they did a decent mix of Rock/Rap/Danceish music.
Suggestions: Make a fourth one, and keep up the great work!
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 80 %
Leifang#1
Date reviewed: December 9, 2003.
Overall: WOWOOWOWOWO! This is like one of the best games of all time! I've been plating it for soooooo long now with my fave. char Kaori!
Gameplay: Really good, but it took some getting used to because I had played the previous games and it was easier to press all four buttons at the same time to get an Experimental. But the handling was great overall.
Graphics: Great graphics and effects! Snow actually flew up and the lighting was perfect! The graphics were quite flashy and nothing was ever identical or similar in any way! Just a feast for the eyes...
Sound: Great! I mean the characters all had their own voices, which gave them their personalities! They also had great, really awesome kick !&%$@#* music! I mean I loved cruising thru the snow with those great beats in my ears!
Suggestions: Keep doing what you do!
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 100 %
DocHoliday78
Date reviewed: November 30, 2003.
Overall: This is the newest game in the SSX series. It features one giant mountain with three diffrent areas.
Gameplay: THe controlls are alot more responsive than the past SSX's. There is the basic setup and the pro control setup which gives you 4 extra grab buttons. There is the standard race and trick competiotns. The newest feature is the free ride which isnt close to amped 2.
Graphics: Great graphics but this is a port. They didnt even come close to using Xbox's power and their are some framerate issues.
Sound: The characters are constantly talking back and forth during the race. The sound as your boards cuts through fresh powder is nice.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 80 %
sleeve
Date reviewed: November 21, 2003.
Overall: An EA game has to be pretty much amazing for me to buy it since I openly and vocally boycott their products due to their inability to come to contract terms with Microsoft over Xbox Live and the almighty dollar. As a big fan of SSX Tricky, when I saw 3 on demo and played it for a few minutes, I knew I had to have it, even though it can only be played online with a PS2.
Tricky looks and plays like an accident after having 3 for awhile. The races are a little too easy, but the course designs and trick combinations are greatly improved. It's literally possible to trick down the whole mountain given the great new abilities in SSX 3.
SSX 3 also adds backcountry courses with deep snow, huge ice, and storms that will blow you right off course and into the nearest solid object.
I had a little extra learning curve with SSX 3 than most Tricky upgraders since I play Tricky on the Cube. Surprisingly, the control scheme becomes second nature very fast. It's so easy to mash together trcik combinations, I've somehow managed to do some nerve damage in my thumb in the process. Gotta love a game good enough to play your fingers numb over.
This is an excellent game for anyone into speed games and when you're not racing, the perfectly-designed control scheme will make trick runs much less frustrating than other titles.
Gameplay: By now, other reviewers have given the basic premise, 3 peaks, multi events, etc...
Science is greatly exaggerated here, but we call that fun. Many of the moves the game relies on to win would snap knees, and the air is about 40 feet beyond reality, but we the couch generation would quickly shelve a game that didn't bend a few rules.
Course design is great. Race courses have lights indicating where shortcuts can be found, and the ability to stay airborne on long chains of objects makes for great speed, point combo, and trick potential.
Unlike Tricky, where board choice greatly influenced a rider's outcome in a specific race type, SSX 3 requires you to win events, win cash, and buy attributes for your rider (Think Tiger Woods PGA Tour) that improve their skills in the specific areas you choose. EA clunked a little in the attribute feature. When you visit the lodge to buy attributes, it is possible to max out without spending all your cash. There's an artificial barrier to adding more than one full skill point to a category. So if you just won a huge payout and you max out, you end up having to leave the lodge, then immediately transport to the lodge again. Yeah, you have to transport to it. Even though it's just ... right ... over ... there ... can't... reach.
You don't have to be a gold medal racer to make it through this game fast, but it sure helps. I found the races pretty easy to beat and even finished first in two peak 3 races first time down the hill. That's sort of disappointing. I ended up playing the races a few more times, and I've taken a break from the game so I don't burn through its races in a week.
The trick events, however, get me going for at least a dozen runs before I medal, since it takes more time to find the best features to trick off and how to combo between them without gulping snowcone. With all the money I've won from racing, I'm maxxed out on all my attributes even though I still don't have a freestyle gold on peak 2 yet. That helps make tricks more effective, and the combination of both skills gives the game much more long term playability. The combination of speed and trick points in the final peak challenges for peaks 2 and 3 make a great event and another huge design leap over Tricky.
Typical EA game saving is back from the people that invented the convoluted save function. When you save the first time, it doesn't remember the profile you opened. Once you highlight the profile you want to update it asks if you want to overwrite that file. Most games realize that when you want to save, you want to update your existing file rather than littering a bunch of progressively further save files around. Fortunately, this quirk consistent in all EA games is easy to wave aside.
Graphics: Looks a lot better than Tricky did. Fingers, we've got fingers, not just GTA3 mittens. Blowing snow and sunlit courses look great. Overall, very nice to look at.
Sound: All that music must have cost a fortune, and most of it is some of the best material around these days. I wish I could use my own music, though, since I have the whole discs many of the tracks come from.
With all the money spent on the music, there's not much for sound effects covering it up. Ice sounds like ice, but otherwise, not much wind noise, etc... It's token DD 5.1, too, you can't hear people approaching behind you on rear speakers.
Suggestions: At least Live enable your games with Appear Online status so that my friend list can see me when I'm playing your game. If I'm waiting for friends to come online, I'm not going to be playing a completely offline game like yours.
I realize trying to convince EA to settle with Microsoft over Live royalties is like asking a 500# gorilla to stop eating bananas, but every glowing review I give EA is a chance to sound off, even if it's as a gnat in Uzbekistan.
As more and more games go completely Online or add Appear Online ability, people who aren't Addicts will eventually notice that EA can't do what the other games can, especially XSN games. Unfortunately, EA typically makes 90% of the B-grade games out there today, with a few stars uncommon of any corporation your size. The typical Xbox owner is not going to choose another game over EA when they're the only one in a category or the oldest. So EA gets to carry on with their Live boycott that affects millions, and I get to carry on with my insignificant EA boycott.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 50 %
pvsurfer03
Date reviewed: November 18, 2003.
Overall: Wow! What a game! This is an over the top snowboarding game! It is made by the same people that make NBA Street. If you want tricks that are awesome and will never be pulled off, thousand foot jumps, this is your game! It is an arcadey snowboarding game.
Gameplay: In the game there is one mountain with 3 peaks. on each peak there is free run, race, trick competetition, a peak race, and a peak jam. There are different runs in each of those categories. Peak 1 is the easiest, then Peak 2, then peak 3 is hard! You have to beat Peak 1 to advance to Peak 2, etc. When you win you are awarded cash to spend on buying attributes for your character or any other character. With the money you can also buy gear: new snowboards, hats, pants, shirts, etc. The sheer openess of the whole game is awesome. there is a 2 player split-screen mode.
Graphics: Some of the best graphics I have seen in a game to date! The mountain looks awesome. The snow is amazing and so is verything else
Sound: I really like the commentator, and whule you are racing against your rivals (other characters)they talk trash to you.
Suggestions: Make SSX 4. Make it have 1 more mountain and make it for LIVE.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
AlphaCigara
Date reviewed: November 9, 2003.
Overall: I?m the type of person that really enjoys a new extreme sports game. Give me a new skateboarding or snowboarding title and I?ll enjoy it until I beat it. SSX3 is an exception. This is the type of game you?ll play for weeks upon weeks, trying to beat high scores or earning enough dough to buy extra characters. This game is that good. The new characters are sweet, the mountains are amazing, and no snowboarding game offers anything close to what SSX3 brings to the table. I?m almost confident that once you take your first leap of a mountain, doing flips and tricks and whatnot, you?ll be hooked.
Gameplay: Gameplay: Where to start, where to start. I?ll just make this simple. SSX3 is hard to control at first (to people new to the series), but you can compete with the pros after only a few hours of practicing. Busting moves is easy to do since there are only five buttons you need to worry about. My only complaint about 3 is its too easy to wipe out.
Graphics: The mountains and characters look awesome in the third installment of SSX. Neither mountains or characters look photorealistic, but that?s not what EA Big was going for. I love watching the characters go 50+ feet in the air, flipping and spinning to your hearts content. Everything about the graphics is amazing. My favorite graphical thing in SSX3 would have to be watching your character triumphantly pump his/her fists in the air after landing a big trick.
Sound: Sound: SSX3 has a great soundtrack. Bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane?s Addiction (among other great bands) leant their talents to SSX3. The characters voices are great, and what they say is so hilarious it never gets old (like when Viggo, one of the newbies to 3, says something like ?Vile? Revolting? Yeah pretty much, pretty much all of the above.?). My only complaint is with the amazing soundtrack. If you wipe out once, or accidently jump off the track, the songs lyrics die. What I mean is a song be be playing, but if you screw up, only the beat to the song is playing (I hope this makes since to you, because this really annoyed me). However, the new announcer saves the day, bringing the 4.5 I was planning on giving SSX3 a 5.
Suggestions: In the sequel, have different mountains, but make more selectable characters, bring back the celebrity voices, and an XBL multiplayer race and trickoff support.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
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