EA is steadily building up its library of ‘EA Big’ games with games like SSX, Freekstyle and now the sequel to SSX – SSX Tricky. In comparison to its predecessor it is more based around tricks this time as the title would suggest, but EA have outdone themselves this time – get ready to get trickyyy.

Gameplay:
This is one of the best snowboarding games I’ve ever played, from the instant you start playing you feel the massive air from the cliffs and the breeze in your hair (even if it is a slightly big afro). In comparison to the previous game Tricky outdoes itself in the fact that there are more tracks and the all have their own little characteristics and are very well designed. From your average downhill slopes and berms to essentially a pinball park to snowboard in - original and creative design put to good use. Characters are well designed, there are equal amounts of male and female characters with there own unique style and personality, voices all done by celebrities including David Arquette and Lucy Liu to name a couple.

The game revolves around you playing a tournament of several tracks racing or doing a freestyle tricks event. The racing element is great fun and allows 3 races in each track – quarter finals, semi finals and finals. Not only is it fun doing tricks racing down at 100k/ph+ but you can knock 5 other opponents away if need be. The game also remembers who your friend is and who’s not depending on how well you’ve treated them; the taunts expressed in mid-game such as “I can see my house from here!!” just help you enjoy the action even more. Freestyle trick mode allows you to go down one of the tracks for a one off go at racking up as many points as possible; this is assisted by using 2, 3 or 5 times multipliers. Even more fun is the uber tricks where your character lets go of the board and performs one of many unique uber tricks, as the producers say “they’re not impossible but unlikely”. Characters characteristics are built up as you progress and earn medals throughout the game. The game also incorporates single races in one or two player plus a trick practice mode so plenty to get your teeth into here.

The game controls very nicely and tricks, modifiers, grinding, spinning and flips can all be pulled off with ease. The game also has DVD extras showing how the game was made, the origins of SSX and the typical DVD extras you would find, what’s more you don’t need the DVD playback kit to watch these so anyone can enjoy them and are definitely worth a watch.

Graphics:
Graphics are of a nice quality but do not incorporate effects that Amped provided a while back such as the special texture effects on boarders jackets per say. But the amount of polygons and smoothness of the graphics in the scenery, the snow and the characters is above what Xbox standard is nowadays, snow ripples leave a clear trail on the tracks and no frame rate issues even appear even in 2-player mode.

Sound:
Sound was addressed specifically when the game was being made; people such as Mixmaster Mike, Run DMC and so on were called in to create the soundtrack allowing a well suited and well composed set of tracks in the game. Not only does it make you want to listen to the music whilst playing the game but the option of playing custom soundtracks isn’t available….so tough. But point being that the in game music is professionally done and is a worth while listen whilst going down the slopes.

Longevity:
SSX Tricky will last you a very long time as not only are there race and freestyle trick modes to go through, they consist of several tracks and race heats. Once you’ve done that there are characters trick books to fill out and trying to get Gold medals on every track. But once you done this with one character you got the option of completing the game with a different character. This of course is the only option if you’re an SSX fanatic. So there is a lot to go through plus the ability of 2-player which lasts a while too.

Round Up:
SSX is a must have for any snowboarding fan, it is on the arcade side really but maintains a good stretch of longetivity despite this. Little criticism can be given to SSX, all I’ve heard as far as criticism goes would be is “It’s not my type of snowboarding game”. Which is fair enough this may not suit you being more of an arcade racer but a huge effort has been put in and has earned its respect amongst the gaming community, plus the game now features in the Xboxes classic range so you can get it for £20 now. This is a top notch game for me but if this isn’t you sort of game best try Transworld Snowboarding or Amped as the alternative.

Pros:

• Great fun to speed down slopes and pull insane tricks
  
• Nice Graphics
  
• Will last a long time
  
• Well constructed music and sound
  

  Cons:
  

  • May not be to everyone’s taste in snowboarding games