Here is my review in two words: buy it.

GAMEPLAY:

Tearing a page out of Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, SSX 3 is a very open-ended game. Gone are the linear, pick-a-course-and-race days of the SSX world. We are now immersed in a new SSX world. Or, we are immersed in one very large SSX mountain, with three separate peaks.

“Only one mountain with three peaks?” you may be wondering. While those numbers may seem very small to you, just remember that there are more events than the previous installments of the game. On different parts of the peaks, there are different events. You can either snowboard to the event that you want to go to, or you can just transport to the event. It is recommended that you board to the place, because there are mini-challenges and money that can be earned on the way. Also, if you enter an event with a high amount of boost, you will begin with boost.

Taking yet another idea from a THPS game, there is a money system. There are floating snowflakes that can be collected for money, winning events or challenges to earn money, or just doing tricks outside of races to earn some cash. This money, like in THPS2 and 4, can be used to increase stats, purchase clothes or buy secrets/cheats.

The trick system is just how you remembered it while in the air. When you land, however, there are a few new additions. The board press (read: manual from THPS2-UG) will allow you to string your tricks together. This can create for some really massive scores.

With these choices, you get to choose what events you want to do and when. There is your typical race. This is just as it sounds—a race from the top to the bottom of a run. In typical SSX style, there are many shortcuts that can be taken to get to the bottom before your competitors. Probably the coolest race is the all mountain race, a massive course that strings together many different runs together for a race that lasts about a half hour, or 25 minutes if you are good at the game.

The second event is called slopestyle. This is basically your showoff mode from SSX Tricky. But, things are a bit different this time around. First, these courses are not the same as the ones that you race on. These are showoff-specific courses. And the trick point totals may seem to be abnormally high if you want to get a gold metal. But, just remember your good friend the right analog stick (board press), Über tricks and multipliers (this time around, you can get a 10x multiplier, imagine that on a 25,000 point trick) and you will be well on your way to gold goodness.

New events to the SSX world in this installment are the big air and superpipe events. The big air events are events that have you going at fast speeds down a hill in an attempt to get hang time and perform some massive tricks. And when I say get air… I mean some real hang time. Don’t be surprised if you are in the air for over 15 seconds on one jump. You can probably break 20 seconds if you time it right. While this is probably the toughest event to get gold metals in, it sure is a worthy addition.

Superpipe is probably my favorite addition. In this event, you take your board to the half pipe and tear it up. The super pipe is a lot of fun, and isn’t that what these games are all about? Expect massive air and huge points from this event.

Here’s something new for the series: mountain masters. Certain characters in the game “rule” certain peaks. Get enough metals in races or slopestyle/big air/superpipe events; the champion of the peak will challenge you to a one-on-one race or showoff in the backcountry. The backcountry is a lot like “Untracked” from SSX Tricky. It is a large, open course of powder goodness. It is a nice little treat, and it stands between you and the full mountain race.

Who will you be racing down these slopes? Well, you will be happy to know that most of your favorite characters are back, as well as a few new ones. Back from SSX Tricky are Zoe, Mac, Elise, Moby, Kaori, and Psymon. New to the circuit are Allegra, Viggo, Griff and Nate. I was a little disappointed to see some of the characters that were left out (Where’s Eddie!), but the other characters from SSX Tricky and the original SSX can be used as skins on the other models. There are also some other skins, but those are for you to unlock.

No matter whom you chose, the game feels great. Just like the previous SSX games, the controls are tight and responsive. The only problem that I ran into a few times were the trick/punch buttons. Sometimes I pushed the trick button too early and my character wound up for a punch instead of performing a trick. It does not happen too often, but it can be frustrating sometimes.

One other problem with the gameplay is the out of bounds areas. In this game, you get rewarded for finding shortcuts and going through them. Sometimes, though, you think you are going through a shortcut and instead you see “OFF LIMITS” and are transported back to the course. Again, it does not happen too often, but it is annoying when it does.

The game offers two levels of Über tricks this time around. The first level tricks are the quick and not too flashy tricks. The second level tricks are where you will find the crazy tricks from the last game. And, this time around, you are able to customize your tricks and purchase different ones. This allows you total control of your character’s tricks. GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10

GRAPHICS:

The word “stunning” only begins to describe the graphics in this game. They are absolutely amazingly beautiful. There is little to no pop-up in the entire game, including the half-hour long race. The courses have a lot of color and the sun glistens off of the snow beautifully.

Like the other SSX titles, the tricks are stellar. They flow from one trick to the other very naturally. There are no hick-ups in the animation. This is especially beautiful when going from one Über trick to the next. The falling animations have also improved, as the person’s board does not magically re-appear on their feet if they were doing an Über trick. Instead, the game will “reset” you with the board after you hit the square button as quickly as possible.

And, in this version, you have the option to customize your character. You can change their hair, shirt, pants, backpacks, headbands, hats, bracelets, random accessories, boards, boots… basically anything on the person can be customized any way you want it. This is one feature that SSX Tricky was missing. Luckily, EA Big decided to add it into this game.

The game runs at a mostly-solid 60 fps. The only problem that I found was in Metro City Breakdown. The framerate drops significantly on this course. This is the only complaint from the graphics that I have.
GRAPHICS: 9.5/10

SOUND:

There is really nothing much to say about the sound except awesome. The music for this game spans the musical genres. I was particularly thrilled to see MxPx in the game. Some of the other artists that you may recognize (or may soon recognize) are Autopilot Off, Dan the Automator, Finger 11, Placebo, The Swollen Members, Queens of the Stoneage, Jane’s Addiction, N.E.R.D., Yellowcard, Chemical Brothers, Caesars, and many others. My favorite song in the game happens to be Higher Ground by The Red Hot Chili Peppers remixed by the X-Ecutioners. Whatever your musical taste, there will be something that appeals to you on the soundtrack.

The voices in the game are pretty good. There are no more celebrity voice actors, but the voices are still good. Thankfully, SSX 3 does not have those pointless confrontations at the end of a run where two people who had pushed each other down say seemingly unrelated things to each other. Instead, the person will send an e-mail to you that you can read on your PDA. This was a very nice addition, because I don’t think anyone really liked those talks.

The sounds of the board cutting into the snow sound authentic. And I particularly like the hollow ping sound when you run into a pole at sixty-some miles per hour. This is yet another EA Big game with excellent sound.
SOUND: 10/10

REPLAY VALUE:

There is so much to do on the peaks, and you can do it all with each character. There are many side quests (“Big Challenges”) as well as collectibles. One problem that people may see is the AI’s shortcoming. After your fifth character, it is pathetically easy to beat the AI because you know the courses so well. If that happens to be the case, here’s a little challenge for you. Go for the platinum metal. These metals are very hard to get in the races. They are set times that take many attempts to achieve. I have accumulated a few, but by merely a few seconds. They are really a challenge to get, but if the AI is too easy, try to get the platinum metals.

The multiplayer is fun. It allows you to race your friend split screen. But, for the first time in an EA Big title, there is online play (PS2 only). You can use voice chat if you want, but it is really pointless unless you know the person you are racing against. This game will last a while and is sure to please any gamer.
REPLAY VALUE: 9.5/10

CLOSING COMMENTS:

Buy this game, or at least rent it. This is one of the best titles to come out this year, especially one of the best multi-console games. If there was ever a game worth your hard earned fifty bucks, SSX 3 is it.

OVERALL: 9.5/10