While at E3 in LA this year, we had a chance to check out EA Sports SSX game. I have to admit, going into the playable demo my expectations were low. After having played and reviewed Shaun White Snowboarding games in recent years and being disappointed more often than not, frankly I could have gone a lifetime without seeing another snowboarding game. But lo and behold, after the SSX demo was complete I had to pick up my jaw from the ground as I was blown away with how good and fun EA Sports SSX game was at this stage in the game.
Just to give you some background, SSX is an upcoming snowboarding video game in the SSX series of video games from EA Sports. SSX (Snowboard Super Cross) was the first in the series and was the first game to be published under the brand which specializes in extreme sports titles with an arcade feel. As a result, the game featured exaggerated jumps, crazy mountain runs and death defying tricks. It was developed by EA Canada and released with the launch of the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2000. It won multiple awards and several sequels arrived in the coming years; however, since 2007 the franchise has been in hibernation. We have yet to see a next generation version of the game. That is until now.
Before I had a chance to give the game a spin, the team at EA Sports showed us a brief demo. In SSX for next generation consoles, you take on the role of a member of a team seeking to snowboard down a variety of real-world mountains, such as in the Himalayas and the Antarctic. The demo we had a chance to check out included a helicopter drop down a gigantic mountain which looks the closest to real life I have seen a mountain look on a gaming console to date. The mountains looked impressive and despite the demo being in pre-alpha the level of detail is stunning. The shadowing, lighting and even snow spray is incredibly realistic looking. The team at EA Sports explained that they have used a tool that takes topographical data of the Earth from NASA and converts it into playable levels. From there, the development team tweaked the mountains to make them playable and highly entertaining. Apparently the interface to choose the levels is inspired by “Google Earth” and is portrayed as a giant globe that you can rotate in the games menu.
Picture Burnout on a snowboard and that is what you get with SSX. The use of wingsuits and avalanches are also parts of the game as well. Yes you read correctly, SSX will feature avalanches but not just any old avalanche randomly thrown into various parts of the game. Instead, the development team employs a gameplay element whereby the level of force exerted by your player during jumps, tricks, landings and turns is compared to the stability of the area on the mountain. So if you are in a sensitive area where an avalanche can strike at any moment then I would think twice about pulling off that super jump off the side of the cliff.
It appears SSX will be objective based but will also place a great deal of emphasis on tricks and jumps. SSX features a combo system whereby allowing you to build-up of trick points, commentary, dialogue, races, trick point competitions and graffiti. Doing flips, tricks and getting air is still at the core of the game and fans of the franchise will enjoy this aspect. Also everything in the game with an edge is grind-able. Anything you can see in the game is up for grabs as the game does not limit you in terms of where you can go or where you can perform tricks.
For fans of the franchise, apparently many of the characters from previous SSX games will be featured this time around. Considering I haven’t played any of the previous SSX games, I was not familiar with any of the characters mentioned in the demo. The controls in the demo were very fluid. It appears SSX will adopt similar controls to that of the “Sk8te” franchise. That being said, it appears SSX will allow you to customize your control scheme to an extent.
Although no official release date has been set it appears the game will arrive sometime in 2012. It is unfortunate we have to wait so long for the game to arrive but this one will be worth the wait. I have no doubt SSX will raise the bar for snowboarding games.
