When SSX was finally released for this round of consoles in late February the game represented a reboot of sorts for the series. While a lot of the over-the-top gameplay was intact, many of the characters and environments were restyled into a more realistic appearance. I think it was inevitable that the classic SSX characters would make their return in the form of DLC, and here they are.
From faces etched into the sides of mountains like Mt. Rushmore, loop de loops, crazy jumps, grinds, and fireworks going off everywhere, this DLC pack does just what it promises as it harkens back to the days of SSX of old. Not that the new version is a bad thing, but fans really dug the SSX games back on the original Xbox and PlayStation 2. In this DLC pack, you get a whole new mountain set in the USA, called Mt. Eddie, to play on. It is just one peak but there are at least three or four drops to start from. As you’d expect, each drop has a race and trick event. Naturally, I went right for the peak; might as well go full pull from the get go right? Mt. Eddie plays out on a clear, dark evening. You’ll want to make sure you are not playing in a brightly lit room to get the full effect. The drops themselves feel a bit narrower than what is on the other mountains in the game, but the action is frantic. I don’t think I have ever seen a loop de loop in a snowboarding game before. There are distinct areas along the entire drop of the mountain including narrow trails and rails through thick trees, big air, and quasi-half pipes to name a few. These are fun in either the trick or race events.
I gravitated towards my favorite character Mac. The classic characters each come with a new board but no new tricks or animations. I’ll admit I didn’t even notice the new board and only read that in the ad. Not that I would notice it when my character is flailing madly on the screen in an orgy of aerial tricks anyow. The point here is that it is of little circumstance beyond playing with that classic character. While ads for the game tout musical tracks from the previous games I just don’t remember back that far for that to be of any real value to me.
One thing that I seemed to notice was that the difficulty in the events seems a bit ramped up when compared to the rest of the game. The trick events require A LOT of points to medal. I am an average player when it comes to my skill level and it took me several attempts to just get a bronze score for many of the trick events. The race events are no different. It will take multiple attempts to find the fastest line and combination of tricks to maximize your boost. This should make for some decent playability for your money. What value you get out of RiderNet will likely depend on how many of your friends pick this DLC up too.
I like the fact EA didn’t automatically slap a price tag of 800 points on this DLC either and put some thought towards how this was priced. You can buy either Mt. Eddie or the character pack on their own for 480 points each or you can buy them together for 640 points. It is always nice to have a choice, and for 640 points it seems fair for what you get here. Price counts to me, especially with regards to DLC.
For the hardcore SSX fans looking for that next challenge, or those pining for days of old, this first round of SSX DLC is a must buy. If you are a more causal player that hasn’t really experienced what the Explore and RiderNet modes have to offer though you might want to dig a little deeper into these before plopping down your $8.00 or so. In the end there is no denying this is good value for your dollar and hopefully EA keeps this up and brings us more things like this to explore in the near future.
