SSX On Tour

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SSX On Tour

Postby Silverhaze on Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:26 pm

For those that dont know

SSX On Tour @ Gamespot

8.7 it got and as Ive only had the game a couple of days I cant argue with that yet.

I got the PS2 version as I believe its so better suited to the pad with the 4 shoulder buttons rather than the xbox with its 2.


Now, first impressions - Very very stylised, it certainly looks as if all the menus came out of a 14 year old's doodle pad. Im liking the appearance of it and it has an intro the likes of which Ive never come across in a game before. Its like an animated version of the menus in their scrapbook style. Nicely done and refreshing to see.

Now, onto the game. Sadly you dont get to choose between skis and snowboard before each race. You choose either one when you set up your character and have to stick with it from then on. I created 2 saves on my card, one called Hill and the other called Hillski so I could swap between the two if I got bored with one style.

Initially you have to create your character by choosing a name, sex, equipment preference and then move on to appearance. There are few choices here so it wont take long and dont expect to make a character that looks anything like yourself as the choices really are thin on the ground. After that you choose overall size and then height before it throws you into a downhill race against an old SSX character to break you in.
With this race over you get to see the event selection screen done like a traditional ski map with a 2D view of the area and Black Red and Blue runs on it. They dont really seem to indicate how difficult the challenges are but you can get the gist by reading the descriptions. The range of different challenges is quite impressive and quite a few utilise the new features of the game quite nicely but I'll get to that in a mo.
Theres the standard races and trick competitions in the form of Slopestyle comps and the old Superpipe and Big air comps from SSX3 have been merged with Slopestyle so you dont find out til you read the descriptions. You now get 1on1 challenges too which can be trick or race based and winning usually unlocks a bonus in the form of that character for multiplayer or a piece of clothing or equipment.
On top of those you have collecting challenges which have been made a lot better this time round in that you dont have to be millimetre perfect to pick up each icon. This doesnt make them any easier to complete when you have to hit a certain line to get all the icons though which is good.

There are challenges in which you have to grind certain rails which are highlighted, grind a total distance within a time limit making you hunt out the long rails. Get to the bottom of a track without leaving the ground for more than a certain period of time or the opposite which is quite fun where you have to achieve a certain amount of air time before the timer runs out.
The other challenges involve some of the nice new features of the game. Other people.

For the first time, the slopes of SSX are littered with other people. These range from people on snowmobiles which are actually quite rare to small kids struggling down the mountain at a snail's pace.

They get in the way, put you off and generally are quite irritating but in a good way. You get bonus points for almost crashing into them and also get points for wiping them out entirely!
Ski Patrol are also about and some of the challenges involve getting to the bottom of a track without being smashed face first into the snow by the nasty Ski Patrol people. These guys are mean!
Some other challenges involve getting a certain amount of near misses on other skiiers and boarders as well as one I can think of in which you have to smash the ski kiddies off their skis before the time runs out. Nice.

Graphics - Well they arent as good as SSX3 and you may wonder why a sequel would have worse graphics than the previous game. The amount of stuff in this game seems to be the reason although there are improvements in other areas such as the nice effects on the fireworks which look lovely. I think although I cant be sure that there are more types of snow and ice in this game than in any of the others. You can certainly feel the difference as you ride.
Sound is roughly the same. You can hear the differences in snow and ice surfaces, other people around you and the rest of it. The music is nice and works well as it fades out to be replaced by rushing wind noises and things whizzing past you like lamp posts and such. It works very well and leads me onto the last thing I will bore anybody willing to read this with.

Speed.

SSX On Tour may not necessarily be the fastest of the games but it certainly looks that way. Boosting will put speed blur round the outside of the screen and the sound changes to fast rushing wind noises as the music fades out. This also happens naturally as you go through particularly fast parts of the course and I felt it worked really well. It can be distracting at times but then reaching those speeds on a board or skis would be difficult and would make seeing where you are going harder.

If you like the SSX series like I do then I can reccomend this game to you. If you are an SSX virgin then I would have to reccomend getting SSC Tricky and then move onto SSX3 before this one as you would really get the best out of it that way and it does rather throw you in at the deep end with large combo tricks and searching out short cuts. The trick combo didnt even come into SSX until SSX3 and thats probably a better game to get combo practice in on.

SSX On Tour is superb so far but be warned, this one isnt for the kiddies. The difficulty ramps up extremely quickly and I as an SSX veteran found the going tough quite early on when you have 2 minutes to achieve 45 seconds of air time or beat an opponent who takes some evil little shortcuts you need to follow.

Oh one other feature I should mention is the photo spots. Certain lines or big grinds or ramps have floating camera icons at certain points. These work a little like the secret tapes in THPS games. You do the grind or hit the ramp at the right speed and as you fly through the icon you get a special gap or achievement like clearing a big jump or knocking down an aerial and grinding it. Ive yet to find out exactly what they are used for but I think they add to your hype (points) which move you up the SSX leaderboard.

Hire it and buy it if you like it.
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Postby Zep on Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:46 pm

2 reviews? this must be the freaking shizzle bo dizz!
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Postby Silverhaze on Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:15 pm

LMAO! Alright so I didnt realise that until I checked back ages later.

Basically my work internet is so fucking slow that it often gives you a Page Cannot be Displayed message just because it decides theres too much traffic. I pressed the post button and it gave me a cannot be displayed page so I clicked back and did it again.

Fucking piece of shit connection.

Still....the game is good and def worth a try if you like the SSX games.
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Postby Zep on Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:29 pm

Silverhaze wrote:LMAO! Alright so I didnt realise that until I checked back ages later.

Basically my work internet is so fucking slow that it often gives you a Page Cannot be Displayed message just because it decides theres too much traffic. I pressed the post button and it gave me a cannot be displayed page so I clicked back and did it again.

Fucking piece of shit connection.

Still....the game is good and def worth a try if you like the SSX games.


yeah right Haze, we all know about your mid day drinking sessions ;)
God gave me everything I want!

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Postby Silverhaze on Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:44 pm

Hey I've got nothing to hide. A the drink drivers always say...

I perform better when Im drunk than when Im sober actually! :lol:
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