Playing SSX Tricky is a love-hate relationship... At least, for me. I absolutely love so much of this game, it's so incredibly fun to play, so unique, so energetic... It's just a blast! But along with that joy comes a whole bucketload of frustration... Particularly in the later levels.
Imagine, if you can, playing SSX Tricky. You're riding down the mountain with trees and other obstacles whizzing past you... You're in the lead, and you're holding 'up' on the controller to keep your character in the crouched position to retain your speed. You're cruising along when suddenly there's a dip that you didn't see coming, and your finger is still holding the 'up' button. Well it happens to be a coincidence that this same button also makes your character do front-flips while in the air, and since you've suddenly become airborne, your character naturally starts doing a flip. The dip comes back up a lot faster than your flip-happy character assumed, and they end up getting a mouthful of snow, tumbling head-over-heels down the mountain while other racers whizz past for the win. Argh. Welcome to SSX Tricky!
I know this may be pretty minor to some people, and probably not enough to warrant taking off a whole star of the game's rating... But I've wanted to throw the controller across the room so many times at little things like this... I just couldn't give it a 5-star rating with a clear conscience.
Annoyances aside, this is an absolutely superb game. The characters are well modeled (A few are also pretty well endowed), the courses are incredibly long and have a very very wide variety to them, the graphics are stellar, the sound effects are incredibly realistic, the music is perfect... I could go on and on.
The funniest part about this game has got to be the commentary. I'm a firm believer that the commentary exists only to make you laugh while playing the game. Often the announcer will give you props by saying you pulled off a "Sweet funky-dope maneuver!" or your character will randomly blurt out, "French toast and syrup!", or even something so intellectual as, "Get those thumbs bronzed!" As cheesy, corny, and lame as they are... They're also good for a great laugh.
Many people have said that this game is more of an expansion of the original and not a true sequel... Well my friends, this couldn't be farther from the truth. While it's true that there are only 2 new levels, the old levels have been COMPLETELY redesigned, re-thunk and reworked. I also own the original SSX and the only level that looks even remotely close to the one seen in the original game is the Aloha Ice Jam, and even that has had some serious makeovers. There are also a ton of new characters to choose from, and there's finally a use for that silly bar on the side of the screen! Ubertricks!
Talk about star of the show, the Ubertricks have taken over the trick scene in SSX, making it faux-pas to be in the air with the board still attached your feet. With your boost meter fully charged, you can catch some big air, press a button and watch your character flip the board over their head, kickflip it like a skateboard, or... Well... Tricks that words can't even begin to describe. I'm sure you've seen the commercials, so you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about.
This is an astoundingly great game, and I urge anyone to buy it, regardless of what console they own. Games are all about having fun, and SSX Tricky has definitely mastered the Fun Department. It's so easy to pick up and play, you'll be playing this game for a long time to come.