SSX Review

A successful reboot for the franchise that ditches local multiplayer in favor of expansive asynchronous options

Posted by Christian Sorrell on March 15, 2012 - 11:41pm EST

SSX’s primary focus is undoubtedly its asynchronous multiplayer Explore and Global Event modes. Much akin to the Autolog system first found in 2010’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, these modes utilize RiderNet, a system that constantly tracks your accomplishments, lays them alongside the scores and times of your friends, tracks your progress on a global level, and even suggests new friends for you based on your current skill level. This is a wonderful feature and one that essentially keeps those with any small shred of competition wanting to play constantly. I am not normally a competitive individual but I have found myself time and time again spending hours trying to conquering my friends’ scores since the game’s release. There’s always a time to beat, a trick run to do better on, a global event to join, and a new friend to play with.

While Explore and its RiderNet integration are essentially just really involved leaderboards and ghosts upon which you post all of your scores in the game, SSX’s Global Events are a more active type of competition. In these events, you pay an entry fee (although many of the official EA Global Events are free) and then compete in real-time against every other entrant (similar to Trackmania). These are timed, normally lasting for several days, upon completion of which you received a payout based on how you ranked. The higher you place, the more money you receive based on the total prize pool. These are not only the most fun aspect of the game once you get your bearing across most of the courses, but they are also the best way to snag massive amounts of in-game currency that will allow you to buy all of the most epic gear (and enter even higher stake Global Events).

Graphically, SSX is a solid looking game but there’s little here to marvel at. While wide vistas look great and the UI is really top notch (except for a few too-long animations), a majority of the game looks good enough to stay out of the way of gameplay and nothing more.

Thankfully though, the soundtrack here is stellar. With everything from hip-hop to dubstep to indie rock, the game covers a lot of bases while always sounding like one game, which is a feat that not many games can pull off. On top of the great soundtrack, the game mixes the music along with dubsteppy wub-wubs and a remix of Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky” as you perform crazier tricks and speed down the track. This even works with custom soundtracks imported into the game which is a feature that many music nuts should be sure to take advantage of.