SSX Tricky
Reviewed by KasketDarkfyre
As a Play Station 2 owner and fan of the SSX games,
when I ventured in the Game Cube territory, I bought
a few games to go along with it and one of those was
SSX Tricky. Although I was expecting something a
little different, I found that Tricky hasn't been
replaced with anything, but actually reproduced for
the Game Cube in the same fashion that the one for
PS2 was released! The visuals, audio and otherwise
are all here, but there are a couple of things that I
found to be seriously wrong with this version of the
game, and all of those things comes in with the
controls and the way that the Game Cube controller is
set up. Otherwise, you're playing the same game that
you may have played on the Play Station 2, and with
no real noticeable changes other than that control
set up. If you can get through the control scheme and
you've played the game before, then you're in
familiar territory. However, if you've never played
Tricky before on another system, then you need to
buckle up and get ready for a wild ride!
The Game Play is all about hot and heavy racing with
plenty of flashy tricks thrown in for the hell of it.
Most people when they pick up a game of this type,
they look to see what kind of tricks they can do from
the very beginning. In the original SSX, you had
several good looking tricks that you pulled off with
some monstrous effects to win either medals or
increase your little turbo boost meter to help you
through the rest of the stage. In SSX Tricky, it
works on the same basis that the better your trick
and the faster you spin, the better off your boost
total is going to be. Now, where the first one merely
enhanced your speed, SSX Tricky offers you a new
Tricky meter that allows you to hammer out some
Matrix-style tricks that not only catch your eye but
add up for high scoring combinations. Through doing
special Tricky maneuvers, you'll find that you can
light up the word Tricky and therefore give yourself
an infinite Super Boost through the rest of the stage!
The game is divided up into two sections in the World
Circuit series that allows you to do either a
downhill race of the Show Off competition. Both of
these allow you to build up your character statistics
in order to better their attributes in the form of
speed, trick speed, edging and stability. The better
the medal that you receive, the better your attribute
distribution points are going to be in which you can
turn your rider from a fresh meat rookie into an SSX
Master! The Race option pits you against five other
racers in a three heat race across several stages
which encompass all of the original tracks and two
new ones {Garabaldi and Alaska}. You would probably
think that the stages would all be the same, but the
tweaking on the game play really shows in which the
stages have been redesigned to add more challenge in
both the downhill racing and the trick competition!
Most of the changes that you'll see is with the
overall layout of the game, in which you have to
learn to utilize the shortcuts that permeate the
stages, both new and old.
The Show Off competition allows you to pull off the
various tricks while collecting point multipliers to
increase your score into the hundreds of thousands.
In Show Off, you'll find that all of the stages with
the revamping have really paid off, considering that
the stages in Show Off are geared for tricks and
tricks alone! Grinds and high flying jumps litter the
stages, and the better the trick, the higher your
boost until you hit the top of the adrenaline meter
and turn it into Tricky Mode. In Tricky Mode, you can
then start turning out super tricks that range from
BMX moves {Barspins, Superman} to MX moves {Nac Nac}
to other various X-Games style maneuvers that are
really out of this world. Again, the better you do in
the competitions, the better your medal and the
better your medal, the better your attribute point
distribution will be. In gaining the gold, you can
unlock other characters and new boards as well as new
stages to compete on, and with enough tricks, you'll
unlock new character outfits to wear during your races!
Because of the strange set up that the Game Cube
controller has to offer, you'll find that pulling off
the different tricks is a little more difficult than
it was with the Play Station 2 version. With the set
up being strangely different, you have to learn how
to use the two triggers on the top and the Z button,
which allows you to run through with three out of the
four originally used buttons! This essentially cuts
down your possibilities on the different tricks and
what you can do with your rider, which will catch
most SSX fans off guard, simply because of the
strange lack of tricks. However, in order to pull off
those insane looking Uber-tricks, you have to hit two
of the top triggers along with the B button. For
those of you who have played the Play Station 2
version of the game, you'll find that the severe
change in the way that the game handles and trick
buttons are going to take a little getting used to.
If you've never played the game before though, then
you'll find that the game plays like a dream with
just a little practice and a working knowledge of
what's going on with each of your riders!
Visually, the game is full of eye candy and not as
muted as the first one seemed to be. With the new
additions to each stage, new paths and shortcuts, new
and old, you'll find that SSX Tricky is one cut above
the first in this area! With the characters ranging
from the cute {Kaori} to the truly psychotic {Psymon}
you'll find that SSX Tricky offers more variety in
the visuals department than the first one did. All of
the stages have simple lighting, but heavy detail in
the way that they are all set up. Even the tricks and
the outfits that your character of choice wears looks
sleek and well defined, and the Uber Tricks are
something that have to be seen to be believed! There
is nothing like watching a character in mid air
release his board, pick it up, spin it around their
neck and then drop it to the snow before they land to
really make you appreciate what good programming and
testing time does. Plenty of snow boarding game
makers can take plenty of lessons from EA Sports,
because this one does have the right stuff.
The audio here in SSX Tricky is first rate, with some
high profile names doing the voices for the
characters. Billy Zane {Sniper, Titanic}, Macy Grey,
David Arquete, and Jim Rose {Jim Rose's Freak Show}
all perform the voices for the characters that you
find here as well as other high profile names in the
entertainment world. To add into this, the tracks are
mostly mixed by the Beastie Boys DJ to create a truly
pulse pounding and adrenaline pumping soundtrack that
keep the pace of the game at a full clip. The voice
acting of the introduction with the selection of
boards and outfits as well as the overview parts of
each stage really make an impact on the ears and will
leave a lasting impression!
Overall, SSX Tricky is the game that SSX was to the
Play Station 2. If you've played the original game,
then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, but
if you've never played the series before, then you're
really in for a good treat. With the amount of
character, tricks, options and stage redesign, you're
really looking at a game that shows what happens when
you do a good sequel. Other than the cheap difficulty
at some points, there really isn't much that I can
find with the game that is wrong, or even remotely
wrong, other than Eddie. There isn't a reason to have
hair that big and that orange in any type of game.
For the SSX fan, or EA Sports junkie, SSX Tricky is a
game for the Nintendo Game Cube that will have your
thumb pads blistering and your boss calling you
because you call in sick all week to play it. Serious
snow boarding fans need not apply, because this one,
unlike most of the others, is just for fun.
Overall: 8 out of 10