Price: £39.99

Players: 1-2

Billed on the front cover as "the best launch title for the PS2", by PSM2 magazine, SSX is certainly the most enduring game I've played on the new console so far. I normally hate the winter - it makes your hands chapped, helps your car skid about all over the road, usually into someone else's and makes getting up for work on a cold morning a real P.I.T.A. However, if it wasn't for winter, we wouldn't have snow. Without snow, we wouldn't have snowboarding and without snowboarding we wouldn't have this game. There's a number of different ways to play, starting with the 'Single Event' or 'World Circuit' modes, all of which have a 'warmup' selection in which to practice, a 'showoff' - for you to demonstrate your tricks - and 'race', the actual focus point of the game. This isn't easy though. I've been playing it for a few days now and still can't get off the second level as you need to come first, second or third in the Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final rounds, before you can save your position. Choose one of four characters, pick an outfit and a snowboard, all from an initially-limited selection that will expand as you progress through the game. Cut to a sweeping series of camera shots of the mountainous... er... mountain you're about to negotiate and you'll be filled with fear as you wonder how you'll make your way down without breaking your neck.

Graphically, SSX is stunning, your rider moves with lightning speed and so does the scenery as it rushes up to meet you. Only a couple of times did I see some clipping as I saw what would be the 'underlay' of the mountain, were such a thing possible. Some sports titles are a little lacking in sound FX, but this game has it in spades. From the mesmerising menu sequences, with echoing voices, to the screaming of your character and the descriptions and comments about the tricks you've performed, it's an aural treat.

The control system is usually fine, but when you crash into a post and can't get out of the situation, it becomes a dog, making you twist back the way you've come from before you can turn back in the right direction. When time is tight and you can't move forward, it becomes a major frustration. The game will put you back on course when it deems necessary, but sadly this is not a manual option. Where it works fine, you can increase your speed by bending down or with the adrenaline button. Performing any one of the massive variety of tricks can be done fairly easily, but only providing you have enough room before you hit the powder again.

Overall, SSX is brilliant, its only downfall, if that can be classed as one, being its originality. Several snowboarding games have come and gone but this one builds upon them all and smashes the competition. When you start playing though, cancel all other engagements. It's certainly got that "just one more go" factor.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.