Price: £39.99

Players: 1-2

SSX was one of the highlights of the launch titles on the PS2 and now its follow-up SSX Tricky, is upon us, but it's not really a sequel. There's a number of different ways to play, starting with the 'Single Event' or 'World Circuit' modes, practice what you're about to preach or get straight on in with the action. Many of the tracks also have a 'showoff' mode - for you to demonstrate your tricks. It's not the easiest of games though and you'll have to come first, second or third in the Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final rounds, before you can save your position. Choose one of 12 characters, including six from the original game and all voiced by film stars David Arquette, Lucy Liu and daggy pop star Macy Gray. Note that the other boarders all have individual personalities, some feeling neutral towards you while others are your true enemy. Then 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.

What's new this time is a couple of new track layouts ("Garibaldi" and "Valdez") while the rest are altered versions of the existing ones, each of them given a graphical make-over and looking even better for it. While it looks stunning overall, with your rider moving at lightning speed as well as the scenery, I'm marking it down slightly this time because it occasionally suffers from a slight case of "jaggies" where anti-aliasing is required to smooth out jagged lines, something not seen on the likes of games that take the time to remove them. Sonically, EA are leading the way by introducing DTS soundtracks into the games themselves. Even better than Dolby Digital, this particular game isn't quite using the full 5.1 sound system - my Sony STR-DB930 amplifer registers "dts (2/2)" - but it's impressive enough and a great improvement over standard stereo or surround sound. 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. Thanks to John Radford for the info that pressing 'select' will put you back on course manually and it can also be used to dodge having to leap over unforgiving jumps as a press of the button places you on the other side! 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. This time round you can pull off an "Uber Trick". You do standard tricks to fill up your Boost Bar, then you have 20 seconds to get "Big Air", press and hold R2 or L2 depending on what you're told, along with the square button, to really boost your score, providing you land the right way up.

Overall, SSX Tricky is fantastic, but if you have bought the original then it's still worth getting but you may as well sell off the original because this one has all that you need from it and more. One problem though is that it can't load old SSX save games into this new release. Why, I cannot say. Also, this time round there are DVD extras in the form of plenty of background info to the game and a chance to hear all the music from the game separately.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.