Impressive graphics and a great soundtrack combined with an amazing sense of speed and overall fun gameplay creates an e
Probably the biggest improvement to the already thrilling, gameplay in SSX On Tour would have to be the new sense of speed. It’s like there are invisible jets attached to your boards/skis. This improved sense of speed alone makes the previous entries into the series almost obsolete. As you may know, another new feature in SSX On Tour is being able to use skis as well as snowboards. I personally preferred the Snowboard, but the skis are essentially just as good. When you use the skis, you’ll have a completely new trick set, which adds some depth too the game as well.
As well as the enhanced sense of speed the new level designs have also been improved, that’s not too say that the track designs in previous entries have been bad or anything, but the new tracks are really something. The shorts cuts often contain a series of rails (or things you can grind on) and end with huge air, which if done properly can be extremely satisfying. The variety in tracks is also quite impressive, there are around 15 or so tracks, some of which feature alternative paths, and in some of the race events you'll often race through a chain of 2 - 4 races. "The Tour" mode, which is the games main mode, features tons of races and shred events (shred events are essentially trick events), as well as about 100 or so optional challenges to complete, makes the game quite lengthy as well as making the mode very deep. Although you won't have to do all of these challenges to get access to the race/shred tournaments they are quite deep, often challenging and most of the time a lot of fun.
You’ll start off “The Tour” as a new boarder/skier and rise up the ranks by competing in various shred and race events. The customizable appearance of your boarder/skier is deep enough, and provides some good opportunities for some laughs. Most of the money that you earn however, will eventually go into buying new boards/skis, which effectively rise your characters attributes. You’ll certainly notice a change in the speed, jumping hang time, and the speed you’ll perform tricks at when you use different equipment.
The game also features multiplayer, although no online support. The multiplayer is ok, but its not all that deep. Its not all that bad, it features all of the type of races/shred events that you can play on free roam, but it just seems like it was rushed, as a multiplayer component in an SSX game has major potential, and this multiplayer mode doesn't fulfill much of it.
One of the strong points of SSX On Tour is the graphics. As previously mentioned its got an amazing sense of speed and there are very little, if any frame rate drops. The game overall though looks outstanding, the colouring is done excellently. Everything around you is just so smooth and yet very vibrant.
The first thing you'll notice about SSX On Tour (well one of the first things at least) is it has a totally new style too it. The intro for the game looks like its straight out of the mind of a 16 year old avid rock and roll fan. There are unicorns playing guitars, flying eyeballs and all sorts of crazy crap, all of which you'll see in the menus and in the intro.
The soundtrack perfectly compliments the new graphical style, feature some really great rock and roll music, as well as the occasional R'n'B/Hip Hop stuff. There are also some impressive WOOSH effects which compliment the sense of speed as well. Overall the audiovisuals of the game are very impressive.
Snowboarding game fan or not, SSX On Tour is a must play game, and for those of you who enjoy extreme sports games and haven't already picked this game up, I suggest you do as soon as possible because you will love it. Although its not quite as revolutionary as SSX Tricky was, just like SSX 3, SSX On Tour becomes one step closer to perfecting the genre.