Double Jump Gaming News

SSX 3

Article by: Derek Gilkes

SSX 3 is an adventurous snowboarding game created by EA Sports Big. It is available on Gamecube, XBOX, PS2, and Gameboy Advance. SSX 3 lets riders do out of this world tricks and race down crazy courses and is a sequel to SSX and SSX Tricky. SSX 3 is different than the previous games because it’s located on just one mountain, and your character does not have assigned attributes. SSX 3 really showed the greatest development in the SSX video game series. This is due in part to some new, exciting additions. The new additions make this game loads of fun to play, and set it apart from its predecessors.

One new feature is “Conquer the Mountain”. In “Conquer the Mountain” you choose a rider you want to use and make your way up the three peaks. Each peak is more difficult than the next, and the weather gets increasingly severe as you make your way up. You advance up the peaks by winning different events and adding attributes to your players. Players gain money for winning events, and can use that money to buy attributes or clothes for their characters. In “Conquer the Mountain”, there are three different modes of play: race, slopestyle, and freeride. You must win an event in all three modes to unlock the next peak. Finally, when you reach the top of the mountain, you can go down all the peaks in one run. Doing this would take riders about 30 minutes top to bottom.

This game features 5 different style races: race, slopestyle, big air, super pipe, and back country. Race, freestyle, and big air all were featured in previous games, while Superpipe and back country are new. Race mode is simple, whoever gets to the bottom first wins. In Slopestyle mode, whoever has the most trick points at the end of the course wins. Big air features shorter tracks with huge jumps meant for crazy tricks. In big air, whoever earns the most points wins. Super pipe is a mix between the big air and slopestyle modes, where the objective is to get the most points in a certain amount of time. Back country refers to the areas in-between the peak races. This game, unlike those before it, allows you to ride from race to race, giving you the ability to stop at stores to add attributes or by a new outfit.

The game features many of the characters from the first two games, while also adding four new characters. The returning characters are Mac, Kaori, Moby, Psymon, Zoe, and Elise. New to the game are fan-favorite Griff, Allegra, Nate, and Viggo. This game really focuses on developing the characters, more so than the previous games. As previously stated, in SSX 3 the more you ride with certain characters, the more you can add to their attributes. Each rider has new clothes and boards they can wear and use during contests. Also, the rival and friends feature allows riders to be friends or rivals with a particular rider. This character development is just one aspect that makes this game so fun.

Another great aspect of SSX 3 is the addition to the tricky bar. In previous games a rider can fill their tricky bar by getting a certain amount of points for tricks. After it’s filled, players gain unlimited turbo and access to tricks specific to each rider. In SSX 3, if you do a certain amount of tricks while your tricky bar is already full, you gain another set of amazing tricks. This game, unlike the others, allows you to have combo tricks. This lets you to chain tricks together to get a multiplier on your trick points. The combo feature makes it easier for riders to get their tricky bar full and complete more impressive tricks.

Lastly, the courses in SSX 3, just like the previous SSX games, are crazy and fun. The new courses feature avalanches, secret shortcuts, crazy jumps, and new objects to grind. There are around 15 new courses that riders can shred, spread across the three peaks. The new courses make this game stand out even more over the previous installments.

SSX 3 might just be the best game in the whole SSX series. The additions to the game took it to a new level that, at the time, we had not seen in a snowboarding game before. Out of this world tricks and arcade style type tracks make this one of the best snowboard games of all time.