I've gone back to this about 5 times now after playing other games in between, with an open mind each time, and I just don't really think the game is fun to play.

When you're hurtling down the mountains at awesome speeds, I always feel like I'm just about to lose again, either through some chicane throwing me down a chasm, or some other thing happens where my dude falls off the board and the race is ostensibly over thanks to the utterly useless rewind feature.

I've put a good 8 or so hours into this now, and I never feel like I'm getting better, only more lucky. After a good bit of time on Tricky or 3 I was the BOSS, taking my friends on and understanding the physics of the world, but on this one I think the sudden death elements are out of my control, and completely ruin the entire experience.

What do you the rest of you guys think this far after launch? Have you found yourself going back to it, or does it just not have the same 'one more go' feeling that the first 3 had?

...I disagree.

@TooWalrus said:

...I disagree.

This

I still find it insanely fun, so many drops to play

I play it from time to time

It's a game I play in short bursts. No more than 45 minutes or else it gets boring. This is my first SSX game so maybe that has something to do with me coming back.

To a degree, I hate the huge drops that kill your runs, and sometimes the physics seems to bug out and throw you around with no control, but I have found a lot of drops that are just pure fun and free of bottomless pit and while I haven't played as much of the game as I expected, I still find it to be very entertaining.

Maybe I just need to really focus on it, I think this game is a much bigger step up in terms of intensity than the others so in a way that puts me off as I don't have the time to really get to grips with the intricacies of the new controls and physics. I'll keep at it! :D

@JacDG said:

To a degree, I hate the huge drops that kill your runs, and sometimes the physics seems to bug out and throw you around with no control, but I have found a lot of drops that are just pure fun and free of bottomless pit and while I haven't played as much of the game as I expected, I still find it to be very entertaining.

Agreed. Those bottomless pits really ruin the party

It's a fun game, but it did really frustrate me when I could so easily screw up and have to restart. I say did because I haven't really touched it since that first week.

I guess it's not really the game for me, and actually, I should probably trade it in ...

It's alright, but I miss the huge, 25 minute runs from SSX3, which I've actually spent more time with than the new game since it came out. SSX is a really well put together game, but it just doesn't do it for me.

It was pretty nice at first, but I think if it had more of an SSX3 experience and less drops I may have played it longer.

I'm still all about playing SSX. I think it's very fun. The people who seem to disagree played a whole lot of SSX3 and Tricky, which I did not. I only rented Tricky a very long time ago, so I don't have a a great deal of reverence for it.

Perhaps the DLC that looks a lot like SSX Tricky will change some of the things longtime fans don't like.

I don't know I got a lot of enjoyment and relaxing fun out of it

@ShalashaskaUK666 said:

What do you the rest of you guys think this far after launch? Have you found yourself going back to it, or does it just not have the same 'one more go' feeling that the first 3 had?

Some advice for enjoying the game:

Play the story mode first, never rewind unless you're playing a deadly descent, and always allow events to fail. Once you fail any event three times, you're given the chance to skip it. Do this, and keep moving on until you've finished the story. Especially towards the end when you're forced to do deadly descent races, story mode kind of sucks.

USE MY EVENT LIST, and only race / trick the 1 or 2 level drops until you're very comfortable with the game. Then move onto level 3 drops. You should probably just skip 4 and 5 altogether until you're really sick of everything else.

Find some other friends with the game, and compete against their scores and times. Set up your own private events, play at the same time as a friend or two, and see what fun you can create that way.

Use the custom soundtrack feature. It's kind of awesome.

Learn how tricks work. If you're not able to perform a single combo throughout an entire run, you either don't know what you're doing, or you need practice. If you can't combo an entire run, keep reading.

Use the new control style. The less you have to touch the awful xbox d-pad the better.

JUMPING: As you approach a jump, you should hold down the A button, and you should hold your left stick in any direction (up, down, left, right, or a diagonal) This is called pre-winding. As you reach the end of the ramp, you should let go of the A button (which will cause you to jump), and keep holding the left stick in your chosen direction. When you make your jump, you'll find that you will spin or flip much faster than you normally would.

TRICKING: While you're in the air, let go of the buttons, and move your hand to the right stick. Pull it in one or two directions, and then hold the stick in any direction. Think about the skydiving tutorial for help. As long as you're spinning or flipping, and holding a direction on the right stick, you're going to be scoring points.

LANDING: To land safely, simply let go of the control sticks, and you'll automatically adjust yourself for a safe landing. After you land, you should hold the X button to board slide, and the right trigger to boost. As you board slide, you will continue your combo. Once you reach tricky or super tricky mode, you will have unlimited boost, and you will keep that ability for as long as you can keep your combo alive.

TRICK EVENTS: Long combos are the key to a gold medal, but there is a risk / reward element to keep in mind. The longer your combo is, the more points you'll get from finishing it, but if you bail then it will have all been for nothing. When trying to get a silver or gold medal, at least while you're learning the game, you should probably end your combos now and then if you're afraid of losing the points that you've earned so far. When you can get gold every time, you can move on to trying to combo the entire event.

He's actually complaining about this game being too hard?

Not as fun as I'd hoped. You have to pick your courses, and avoid the ones that aggravate you. For me, I stick mainly to the tree survival courses in the Rockies and the rock ones in the Alps. Don't know why, but I just find those relaxing and fun. No bottomless pits for sure.

I think its okay, some of the drops are frustrating but overall not too bad.....and I have a hard time believing you were a "boss" at tricky and 3 if you're struggling with this game so much.

this is my first SSX game and it's a lot of fun for me. there's some frustrations, yea but not enough of them to overwhelm the sometimes breathtaking fun that the game delivers-- especially with a custom tracklist. there's still some stuff i haven't tried like the story mode or the deadly descents but i've had a good time with it.

i haven't played it recently so i figure i've had my fill of it, but it looks like something that could be fun to jump back into later on just to have some fun on the drops that don't have painfully annoying bottomless pits

I've played this game for about an hour a day pretty much every day since release, so yeah, I'm still having fun. The bottomless pits suck, no arguing there, but the number of drops is kind of overwhelming anyway so I just stick to the tracks I enjoy.

As for restarting, unless it's very clearly a "Why the hell is Kaori dead now, humans don't bounce that way" kind of moment most of my restarts are due to things that I clearly feel are my own fault. Things like taking a jump at a wrong angle and smacking into a rock, or just not doing as well as I know I could, I really don't mind restarting over things like that. The only thing I can say I truly hate is if I happen to brush past a branch in the middle of a grab, I will almost always bail in mid-air. The bottomless pits are just the obvious killers, these branches are the secret assassins.

I'd rather play 1080

@SpaceInsomniac said:

Play the story mode first, never rewind unless you're playing a deadly descent, and always allow events to fail.

You can also rewind in trick events if you are about to fall into a bottomless pit. I usually do that and I still manage to get gold medals in explore and place platinum in global events.

Picking it up at 20 when it drops, demo disappointed me.
 
Should be worth at least that.

Its a lot of fun. Learning the tracks could take a while, but once you get a perfect run on an event after dozens of times trying, it feels so good. Kinda like Super Meat Boy.

I think it's pretty fantastic, broken elbow alone is worth the price of the game.

I thought it was fun, though sometimes frustrating as others have mentioned. That said, I just replaced my PS2 and I've been enjoying Tricky and 3 a lot more than the new SSX.

Sorry man, it's one of my favorite games that came out this year. If I had more time I would be playing at least a couple times a week.

I thought it was fun, though sometimes frustrating as others have mentioned. That said, I just replaced my PS2 and I've been enjoying Tricky and 3 a lot more than the new SSX.

@bighat_logan: True, just read about that a couple hours ago. I'll probably give a try at some point.

It's okay. If the rewind feature was actually something you'd want to use I feel like that would go a long way in making it enjoyable. Definitely only play in short bursts.

@SpaceInsomniac: Great post.

I am an old SSX and Tricky player. I just dont really have fun. Races are pretty much RACES. Thats not a bad thing however to win I have to treat the game as if I am trying to set a top 100 time on Forza motorsport. I dont want to go down into that kinda of science with SSX I want to have a tug of war race with stupid tricks and punching the other players.

I simply cannot be bothered with the story mode. So I play freeplay except...this is a sort of Single multiplayer. Meaning EVERYTHING I DO is against players. Players are assholes. I play and enjoy Multiplayer games. Except like Forza, people take things way to seriously and I dont stand a single chance. Like Forza people are setting times I couldnt dream of beating in races. And people are doing crazy if not cheap crap on the trick courses.

I could just do the slopes and do high scores....just its empty.

I dont get a sense of fun with such competition. It seems like the biggest opponent is myself. I dont want to fight myself.....

It's too arcadey.

@Akyho said:

I am an old SSX and Tricky player. I just dont really have fun. Races are pretty much RACES. Thats not a bad thing however to win I have to treat the game as if I am trying to set a top 100 time on Forza motorsport. I dont want to go down into that kinda of science with SSX I want to have a tug of war race with stupid tricks and punching the other players.

THIS to me is the worst sin of the new SSX. Rewinding is crap, and the death holes everywhere suck, but don't EVER punish me for tricking. It's made me really dislike race mode. Thankfully, any drop in the game can be played in trick mode.

But did any of the older SSX games actually punish you for tricking in a race? Not that I remember, but I'm not completely sure anymore.

Still a fun game, though.

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Akyho said:

I am an old SSX and Tricky player. I just dont really have fun. Races are pretty much RACES. Thats not a bad thing however to win I have to treat the game as if I am trying to set a top 100 time on Forza motorsport. I dont want to go down into that kinda of science with SSX I want to have a tug of war race with stupid tricks and punching the other players.

THIS to me is the worst sin of the new SSX. Rewinding is crap, and the death holes everywhere suck, but don't EVER punish me for tricking. It's made me really dislike race mode. Thankfully, any drop in the game can be played in trick mode.

But did any of the older SSX games actually punish you for tricking in a race? Not that I remember, but I'm not completely sure anymore.

Still a fun game, though.

Nah it didnt punish. You were going the same speed really not matter what you did. Instead you had to not crash and use the shortcuts to win.

While new SSX I am first place and I jump and trick a ton for boost. I see the AI or a ghost just slip down the the jump and land then take off like a rocket while I am still in the air. It makes me feel helpless. Then if race I like that...I dont have fun.

I loathe races. Survival stuff I don't like much either. I love trick events on trick centric tracks though. Obsessingly awesome.

SSX is a mixed bag. Stick with what you love and you'll get very happy with SSX. I gave up on most other elements other than asynchronus online multiplayer trick events. Usually posting a diamond tier score on my first run down the mountain. Feels good. Gonna keep at it for awhile. Maybe even buy the upcoming 'Mount Eddie' DLC.

@EVO said:

It's too arcadey.

I disagree. It's fun, but it isn't arcadey enough. It needs less bottomless pits, and deadly decents were cool for a bit, but unnecessary.

I still haven't played it.

I played the demo a bit and didn't like how they made you hold a button to grind on some stuff, also didn't spend enough time with it to get used to the controls.

Then I bought it and didn't play it. Been meaning to for weeks but it just hasn't happened.

Trick it events are really fun for me, but the race it and deadly descents are not very fun. I could play trick it on those Himalaya levels all day though.

I agree, the track design is flatout terrible and makes it not fun to play. My biggest gaming disappointment in years.

No, it's not as fun, or as good as the first 3 games.

They did some things right, but failed hard on some really basic stuff that should be clear to any fan of the series.

They tried to change things up, and you gotta give 'hem respect for that, but in my opinion it didn't work out as well as they hoped.

If they ever do another one, i think they'll go back to what SSX is really about.

it's an alright game. there are some parts of the game that get frustrating. i just kind of feel like the pits in some events are just horrible to have, trick it.

rewinds are kind of pointless in the game as it effects you. in trick it, you lose points i can see that, but race it. rewind it only effects you so in race it if you fall then your going to lose your spot.