The game has been out for more than a week now, so i think that we all had some time to play the new SSX, enough time to form an educated opinion on it.

So i made this thread to voice my opnion on the game, and at the same time, see what all the fans here think about it.

Both good and bad.

I'll just start it.

What i like:

I like the visuals, and the clean look of the game, i like most of the music in the game, i really think it fits well with the new vibe, which i also like, even though i miss the crazy vibe of the past games.

I like what they do to the music in the game, with the way you "remix" it, by playing the game, it was done in SSX before, but i'm glad they haven't forgot about it, it's a really cool feature.

I also like the way they let you import your own music into teh game, and have the "Remix " engine mix them up, like all the other tracks in the game, that's a really great feature, and they really didn't have to do it, cos, most ppl won't use it, but i'm glad they did it, it gives us the chance to make the experience even better.

I like the idea, and the actually Deadly Descents, i think most of them are good, and ultimately they're a nice change of pace from the Trick it and Race it events, and a good and welcomed addition to the series.

I actually loved that last Grudge Match in World Tour mode, that was awesome!!!

Actually, i would love it if all the Deadly Descents had a mixture of various hazards, instead of focusing on just one.

I Love Zoe, always have, and like it that they gave her a big role in this game.

Ultimately, i really like that this series is back, and i hope it's back for good, and keeps going from here, cos it can only get better.

It's just a breath of fresh air in this day and age, and there's really not enough games like it.

What i don't like:

I don't like the fact that some of the frustrating stuff you encounter in Deadly Descents is also present in normal Race it and Trick it events, like bottomless pits, and tons of obstacles, that frustration is not really a bad thing in Deadly Dscents, because, that's kind of the point, you have to survive, but, putting bottomless pits in normal events, is just killing that SSX fun.

I don't like the fact that every single track in the game is a multipurpose track, one of the reasons i loved the past games is because the tracks were so well designed for their purpose, like a great designed track for racing, is a crappy designed track for tricks, and vice versa, the way this game works is every track is designed to accommodate both types of gameplay, which in my opinon, ends up making each track, either a good track for racing and a bad track for tricking, or a bad track for both porpuses.

I don't like the way the grind system works, where your character just magnetically attaches to normal grinds, but when you want to grind other kinds of grindable stuff, you have to press a button to do it, and on top of that, it doesn't work well most of the time.

They should have just made it so you'd have to press the grind button, every time you wanted to grind something, and then the magnetic pull you get from regular grinds, would work the same way on all grinds, when you pressed the grind button.

That way you would have total control over your grinds, and not get pulled into grinds when you don't want to.

They said that Google Earth interface is the best way to search the world, but for some reason, it's very confusing in the game, and it makes it harder to find a track or event, then a normal 2d interface you get in most games, but there's tons of ways they could have made that better.

I don't like the fact that all the character costumization in the game is based on color swaps, i really miss the character costumization they had in SSX3.

I don't like the way the store works, where everything is just random, and you never feel like you're never getting what you actually want.

Ii wish there was a better way to browse through boards, and actually look at the designs, like a 3d model you could rotate and zoom.

I don't like tha lack of a DJ Atomika Radio Show, and i don't like any of the heli pilots.

I don't like what they did with the World Tour mode, i mean, it was actually cool to play through it, and experience it, but it feels like a waste of time, since none of the scores and times you set in there, get carried over to Explore mode.

I don't like what they did to the Signature Tricks, they made them pratically worthless, and i also don't like the fact that you can just let go of them whenever you want, i understand it with all the other tricks but, that's what made the signature tricks special, it was something you could only do every once in a whille, and there was a risk reward to it, now i can just spam signature tricks, all the way down the track, but it doens't matter, cos if you're going for great scores you don't even use them, cos they aren't even worth as much as other tricks.

I don't like the squirliness of the controlls, i think they are kind of wanting to replicate the fact that turning in a snowboard, in the snow, is not a precise action, but man, this isn't a realistic snowboarding game to begin with, and i really liked the feel you got when carving in the snow in the past games, it just felt good.

Ultimately, i don't like it that they made the main focus of the game, competing for high scores...

I know a lot of you like it, and to a point, i like it to, cos i was really good at SSX3, and even won a contest on PSM, but the reason i got good at it, was because i played it a lot, and the reason i played it a lot, was because it was fun to play, i had fun so i got good.

Starting a run over and over to chase some score, is just not what made the past games fun for me.

But i might be alone in that, i don't know.

And to end this, i wanted to believe in the Global Events, i really wanted to believe in it, but it just doesn't feel like you're playing online, i know that when you see players, those guys are there, but it just feels like you're always playing alone.

I have to say that i had more fun playing online in SSX3, almost 10 years ago, on the freaking PS2.

I like what they did with the online, but there's no reason why they couldn't have done both the Global Events, and regular online races and trick events, like in SSX3.

Sorry for the long post and for any grammatical errors, English is not my native language.

And, i know it seems like there's a lot more i don't like than what i like, in this post, but, i like the game, it's just that, there's more to talk, about what i don't like.

But i want you guys to post both what you like and what you don't like about it.

Maybe someone in the SSX Team will see this thread, and get some pointers for the next game.

Thanks.

Edit: I just noticed that the title didn't need a "?"...

Oh well, nothing i can do about it now...

i agree with the online. i wish they made actual races, tricks online than just make high scores and times recordings. i feel alone when i do those. i would rather be talking to a friend then just looking online at people's scores.

i feel like the characters are a lot different. the only ssx i played was tricky. the other ones are pretty much the same kind of characters, goofy crazy looking guys and girls. i feel this game made the characters different not goofy.

a lot of what you posted i agree with. i think other people will agree.

What I like:

• Survival mode is such a great addition to the series. A lot of people criticize this mode, arguing that it clashes with SSX's commitment to crazy shit popping off at all times. I'd say that survival fits this perfectly while still having a completely different focus. Seriously, using a wingsuit to jump off a cliff or having to use solar power so that you don't freeze to death is some crazy shit. I like that.
• I really like the level design of this game. Having an open drop means there's always going to be a way to improve your scores and times. You can do this by finding completely different paths within levels, rather than trying to minutely refine your approach to a drop like in the first few games.
• Just like the OP said, I'm just glad to have SSX back. You're still grabbing huge amounts of air, you're still pulling off physically impossible stunts, and Kaori is still a loud Japanese lady. In a lot of ways, it feels like a completely different game, but it still scratches that SSX itch we've all had for so long.

What I don't like:

• While it seems like the dev team put a lot of thought into the characters, I feel like they put a lot of thought into the wrong aspects of the characters. I never really cared about the backstories of anyone in SSX, nor do I want them told to me in a shitty motion comic. The characters in the first 3 games were memorable because of their personality, a lot of which was conveyed through character design and dialogue. Signature ubers were also a great display of personality, but they've been sterilized because every trick animation is so damn crazy that they just get lost in the shuffle. With that character personality largely toned down in this new installment, the game loses a lot of its charm.
• Speaking of charm, this new game has none. The elements surrounding the gameplay (menus, HUD, sound design, etc.) are incredibly generic, aside from that dope-ass "TRICKY" logo.
• Maybe it's just my dislike of dubstep, but I really don't like the new soundtrack. To me, it seems like a bunch of suits in a boardroom going over statistics and bar graphs and choosing songs from genres popular with the game's target market. The soundtrack for the first two games were risky, and I liked that. Extensive use of breakbeat, relatively unknown electronic/hip-hop artists, and a 1980's rap song don't seem like something that would fly in this day and age.
• While I enjoy the open approach to level design, I sure wish the singular route style of SSX tracks made it into a few of the levels in this new game. That sort of design philosophy lends itself to some pretty cool setpieces, like the avalanche from that Peak 2 race in SSX 3, or being in a goddamn pinball machine.
• Basically, I want SSX Tricky 2. :P

While it seems like I might not like this game based on the fact that my "what I don't like" list is longer, I'm still really enjoying it. A lot of what I don't like is just my nostalgia getting the better of me. It's still a great game and I'll probably be playing it for weeks (maybe even months) to come.

What I Like:

• I like the look of the game and the direction they went with it. The snow and tracks look really good without sacrificing too much of the arcade feel the series has. Beautiful mountains and snow swells are accented by those ridiculous signature rails and it all works.
• I Love the leaderboards as it's an incentive to get better. When I used to play single player in the PS2 days I'd just go as far as to beat the PC scores and everything extra was just that - a bit of fluff on top of my Gold score. Now logging in and seeing my GB friends' scores I have a drive to go and beat them. You can generally tell when you CAN beat them and when you can't. I know WillDuder will usually out do me, but if I really buckle down I can probably pass him by a million or so with enough runs. I feel this has made me much better at the game than I'd otherwise be.
• I enjoy some of the deadly descents as side distractions.
• I'm happy they kept the aesthetic of the series more or less alive. In a time when games like SKATE dominated the market because of how realistic they were I'm really thankful SSX stayed a bit goofy.

What I Don't Like:

• I don't like the lack of customization. I bought SSX new, now for full price mainly because I thought I'd spend hours leveling my characters and unlocking cool new gear. Leveling is really trivial and the whole gear aspect is lacking in both selection and execution. I don't care for the weird "random loot" style of obtaining items. There is a set number of items anyway so whats the problem with just having a list that goes from cheap to super expensive. At least in that case you'd be working towards something rather than waiting for some cool piece of equipment to pop up at random.
• The characters feel flat in the game and theres a lot of things that go into that which I'll list off below.
• They cheapened the signature tricks. Not sure if it's the speed of the game or what but half the time they all look the same to me. I played three different characters one after another and they all had some sort of move where they lie down on the board. You're spinning so fast and the animations seem so convoluted that I can't see whats going on. In ON Tour they added a bit of slow motion to signatures that let you see exactly whats happening.
• I think they sped the game up a bit too much. I don't remember the old SSX games playing exactly this fast. The spins are so quick even before you reach level 10 that everything completely blends together. I don't know the names of any of the tricks because things are just in your face popping off left and right and theres a big bottomless pit coming up so you can't take your eyes off center screen for more than a second at a time.
• The grinding system is weird and almost broken. You automatically grind 80% of all surfaces and latch onto them with unheard of ferocity. The remaining 20% are incredibly hard to grind even when you're approaching head-on holding the buttom down. Countless times I've approached the iced over spin sticking out of the ground, with the trigger held down and I just hop over it. I completely don't understand the need to add a grind button thats used for a handful of grinds in some tracks when you automatically grind everything else - it feels inconsistent with the manual grinds just not working half the time.

The frustration of falling down the same pit 18 times

I'll start with negatives 

•  The Single Player. It's a functional tutorial in some ways, however by its nature it focuses on the harder courses a little too much and, because it lacks the Social Plugs Explore has, its not nearly as rewarding to do well in it. Passing becomes good enough pretty quickly, which isn't a great experience.
• Certain things about the controls, namely when they fuck up and make you bail. For instance when you're holding X to manual, holding right trigger to boost, and you pull left trigger to try to grind an edge. You then go over a small hill, pop up into the air, do your signature move and bail when you hit the ground a half second later.
• Rewind not undoing bails and being borderline useless in Trick It and Race It because it doesn't undo all mistakes.
• The RPG aspect of the gear. I feel it gives one the ability to be better in an event simply because they have better gear. I'd be okay if there were like 3 boards in the game with different stats and you could have an advantage by having more appropriate gear however the random stat thing seems really dumb and contrary to the multiplayer part of the game.
• A lot of courses are frustratingly hard.
• I feel they could be better at communicating how well you're doing against other people. As a result of the recommendation system they tend to only show you events where people are doing better than you and thus you have no idea how well you're doing overall. They should list how many times you're beating rivals on, otherwise it feels like an never ending battle.

• I like competing against people for times, it's really satisfying to beat them.
• I like the less deadly decent, they're really fun to master and optimize in.
• I like Global Events, they're a real cool way of doing multiplayer, I only wish they were more Trackmania-Like.
• While I have a lot of criticisms, I really do like most of the mechanics of the game and am having a lot of fun.
• It's great to play during podcasts because of the sheer number of drops in the game.

@Yanngc33: Huh, i'm going to assume that's something you don't like...