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SSX On Tour is a game that has plenty of ‘extreme’ packed in with it, along with fast paced racing down snowy hill tops and has brought the game back in a different, more personal way. The first thing about the game you will notice is the art style that fills the menus, replays, and other parts of the games. They look more like crazy drawings drawn by a middle school graffiti artist. It looks as if the artist drew a bunch of stylized figures with a black pen, and they move around in very rigid ways. It all looks downright silly, but it also has a desired effect in which we haven’t seen anywhere else. This stylized art helps nail down the mood of the game, coupled with music that sounds like it was made just for the game, but I will get into that in a little bit.
The single-player portion, which is what you will definitely concentrate on the most, has you create a custom rider, and whether you want the person to be a snowboarder or skier. The main focus of the game is to go from a lowly nothing of a snowboarder (or skier) to a top-pro snow shredder. For the most part you will be racing, or doing trick things, but there are also other challenges such as getting a certain amount of points in the air, finding items on the maps, or pulling off a certain kind of trick before you reach the bottom of the mountain. These different kinds of challenges will add a lot more of variety than past SSX games, and will keep you coming for more. The addition of being able to ski on the game isn’t really special, as it just makes it slightly more complicated, and you can do some different moves than you could on a snowboard. When you do tricks, the more of the simple tricks you do, the more a meter will build up so you can do some special moves, and links up moves to create combos. You do all of this in very vast, seemingly endless environments. The designs are very intricate, and there are plenty of different areas to trick off of, or use as a shortcut to go from the bottom place to the first place.
The most amazing part of SSX On Tour is that they didn’t put in any kind of online multiplayer. Without this mode, you are simply left with split-screen multiplayer. Still, something about the game, no matter how well done makes it feels ‘rushed’. It seems as if though the game came out of nowhere as well, but despite feeling ‘rushed’ it definitely isn’t. It is a strange feeling, indeed but if you were a fan of the past SSX titles you will definitely like this one.
As afore mentioned, the menus in the game are stunning. The actual in-game visuals aren’t as jaw dropping, but they are done well. The environments are very moody, with tons of shadows, and slopes, coupled with plenty of little details. They have definitely gotten better since the last SSX game I had personally played, “SSX Tricky”. As for the characters they don’t seem to have as much life in them, if it were the pre-made characters or the character you make yourself for the single-player portion of the game. The only downside is that it is just snowboarders and snow, but the game tries to add “pisaz” here and there with fireworks, and all kinds of stuff going on around you.
The sound effects and voices in the game are done well, with the voice acting and sound effects alike having a great amount of enthusiasm to them, but what really shines is the music. The music is a great mix of hip-hop, alternative, and heavy metal with bands such as Kasier Cheif’s, Iron Mamiden, Motorhead, and even Dio. The music blends together perfectly with the visual style, and gameplay, and is definitely the best soundtrack yet for an SSX game. One of the only drawbacks is that you can’t use your own tracks, although that doesn’t really get in the way that much. Interestingly, when you are in the air with your board, the music will get lower, as if though you are flying, and you will hear the wind whistle by. The effect seems to be overused at times, but it is
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Overall, SSX On Tour uses some neat gimmicks that definitely keep you coming back for more, but also has plenty of speed and ease of use to keep you interested. It is a shame that there isn’t any sort of online multiplayer, but if you are a fan of the past SSX games, or a fan of extreme sports games at all, this shouldn’t keep you from playing.
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