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Written by: BoneStormer

"Welcome to SSX Tricky. This is going to be fun." And fun having
we shall! When PS2 launched in 2000, there was one game everyone was gushing
over: SSX. There were many reasons for this. For one, the selection of
games on PS2 weren't of the highest caliber. But more importantly, it
was a damn cool game. This year every console is blessed with the 'enhanced'
version of SSX: SSX Tricky. Should you get Tricky? Yes! But you have SSX
you say? Well unless you hated the first one, Tricky is worth getting.
It's more then a simple remake. This is one of PS2's finest efforts to
date. But you're not a big snowboarding fan? Bah! Much like Tony Hawk,
anyone can enjoy this game.

To me, SSX is to snowboarding, what RUSH is to car racing. Neither are
very realistic, and both offer TONS of air. Jumps are everywhere, some
bigger then others. Some so big you don't know how you didn't break both
legs or worse when landing. Who doesn't love airtime though? Another similarity
to RUSH are numerous shortcuts and sidepaths. There isn't one route down
the hill. There are various extra routes one should seek out to gain the
advantage or even to just find another big hill to do an Über Trick off
of. Most importantly though, both of these are a blast to play.

The basic idea is simple: race through a downhill course to be the first
to cross the finish line. This in of itself is fun, but add your bag of
tricks to your racing and that's when things get interesting. The more
tricks you do and the higher the difficulty, the higher your adrenaline
meter grows. This allows you to get a turbo 'boost' while you are boarding
downhill. The higher the meter, the faster you will go and the longer
you can use it. Of course it slowly drops so you need to keep doing tricks.
When the meter is full, it's time to go nuts! This is when you can perform
a super-cool Über Trick. These are things impossible to really pull of
(like laying down flat on your board while you spin it on your fingertip),
but are cool to watch. Also new to Tricky, every time you pull one of
these tricks, you get a letter. If you can spell T-R-I-C-K-Y, your adrenaline
meter stays full the rest of the race. Can you say infinite turbo?

The tracks are very well designed, and quite long. Yes, 8 tracks are
returning from the original, but they have been completely redone. New
routes, jumps, curves, you name it. Some you will barely recognize. They
feel completely new, and it's a better feel too in my opinion. The graphics
have also been improved upon from the first game. Little touches like
snowmakers dusting the surface and fireworks going off as you pass add
to the experience. The big difference in the graphics is in animation.
Everything seems to animate better, and the framerate is no longer a problem.
For the most part it's always 60fps now.

There are plenty of modes to keep you busy. Of course there is a practice
mode to practice any track or just to practice certain tricks in your
book. There is a single mode where you pick any track and race, go for
a high score doing tricks, or try and complete the course in record time.
Both of these two previous modes can be done 1 or 2 player style. There
is also the World Circuit where you after you qualify for the finals on
a given track, you try and place in the top 3 to get a medal. This can
be standard races or you can play to try and prove you have the best tricking
skills by getting a high score. All of this leads to unlocking more and
more stuff.

There is plenty to unlock. With any character, when you perform tricks
during a race they get marked off as completed in your book. The more
chapters you complete in your book, the more outfits you unlock. Getting
medals in World Circuit helps unlock more characters, more boards for
your characters, and more tracks to race on. You also go up in ranking
which gives you more stat points to give to your character.

If there is one area where this game shines above all the rest it is
in personality. This game is all about attitude, so you don't wanna &*^#
with it! From the moment you turn it on, you can see this game is cooler
then even Fonzie ever could be. Each character has their very own personality.
Which comes out in the plethora of voices each has. They trash talk before,
after, and even during races. Some racers are your friends, some, your
mortal enemy. Before each race you are now told what each racer feels
about you, and take notice. You don't want to get anywhere near an enemy,
unless you don't mind a snow sandwich. And who says you have to be friendly
yourself? Not me (where's the fun in that). As an added bonus, if you
can shove someone over, your adrenaline meter instantly fills up. Drool...

The sound department really helps push the attitude of this game to the
max. The music is amazing. Right from the opening, the Run DMC song "It's
Tricky" sets the tone (if you have seen any of the equally cool Tricky
commercials, you know this song, but even if you haven't...). The music
throughout the game is an excellent mix of techno-hip-hop beats done by
famous DJ's like Hybrid and Mixmaster Mike of Beastie Boy fame. Not since
Jet Grind Radio has music been such a key element to a game. The sound
effects are just as cool, especially the voices. In an effort to outdo
the excellent sound of the first game, they added famous voice talents
to do the voices in Tricky. Including the likes of: David Arquetee, Macy
Gray (oh yeah baby), Lucy Liu, Oliver Platt (my favorite), Jim Rose (yes,
of Jim Rose's Circus fame), Billy Zane, and Bif Naked (who also does one
of the music tracks). With such great lines like Eddie's, "Message to
Eddie, less sucking please." This game might get my personal pick
for Best Sound of 2001.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm a big fan of this game. I always liked
1080 on N64, but this is so much better. While Tricky isn't really a new
game, it's an excellent follow-up. They remade the tracks, and even added
2 new tracks. There are 6 brand new characters to add to 6 returning ones.
Add the gamplay enhancements (like the Über Tricks), and an even better
soundtrack and voices (after SSX, I didn't think I'd ever say that), and
Tricky is a much better product then the excellent SSX was. If you watch
a Making Of Documentary that is in the game, the developers admit that
in SSX they were feeling their way through it since it was their first
try. In Tricky, they had the groundwork done and could instead focus on
what they wanted to do in SSX but for whatever reason couldn't. If you
already have SSX, then you might be better off elsewhere. I say that hesitantly
though because Tricky is such a good game, and much more then just a simple
"Director's Cut". You've got to love the 10 second music video
like scenes you see when you go up in ranking. Über cool.

Gameplay: 4.5
Graphics: 4.0
Sound: 5.0
Value: 4.0
Music: 5.0

Final Score: 4.5   (out of 5)