SSX

"Let's make a massive game! Let's aim for 200 levels!" We can imagine the looks on the faces of the developers as the producer came up with the idea. They could see the budget piling up to form a giant mountain of money, a mountain they would much rather descend strapped to a board. Mission Impossible?

Well, the series definitely need an ambitious new approach for its comeback and it was this level of ambition that had journalists excited by the presentation of the game at the EA Sports First Look event. EA Sports wants to bring SSX back with a bang, and they want to to big in every possible way. The game is set for release in January next year and after what we saw of it at the presentation there is every reason to believe it will deliver the goods.

SSX is snowboarding that stretches beyond the limitations of the real sport. You will perform spectacular and gravity defying tricks in slopes that mortals not dare descend. But this is where all similarities with previous SSX titles stop. Previous titles had you racing down a predefined course, but now the whole mountain is your playground. All barriers have been eliminated and the result is a much improved sense of flow and you will be able to interact more with the environments. You can race anywhere.

The ambition has been to include mountains from all over the world, and EA Sports have scanned in whole mountains and mountain ranges that are the foundation of an original menu system. With such a massive amount of levels it needs to be easy and fast to navigate and pick your destination. From a globe you select different "peaks".

We were shown an example of how they had done this with Mont Blanc. You can choose from several courses and ways to descend the mountain, and once you've made your selection a helicopter drops you off and you're racing down the mountain side. It's immediately apparent that it's Mont Blanc seen from an arcade perspective. Tunnels and ice formations that invites us to try tricks are spread out all over the place. And if you're facing a giant abyss - you don't have to worry - you're Batman with a snowboard - and your hoversuit lets you fly over great distances. So when they say you will be racing down real world mountains, it's still going to be in a very distinct SSX fashion.

We were given a glimpse of the gameplay we can expect from a series of clips. They showed off a much better flow, instead of coming to a dead stop when hitting ledges and barriers you are now interacting more fluidly with the environments.

We were also shown various concept arts, and if any information was meant to be gleaned out of that it is that the environments will play an even more dynamic role. The art showed us a dark, weather torn, and extreme game, and it's easy to imagine how the weather may come to have a more direct impact on the game. Perhaps there will be shifting and dynamic weather conditions to tackle, that's what we're hoping for anyway.

There will be three main modes in SSX: "Race it", "Trick it" and "Survive it". EA were not willing to divulge too many details on exactly what the three modes would be, but the names give you a rather good idea of what to expect. Race to try and get the best time, score points with tricks, and a survival mode where you're faced with obstacles you need to negotiate in order to "survive". It will also be interesting how EA Sports decides to implement these modes with the multiplayer, something they kept completely quiet on during the presentation. Well, other than saying that they were very excited about the multiplayer. This is something new for the series, and it will be interesting to see just how EA Sports plans to go online with SSX.

It's telling that SSX has been given the tagline "Shred the World", and it also marks the fact that EA Sports weren't satisfied with bringing back the series as it was, similar to how the NBA Jam was brought back last year, but rather wanted to evolve it. SSX will naturally contain many of the elements fans of the series are familiar with, such as several returning characters. But at the same time there is no question about the fact that this is something new and it sure looked impressive.