Customer Reviews

SSX On Tour

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Before I get started, let me just say that I really enjoy the gameplay of this game. I'm not, however, a big fan of the new menu system. I really liked the system implemented in SSX 3. I liked the 'Big Mountain' feel. I liked the ability to freeride from the top of Peak 3, to the bottom of Peak 1 if that was what I so desired. I loved the above the treeline skiing at the tops of the three peaks in SSX 3. All of those are missing in On Tour. I could really care less about the art work and character customization as decried by other reviewers...I play the games for the game play, bottom line. Let's do a pro/con breakdown, shall we?

Pros:

- The addition of skiiers! I'm a skiier, I've never ridden a snowboard in my life. I was really excited at the news of this addition. I just find the mechanics of skiing to be more aesthetically pleasing than snowboarding. Plus the additional tricks you can do on skis adds more variety to the game. You can take off or land switch (skiing backwards), and switching between the two is a simple flick of the Right analog stick.

- The courses (levels?) have a bigger feel to them than did the courses in SSX 3. There just seem to be an almost infinite number of lines you can run in any given course.

- The addition of ski patrol and other skiiers, outside of those competing against you. Anyone that skis or rides knows the risk of patrol pulling your lift ticket for speeding! Plus I've always loved playing "Kiddie Slalom" on the snow. Now I can do it on a video game! NOTE: On the real mountains, ski with respect for others. Always remember that the person downhill has the right of way (as they don't have eyes in the backs of their heads). Always ski and ride with respect to the safety of yourself and others!

- The trick stick makes the Monster Tricks (uber tricks on SSX 3) much easier to pull off. While they weren't all that difficult in SSX 3, they're even easier now.

- A crap load of available tasks. Collect items, knock over skiiers, avoid patrol...I haven't played enough of the game to list them all. Again, a lot of variety in the gameplay.

- Gear made by actual manufacturers. It's cool to be able to pick out a set of the K2 Public Enemies, or the Made 'n AK boards. I wish, though, that more ski and snowboard manufacturers were represented. It looks like Line and K2 were the only ski gear available. I could be mistaken though.

Cons:

- The menu system, to me, just isn't as slick as that found in SSX 3. I just liked the big mountain feel. The ability to transport to different sections of the mountain on a whim.

- The damned audio playing backwards when levels are loading. I hope I'm not the only person that finds reverse audio to be creepy.

- I liked the DJ and the music in SSX 3. It was just so well put together and everything just fit with everything else. Even the intro to SSX 3 was almost chill inducing, not quite like Gran Turismo, but it was one of the best intros to a video game.

- The menu art work. While this doesn't really bother me, as it doesn't detract from the actual game play, it isn't what I would call beautiful. A lot of the game's aspects seem like they're aimed towards the park and pipe punks.

- The depth of the characters. As one other reviewer mentioned, the characters all seem pretty generic. While this doesn't bother me much, it's still a slight shortcoming.


Yeah, there were some slight disappointments to the game when I first fired it up. That all ended when I started my first race, with two sticks attached to my feet rather than one. Some of the presentation is a step backwards, in my opionion, but the true stars in the game, the levels themselves, shine every bit as brightly as the previous iterations in the SSX franchise.

First off, let me say this. SSX 3 is by far the best snowboarding game ever. On Tour takes a few steps back, as well as a few steps forward. When you first put the disk in the PS2, you will see that the game has a very unique and cool art style based on heavy metal. It is basically Napoleon Dynamite's sketches, if he were obsessed with the rock-on hand symbol or unicorns playing double-neck guitars. Some of the art is cool and imaginative, and some is just plain stupid. Going with the Metal theme, all of the uncreated riders present themselves like rock stars. Remember Psymon the fugitive from Tricky and 3? He's back, but he has a huge pink Mohawk. The gameplay is pretty much like any SSX game, but it has a few major changes. For one, the right analog stick is now used to do Monster tricks(no more uber tricks). While Performing a monster trick, the camera will slow down and move to the rider's side. Just moving the stick in any direction will make the rider take a foot off of their board. Good tricks cost event reward money, but it is worth it to see your rider take off his board and play it like a guitar. You can also make your rider a skier, but the only difference between skiing and boarding are the different tricks. On tour has a great soundtrack and sound effects. The soundtrack features a lot of Indie rock, classic heavy metal(including Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard) and some rap. The sound effects are great, including great WHOOSH sounds when you are going extremely fast. The graphics are the same as SSX 3, but the Blur effects are better and the created characters don't look as sharply as they should. In the Tour mode, you create your own boarder and do Big challenges (now called SHRED events) and medal events until you are ranked the best rider on the tour. It is a lot of fun and it will take you a long time to complete. The character customazation isn't as good as, say, NBA Street V3, but there are good amounts of clothes and goofy costumes that you will like. You can still ride down the mountain freely, but you can't choose any events to do. There is still splitscreen Multiplayer, but online play has been cut out. That is fine, as the Tour mode is the main mode of play. There are now other riders on the mountain that are like traffic in the Burnout games. You can hit them or narrowly avoid them for an extra boost. Overall, SSX On Tour is a great snowboarding game. Anyone who is interested in skiing, snowboarding or the SSX series should definately check this game out

This is just a simple overview of how the game looks and feels, because I am no where near beating this game -- assuming you can actually beat SSX ON TOUR. When you see the advertisements for this video game your probably thing the cartoonish art is just for advertisement purposes. But the moment you pop the game into your PSII you discover the ugly truth which will haunt you for the rest your days so long as you continue to play SSX:OT. The horrible cartoonish art I haven't seen since I've looked at the edges of my brother's notebooks plagues the game. Scribbles and poorly drawn characters are what greet you when this game begins.


There are three modes within the game itself:

1): The Tour - The supposed story mode of the game.

2): Quick Game - A free ride around the snowy mountain side, wherever they may be.

3): EXTRAS - Cheat codes, credits, and other things that aren't directly tied into the game until after you beat it.


"THE TOUR" Begins you on an airless storyline of bringing a snowboarder or "Skier" --A new feature in the SSX series -- to stardom if you complete all the challenges and ON TOUR Modes. Along the way you will be challenged by the original SSX characters (Physmon - Nate - Kaori - Elise Riggs - Mac, etc), who had have also taken a step down in the looks department as opposed to their design in SSX3. None of them really look like their former selves (though I know this is what happens you use better graphics but this time its just plain insulting): Kaori looks nothing like a Japanese female (she also lost the quirky voice-over that spewed Japanese at you as you raced) and appears as though she got a plastic surgery job done on her nose and lips which stick out more than her overall face. Nate looks like some bum that just crawled off his couch to snowboard, stringy hair, gruff face (as before), and clothes that resembles Mac's wardrobe from SSX3. Mac has lost the charming appearance he once had, donning a much bulkier, blockier appearance, a bright green/yellow stripe shirt and a shaven head poorly hidden by his baseball cap. Elise looks pretty much the same, just a bit on the beefy side if anything with shorter blonde hair. And the major change that really got me riled up was Physmon: He had someone reverted from being Black (or African-American respectfully) to a Caucasian man donning a white "wife-beater" Sleeveless shirt, tattered pants and a flaming red mowhawk. This in my eyes was a major offense! They didn't even keep the voice actor used in SSX3. So far, The Tour mode does not allow you to use these characters, only characters you make with race and gender adjustments -- aka Original characters created by you the gamer. While this is a nice touch, I would've liked to play with the original cast and saved the "create a character" for afterwards.


The major problems with this gameplay is that its insultingly easy to beat your opponent to 1ST place. The Challenges are short lived moments in the game at best: Most of the objectives will have you collecting items -- pulling off "Monster Tricks" (which has become far easy to pull off unlike SSX3 which made you work for your "Monster Trick") - and grinding rails. The items part of the game where you buy experience, clothes, hair styles, gear and boards/ski's, is a step down in the earning department. Simple things like T-shirts cost a lot more than you've like. Another problem everyone's probably expressed is the lack of touring other places in SSX-ON TOUR. You seem to be stuck in the same blessed place throughout the game. The controls are clunky and unresponsive at best. It takes pressing down hard on the Triangle button to get the character to perform a simple forward/backward flip before crashing to the ground in defeat. While maneuvering controls have gotten better, there are far too many trees and buildings clustered together in this game posing as an obstacle your sure to hit.


The Graphics are a major upgrade from SSX3, environment wise. The snow looks a lot better with the loss of depth, the major problems with the look and feel of SSX:OT is that the atmosphere of the game reminds you too much of the AMPED snowboarding series (which also holds a reputation for the "punker" snowboard theme) with the unresponsive controls and clunky behavior of the characters, along with their appearance as well. The music has fallen into what I like to call "EA's Modern Rock/pop/metal cursefad" that has plagued so many of their present games (Most notably their racing games, Need for speed and Burnout. Their sports series too).





Gone is the wide variety of techno/actual-rock/pop/dance music from SSX3 and SSX-Tricky. It is replaced with modern rock/pop/heavy metal bands that should've been shot for playing their instruments so badly and singing so off key. Modern rock fans will naturally disagree with me, but being someone whose been here beyond 2002 (when this fad really got going), I know good rock music and the occasional heavy metal music when I hear it.


All in all, SSX ON TOUR is for those unfamiliar with the SSX series because in all honesty this feel like a branch off from the series itself and a new game entirely for the SSX-uneducated. Another thing is to wait for it to become a cheaper priced game under $20/30.00. --- [a 3 out of 5]

I loved SSX3 and Tricky, and after reading reviews of this game, I thought, blech, I won't get it. But my darling children bought it for me and I figured I would give it a go. I love it just as much as the other SSX's. Yes, there is that cartoony drawing, but only in the menus, it is not a part of gameplay, I was worried that it was, but it's not. Yes, it is a different style of menu than the other games, so, it is different, not bad, just something new. I like that you can play as a skier or snowboarder, I have one snowboard character built and am only 22% of the game complete. It is not linear in the sense you go from one race to another, but you get to pick what you want to do on the mountains, races or style competitions. Some are hard and quite frustrating, like running into 2 other skiers in 1:30 minutes, or do 11 handplants in one minute. Still, we have racked up plenty of prize money to get new boards and outfits, so it is fun and I don't see what all the griping is about. I am easygoing, and I just don't see the need to complain about this game, now Katamari Damacy is another story......

I own SSX 3 and think it is one of the best games in my library. It's a very well produced game that is also one of the funnest PS2 games made. Naturally, I was very excited about the release of it's sequel, SSX On Tour. True this game is an improvement on some areas: better lighting effects, a more intense sensation of speed, larger, more involved tracks and just as fun as SSX 3. But let me focus on the reasons why I later sold this game on an online auction five days after I bought it.
The main complaint is that there is a loss of that whole-mountain feel we all know and love from SSX 3. Why is that feature missing in this game? No longer does freeride mean that you can cruise down an entire peak and choose mission/races/challenges at your leisure with the option of instantly transporting to such missions. Now, everything is back to a menu system and you are teleported to missions. The game also lost some personality. Sure, there is a new "rock star" presentation, but really this is limited to sketchbook menu, HUD's and an edgier soundtrack. Gone is the EA radio DJ, the eclectic soundtrack playing acid jazz, hip-hop, house music, etc. Forget about customizing a character and developing a career. As other reviewers have pointed out, character creation is generic and career development is uninvolved. Win events to move up in ranks. As events are won, money is earned. Use this money to buy boards and accessories. Get enough money and buy three boards that max out your player attributes and, basically, your're good to go. This attribute development is also a flaw in my opinion. No longer can your buy skills for your player, but instead they are dictated by the board you equip.

I can't really decide whether this game is good or great or somewhere in the middle. There are plenty of things added and detracted from the game that are either good or bad. Here's the list:

On the plus side...
-Gameplay has been upgraded. The controller vibrations are still there, the speed while racing down the track, which seems to have an unlimited number of paths, is awesome, and uber tricks have been replaced by monster tricks, though all that's different is the name. The tricks are easier to pull off, but only after bumping up your boost bar by doing other tricks.
-More characters
-The Tour mode which allows you to create your own character and work your way up to the top skiier/snowboarder on the mountain.
-Skiing AND snowboarding options for your created characters and the originals.
-The music, which is as good as ever.
-There are extra snowboarders and skiiers on the mountains who aren't competing with you. They make the mountain seem less empty, along with all the extra items and obstacles thrown in.
-Better graphics. They're similar to the ones in SSX 3 but there is a definite improvement.

The bad side...
-The game has a new appearance, comprised of black and white cartoons of guitarists. It's quite ugly. The overall feeling of the mountain has been lost, making the entire thing much more boring. It almost seems as if EA games ran out of money to even make a slightly presentable appearance for the game.
-The background guitar music on the mode select screens, and other screens gets really annoying, along with the cartoons that appear every now and then.
-The Tour mode's character creation options aren't that great. While resizing the build and height of the characters is always a nifty feature to have, it's sad that EA would leave out a feature to change your character's skin color. Sure, there are light, brown, and dark-skinned people to start making changes on, but if you're unhappy with the face given to the person you choose, the face that you like that has a different skin color will change the entire thing. EA created the Sims, so how could they mess up so badly on something like this??

There are some improvements, and there are some flaws, but that doesn't stop the game from being fun. I'd say it's a little bit better than SSX 3, but if you're not an SSX fan, it isn't entirely a must have. However, if you are an SSX fan, then go out and buy it!

Like everyone else has been saying- SSX3 was the best.
I don't really like the new "rockstar" theme with the Napoleon Dynamite notebook scribbled menu system. Maybe they chose this theme cuz it was easier (and cheaper) to make than realistic graphics. but it is different, so I'll give them that.
but what was even more different was the ability to actually snowboard to the lodge, or whatever different event you wanted to do in SSX3 which was a whole lot funner than the bland menu system of other games, so I don't understand why they regressed.

And the name of the game is "On Tour" isn't it? So you'd think they'd have several different mountains in several different countries around the world that you could unlock and shred- but no... you have just one mountain and you shred the same tracks the whole game- the only thing that gets harder are the time and trick score requirements.

Another thing I don't like is the attributes. They cost ALOT of money, theres only one for each attribute and they really don't make that much of a difference, if any at all. What does, is the different boards. Which is one of the only good things about this game and the only improvement on SSX3 its got. I miss building up the skill for each rider. This new game is so much less gratifying in that sense. You don't ever feel like you've improved.

Maybe my game has a glitch or something (its not scratched) but theres a lot of stuff that just doesnt make sense. I've already become a "Legend" but for some reason, "Rookie" and other lower events keep showing up, that I've already completed. and when you go to "Past Events", you can't redo events to get a better score- well, you can redo them, but it doesnt give you money or count for anything. Also, it's cool, cuz you make make "mix tapes" of the music you like and not have to hear the music you don't. Only, they don't work for some reason. No matter how many times I try to make the game stop playing that stupid "god killed the queen" song (yah, it USED to be cool) it keeps playing it anyway.

It's cool how theres no out-of-bounds on this game though, like there was on SSX3 (that got annoying). but the rails are no easier.

The skis are alright. They're kind of gangly tho, and harder to control (which, I guess, is realistic).

And I don't really like the new "trick stick". Yeh, I could see how it'd be easier, but its less accurate. Trying to do a trick, then the "half circle" to tweak it doesn't always end up as what you were trying to do.

So, overall, I'm dissapointed. This game is like a much cheaper version than past games. It's like this game should have come out before SSX3. We've been gyped! RENT IT- DONT BUY IT! you'll finish it before its even due.....

If you like snowboarding games, then you'll like this. If you're an SSX follower, then you've gotta wonder how this game went from paper to store shelf without someone questioning whether it would be accepted.

This is a good example of messing up a good thing. The "cartoon" graphics look like a 7yr old's scribble pad. Did they really think that would be appealing? And the chatter it plays when it's loading sounds more like someone rotating a 80's rock album backwards to hear satanic verses.

The characters is what made this game enjoyable, but they're inaccesible in Tour Mode. Instead you're FORCED to build some character who only grunts his/her way down the course.

No more slo-mo replays? (unless I'm missing it) That was the best feature of the previous games. That enabled you to get a good overhead visual of the courses. Now I'll have to hope I'm getting all the paths down the tracks in my head.

And the most irritating thing in the game is pulling of Monster Tricks. The camera goes in for a upclose/slo-mo view during the move and you lose perspective of how close you are to the ground. You have to guess at whether you have enough time to pull of another trick before you hit the ground.(frustrating)

I will give credit to the tracks and game graphics. There seems to be infinite paths down some of the tracks. That makes for many hours of good fun. And the music is nice. There's plenty of it. You can find something you like. This game doesn't give you the sense of isolation that the previous games did. There's plenty of people on the slopes to knock over.

I'm crossing my fingers for the next one.

I recently bought this at a local BestbBuy for $29.99

I don't normally buy sports games. I used to own a
Tony Hawk game for the PSone but that's about it..

This is one of the most accesible games to come out
in a while. Without glancing at the manual you can
be pulling tricks and racing in no time. The controls
are for the most part intuitive. The tricks get progressively
more complex but I found most fairly easy to do. Unlike Tony
Hawk where after playing for a while I found I couldn't get to all parts of the stages and I couldn't learn all of the tricks...

The different courses and players and player configuarations
add to the playability of this game. What is cool too are
the mini-games found in it. Like the avoid the ski-patrol and
knockdown as many fellow skiers and boarders as you can! There is also the option (Once unlocked) that allows you to play any of the main tracks. Some you can play day or night which is a bonus.

I have read some of the reviews and I for one love the graphics. They are fresh and different from 90% of the games out there.
Someone complained that they were geared to much to skate kids but guess who they are marketting toward? Come on!

The music is a blend of alot of different music. From Punk to
Heavy rock to a little bit of Rap (Paul wall). It is different and very cool. I guess if I was a bit older and set in my ways I wouldn't like it that much but for myself I detest anything in the top twenty pop from Hoobastank or Fountains of Wayne. So to hear most of it I appreciated it and I think it gives it a underground kind of feel.

I really enjoyed this game and It is one of the few games I can play with my wife. So that's another plus. Don't know why they threw in the skiers though. Even though I used to Ski I gotta say "Skiers we're never going to be cool as Boarders.."

Let me start off by saying I have only been playing the SSX games for a little less than a year. My son got a PS2 for Christmas & someone gave him a copy of the original SSX. Since neither my son nor I were familiar with the game mechanics for this type of game, the learning curve was pretty steep, but we eventually got pretty good & started moving thru the game. As we got better, we bought the other titles (SSX Tricky & SSX 3) and thoroughly enjoyed them. So we were both excited when the release date was announced for On Tour. Of course we went back & started playing the previous three while we were waiting for the ship date to arrive.

Finally, we got our copy on 10/12. I wanted to wait until I had some time with the game before I posted my review. It can be summed up in two words ... IT ROCKS !!! I have been playing with nearly every free moment I have and after an estimated 20-30 hours of gameplay, I just got up to a number 1 ranking. While I still have a lot of contests to finish (The upper level trick competitions & shreds are brutal) I'm already looking forward to starting all over again as a skier this time. Anyway, let me give you the high & low points:

1.) The game mechanics have been simplified. Ubers have been replaced by monster tricks. The simplest of these just require pushing the right analog stick in any direction(after your boost is full) and are available to your character right out of the box. The bigger monsters (think Super Ubers from "tricky" or Monster Tricks from "SSX 3") have to be bought & require pusing the analog stick in a specific direction, then rotating 90 degrees either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Makes for an easier learning curve, but doesn't detract from the gameplay. Rail ubers (excuse me ... Monsters) are back too. Therse are like the ones in SSX 3 - just use the shoulder buttons once you're on a rail. As for the addition of skiing, I'll admit I haven't done much of it ... yet. The only thing about it that bothers me is that it reminds me of using an Alpine Board from the previous titles. You can get caught facing backwards & this can affect yor speed. I will say, however, that it's MUCH easier to turn around - just push the two analog sticks in oppsite directions.


2. The soundtrack is the best yet. I LOVED SSX 3's soundtrack, but this is even better. The second I heard the opening to "Run To The Hills" during the opening cut scene I got chills. A lot of alternative & old school rock, with some hip hop thrown in for good measure. I'm gonna need to get the CD because the songs keep running thru my head even while I'm not playing.

3. While the "open mountain" feel from SSX 3 isn't there as part of the navigation screen, you can still cruise through everything by selecting "Freeride" from the Map screen. As before, most runs run into something else, allowing for one long cruise that takes about 20 minutes, and there's plenty of alternate routes & shortcuts along the way. And while I think the menu graphics are a bit much, they don't detract from the total experience.

3. The graphics are as good as SSX 3's, and the attention to detail is even better. The addition of name brand sponsors throughout the courses adds to the sense of realism. And the blurring effects to enhance the feeling of speed when you kick in the boosters will have your pulse pounding in no time.

4. I'll agree with prevoious reviewers that the customizations of your own character are pretty generic, and that the returning characters have lost some of their personality, but I really don't feel that this detracts all that much from the ovearll "funness" of the game.

5. As has been mentioned there is no on-line play. But since I don't have my console setup for online play, it's no skin off my nose. Besides, the only people I really want to play is my son & his friends anyway.


Overall, I think this is a fine addition to the franchise. It's deep, I'm looking forward to trying my hand at skiing, and the soundtrack is big & broad enough that you won't get bored with it anytime soon. If you're a fan, don't hesitate to get this latest installment. If you've never tried the SSX games before, take a chance ... I'm sure you'll get into it & end up hooked.