Gennenalyse RuebenThe Prettiest Boy is Ridiculously PrettyRegistered Userregular
edited January 2007
Wow. I'm not a person who plays snowboarding games at all. Or any kind of game remotely like them, actually. But the controls sound incredible for this. The Wii has already sold me on some games I'd not normally buy, but this would be a definite change for me. This kind of game has never seemed fun to me before. If that control scheme is half as awesome as it sounds, I don't think I'll be able to not pick this up.
Tricky was good but I loved SSX3. The sense of speed just worked so well. I didnt try On Tour though, because I have heard bad things about it.
If this is as good as 3 I will be very happy.
I actually thought they nailed the sense of speed even moreso in On Tour then in SSX3. Not to mention I thought the course designs were even better. I really dont know why On Tour gets such a bad rep, It was a fantastic game.
My main problem was that 80 percent of the game was 10- to 20-second "Grab 10 emblems" or "Grind for 500 feet" missions, where you wait 30 seconds to load, pop into a map, play for 15 seconds, see the results screen, wait 20 seconds to load back to the main map, lather, rinse and repeat. The course design was really good, but you spent rare few occasions experiencing entire courses/lines from start to finish, and what I like about Tricky/SSX3 is that you run the courses so often, you get to learn all of their ins and outs -- you know where you can pull off the big tricks, where you can take a massive shortcut, etc.
Also, IMO, I've always liked the charm of the characters' personalities, and in On Tour you rarely saw the major characters. It was usually courses crowded with faceless people. Plus, the whole rock-star-sketch aesthetic, while interesting at first (who can resist a unicorn wailing on a double-headed guitar?), got boring pretty fast. Also, I can't stand that announcer.
SSX3 didn't have the motion blur effect yet, did it? That's one of the things that really bugs me in On Tour. I can't just go fast down the mountain, I have to have some ridiculous and irritating visual cue to go along with it.
Yeah, On Tour's principal faults were definitely that it broke up the freeroaming into lots of itty bitty events and did away with way too much of the "personalities" aspect - it's not my favourite aspect of SSX3, but I did miss them. I really liked the art design, though.
Feels weird offering my opinion since I never finished either and I doubt I ever will. I simply cannot do manuals in these kinds of games - can't do it in Tony Hawk, can't do it here. Which pretty much kills my chances of doing most of the endgame challenges. But I love the rest of the games so much I can't avoid buying them. :P
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Most of the Shred events On Tour were comparable to the BIG events in SSX3, only not a bitch to get to since you select them from a menu... Which was one of the things I hated about SSX3. The free roaming idea was good, but it just made it more annoying to pick the event you want to do when you have to board to it and if you miss it, you have to reset and go back to it...
You can unlock the whole mountain, get loads of cash and the gear you want without doing any of the BIG challenges in SSX3. It's what I always do anyway.
On Tour felt horribly bland without the personalities of the characters, and I thought the track design was rather uninteresting. As has been pointed out, the structure was not ideal either.
However, the most ingenius tracks were in the two original games. Who can beat Tokyo Megaplex? Or the Aloha Ice Jam?
Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited January 2007
There are new screenshoots up on gamespot which show how to perfom the various moves with the Wii remote controller and the nunchuk. Imo I think it would be very interessting to see how this will work out in the actual game.
There are new screenshoots up on gamespot which show how to perfom the various moves with the Wii remote controller and the nunchuk. Imo I think it would be very interessting to see how this will work out in the actual game.
This kind of thing freaks me out a little usually with upcoming Wii games, but EGM couldn't stop talking about how great the controls were in their latest preview.
I'll admit, I've never played any SSX games as I wasn't in a console phase when those were popular, but I played the shit out of and loved to no end 1080 Snowboarding on the N64.
I'm not surprised that sites are blabbering about controls: They sound great! Normal turning by turning controller and sharper turn control with analog? If it's the way it's being explained, it's the perfect answer to everyone who says the motion sensing isn't "accurate" enough for gaming.
And really, is a two handed gesture for an uber trick any more "gimmicky than a complicated button combo?
The graphics don't seem to be blowing anything out of the water, but look very solid, pretty much what I would expect at this point in the console's life.
In case anyone hasn't watched the video, this game ALSO HAS SKIS! 8)
If this doesn't get more discussion I'm going to have to make a grandiose new first post, because I am goddamn giddy for this game.
Also, the Gamepot article from January 17th:
Look for continued coverage of the game in the weeks leading up to its release late next month.
!!!!
Some complaints:
A little odd that the Wiimote has the air function and the Nunchuck has the main control function, BUT I expect to be spending lots of time in the air in this game, so we'll see how it works out.
The music better be decent.
The article mentioned split-screen multi. Seeing as how the Wii has a wireless card in it and will reportedly be able to communicate with the DS, can't we have a console to console wireless multiplayer as well?
The article mentioned split-screen multi. Seeing as how the Wii has a wireless card in it and will reportedly be able to communicate with the DS, can't we have a console to console wireless multiplayer as well?
I've been wondering about this. Are there any games right now that support system link multiplayer? If not, are there any coming up that will?
Oh God. Saw the latest trailer on Gamevideos... okay, this is the first game that's made me want a Wii. Yeah, you heard me. :P The first.
Shame I can't afford one. Oh, well. Thread did make me run down to my local store and pick up SSX Tricky (never played) and SSX 3 (second time) secondhand. I forgot how good 3 was. Sooo good. ...I can just imagine it with motion-sensitive controls, I suppose.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
SSX Blur's look and style reminded me of SSX 3 in a good way. The 12 runs on the mountain are taken from previous SSX games, including that title, with a few new additions. 10 characters from the series are back, with two new snowboarders. EA says that many of the modes from SSX 3 that were absent from SSX On Tour, like tricks on half-pipes, also return.
One of my biggest reliefs about Blur, at least in my initial look, is that the colorful graphics look good on the Wii. The areas I saw mixed subtle effects -- like snow falling into view -- with an animated rider look; Blur chooses style over realism, which serves it well on the Wii. And the 480p widescreen setting kept things bright and big.
My other relief was that the controls felt natural and fun, making turns by gently rolling the Nunchuk in my left hand. I was supposed to push the analog stick for additional, subtle corrections, but it never seemed to do anything; EA said that it works best for correcting position on rails or other tiny changes. I thought I was too cool to twitch the Nunchuk up to jump -- I told myself that I would just push A -- but the Nunchuk jumps felt intuitive. I was a flailing Wii dork in moments.
The Wiimote handles tricks. After launching into the air, I flicked the Wiimote sideways to twist, or up or down to flip. Like previous SSX games, completing smaller tricks charges the "groove meter," so-named because, according to game designer Nicolas Guerin, Blur is a throwback to the trance-like sense of music and calm attitude from the earlier titles. He even compared this to Rez, but it was hard for me to judge the music in my short play session; I'll have to play more to see if it matches that goal.
When the groove meter was full enough, I executed even more complicated uber tricks. After a jump, I held A, and gestured half of a heart pattern with each hand to unhinge my boot from the snowboard and otherwise mock nature. I tried to slash the Z pattern into the air for a different trick -- note to developers: Make a Wii Zorro game -- but I gave up after a couple attempts. The heart worked at least, so the others may be easier to create after practice.
I had no expectations for SSX Blur before I tried it, because I didn't think that motion-sensitive controls for a snowboarding game would work better than a gamepad. But in my brief time with the title, the Wiimote and Nunchuk felt more fun and responsive than a traditional controller. Will SSX Blur hold up to hours of play, or is it just a quick novelty? I'm leaning towards the former, but we'll find out with the game's February 27 release.
It sounds like it takes a majority of its style cues from SSX3, which I adored; I loved the modern, electronica-ish, Euro-cool vibe, and how chill everything was as compared to the frantic energy of Tricky.
After hearing how much fun Excite Truck is with custom soundtracks, I would love for Blur to have that same option. A pipe dream, but still.
I actually dug the music from SSX3, but I'm also a fan of rock and electronica both. At the least, it was infinitely better than the soundtrack to On Tour. :P
Maybe I don't remember the music particularly well, but EA Trax have always had, like, one song that liked. The trance vibe allusion sounds really neat, though.
The multiplayer component of the game will offer two ways to play: a split-screen mode for two players to race against each other, and a hot-seat mode that will let up to four players compete against each other's score in a turn-based competition.
The multiplayer component of the game will offer two ways to play: a split-screen mode for two players to race against each other, and a hot-seat mode that will let up to four players compete against each other's score in a turn-based competition.
theres a new video up on www.gametrailers.com frontpage with one of the devs playing the game so you actually see how it controls instead of descriptions. hes canadian, so his english is rough, but just keep an eye on the wagglin.
Speaking of Tony Hawk, Guerin brought up another recent game from the franchise in a control context: the Wii skater/racer Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, which has frequently been compared to SSX. He noted that after playing the game, he did not feel fully satisfied with the its steering precision, and thought it a shame to discard the nunchuk since it too has its own motion sensor. Both games deal with high speed downhill racing--one on asphalt and one in snow--but they control very differently. Downhill Jam has the player hold the Wii remote like a traditional controller and tilt it left and right to steer. "We realized we needed to use both halves for more control," he said. "We have at least 30 control readings at all times."
"At first I was really reluctant to play with the remote," said Guerin, who unexpectedly explained that SSX Blur actually started out as an Xbox game before moving to Wii, "but now I don't understand how I would ever want to play it with a normal pad." He explained that when the project was in development for Xbox, the team began to start working with effects that were easier to implement on the Wii hardware, and eventually it was determined that for a variety of reasons it made sense for the game to be a Wii exclusive. Said Guerin, "We felt this console was the best for this game, definitely."
Asked to compare SSX Blur most strongly with one other game in the series, Guerin chose SSX3, largely for that game's open mountain structure that will be returning in SSX Blur. Blur also puts more emphasis back on the series' original characters, with ten previous personalities returning as player characters and two new ones being added. New to the series is a Slalom mode. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to try Slalom firsthand, but it's easy to imagine it being a good fit to the nunchuk-based control. There is of course also a career mode consisting of a string of tournaments; with the emphasis on SSX characters, there are also various rivalries and alliances that factor into the progression of the story and the in-game dynamics. SSX Blur features a split-screen multiplayer mode, though unfortunate no online multiplayer. There's a also new snowball-throwing mechanic that Guerin claims is particularly well suited to multiplayer modes.
In case anyone hasn't watched the video, this game ALSO HAS SKIS!8)
Sold. Is there some kind of create a skier mode? 'cause I'll go out and buy a Wii for that. I was planning on holding off, but that's just too good to pass up.
Every new trailer makes me want this all the more. I am seriously considering selling a whooole bunch of stuff in order to pick up a Wii... it's partly down to making my way through 3 again at the moment and remembering just how much I still adore that game.
Skis I can take or leave. They added next to nothing to On Tour... although I suppose the Wiimote controls might mean I have to rethink this, too. O_o Swish, swish.
Eight Rooks on
<AtlusParker> Sorry I'm playing Pokemon and vomiting at the same time so I'm not following the conversation in a linear fashion.
Geez. That's too soon for me, I think. I may wait for a drought, but I don't think the Virtual Console is going to ever allow me to feel like I'm in a drought. I still have Toejam and Earl and R-Type III that I haven't even touched yet. Still want Wario Ware, too.
Dodge Aspen on
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LCDXXA flask of wood and glassTerre Haute, INRegistered User, ClubPAregular
edited January 2007
Feb. 27th?! Shit. That's... a little sooner than my wallet anticipated.
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Also, IMO, I've always liked the charm of the characters' personalities, and in On Tour you rarely saw the major characters. It was usually courses crowded with faceless people. Plus, the whole rock-star-sketch aesthetic, while interesting at first (who can resist a unicorn wailing on a double-headed guitar?), got boring pretty fast. Also, I can't stand that announcer.
Wish they'd allow you to turn that shit off.
Feels weird offering my opinion since I never finished either and I doubt I ever will. I simply cannot do manuals in these kinds of games - can't do it in Tony Hawk, can't do it here. Which pretty much kills my chances of doing most of the endgame challenges. But I love the rest of the games so much I can't avoid buying them. :P
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
On Tour felt horribly bland without the personalities of the characters, and I thought the track design was rather uninteresting. As has been pointed out, the structure was not ideal either.
However, the most ingenius tracks were in the two original games. Who can beat Tokyo Megaplex? Or the Aloha Ice Jam?
Because if so,
That is what I missed about SSX3. The crazy ass tracks. Though I really liked the concept one of big mountain.
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Some more stuff from Gamespot.
Here are the trailers:
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?fs=1&id=3021
I'll admit, I've never played any SSX games as I wasn't in a console phase when those were popular, but I played the shit out of and loved to no end 1080 Snowboarding on the N64.
I'm not surprised that sites are blabbering about controls: They sound great! Normal turning by turning controller and sharper turn control with analog? If it's the way it's being explained, it's the perfect answer to everyone who says the motion sensing isn't "accurate" enough for gaming.
And really, is a two handed gesture for an uber trick any more "gimmicky than a complicated button combo?
The graphics don't seem to be blowing anything out of the water, but look very solid, pretty much what I would expect at this point in the console's life.
In case anyone hasn't watched the video, this game ALSO HAS SKIS! 8)
If this doesn't get more discussion I'm going to have to make a grandiose new first post, because I am goddamn giddy for this game.
Also, the Gamepot article from January 17th: !!!!
Some complaints:
A little odd that the Wiimote has the air function and the Nunchuck has the main control function, BUT I expect to be spending lots of time in the air in this game, so we'll see how it works out.
The music better be decent.
The article mentioned split-screen multi. Seeing as how the Wii has a wireless card in it and will reportedly be able to communicate with the DS, can't we have a console to console wireless multiplayer as well?
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
I've been wondering about this. Are there any games right now that support system link multiplayer? If not, are there any coming up that will?
Shame I can't afford one. Oh, well. Thread did make me run down to my local store and pick up SSX Tricky (never played) and SSX 3 (second time) secondhand. I forgot how good 3 was. Sooo good. ...I can just imagine it with motion-sensitive controls, I suppose.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Joystiq posted more incredibly favorable impressions today. I limed the parts that made me squeal like a little girl with joy:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/19/joystiq-hands-on-ssx-blur-wii/
It sounds like it takes a majority of its style cues from SSX3, which I adored; I loved the modern, electronica-ish, Euro-cool vibe, and how chill everything was as compared to the frantic energy of Tricky.
Also: A late February release! So awesome.
I actually dug the music from SSX3, but I'm also a fan of rock and electronica both. At the least, it was infinitely better than the soundtrack to On Tour. :P
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Split screen.
Wii needs wireless console-to-console multiplayers...BADLY!
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
Die in a fire.
Sorry, I had to. SSX 3 = best licensed soundtrack ever created, and one of the best soundtracks, period.
Not that I can't live without licensed songs or anything. The music on that latest trailer sounded pretty damn good.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Only 2 player split-screen for Excite Truck, now SSX? I'll still buy it, but it's pretty annoying.
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2007/011907_ssx_blur_1.x
Skis I can take or leave. They added next to nothing to On Tour... although I suppose the Wiimote controls might mean I have to rethink this, too. O_o Swish, swish.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Geez. That's too soon for me, I think. I may wait for a drought, but I don't think the Virtual Console is going to ever allow me to feel like I'm in a drought. I still have Toejam and Earl and R-Type III that I haven't even touched yet. Still want Wario Ware, too.
Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018