Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6684 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2007-03-16
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Nintendo Wii

Manufacturer's Description:
SSX Blur is everything you expect from the franchise, delivered in a totally unexpected way. Revolutionary controls take full advantage of the Wii’s potential by putting you in total command of your skier or rider, on-the-ground and in-the-air, by translating every motion you make into the skills that create mountain legends. One of your hands controls you as you tear down the mountain; the other hand unleashes your virtually unlimited array of aerial manoeuvres. This is the soul of SSX, remixed, re-energized, and fully realised.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic, with a couple gripes
Let's start out with the overall oppinion, superb game, definately worth adding to your Wii library, especially seeing as the choices aren't superb at the moment. If you've got the money no problem, don't read further, just buy it.

For the rest, I will be comparing this game mainly to the 3rd game, as it was the only one I owned. I'm going to go over this a section at a time, starting with

Visuals:
Artisticly this is an average game, nothing in comparison to the artistry of Zelda, but what were you expecting from a snowboarding game? The theme is very consistant, feels like a bubbly colourful adventure, kind of like a more child friendly version of the Tricky theme.
Technically it's pretty impressive, everything is Wiid up as you'd expect, the snow effect isn't quite as pretty as SSX3's but it's definately impressive looking, more than enough to be enjoyable. Framerate is more than acceptable, with only an occasional slowdown.

Sound:
Excellent, I kinda miss the EA trax from SSX3 but the sound fits in much better with the game, and a couple of these completely originally composed tracks you really get into, I'd like a couple as MP3s!

Controls:
The most important bit right? Yes they work, very well, really really well! But there's no way you'll think that unless you play for 2 hours. Everyone's right, you just won't get it for some time. So I'm going to break these down into oppinions and learning curve;
Carving - Excellent, much more fun, 20mins learning while you're leaning the nunchuck one way and the stick the other, feeling confused
Spins - Good, but a little bit random, you kinda flick your controller around and hope, 10mins learning, hour to master
Rails - Feels much more like balancing, 3 mins learning
Grabs - Not all too impressed, it works, but is a little sluggish, 1 min to learn, good half hour to start using
UBERs - I hated these beyond belief to start, but they work, if you're here of frustration, some tips; you are not supposed to be pointing at the screen, you're tracing through the air using the motion sensors. Also, you need to be releasing A the second you finish the motion, really helps. For me, hour to learn, 3-4 to really get down.

But now that I'm used to the controls, I'd hate to pick up a control pad again, really, you actually feel like you have some kind of real experience here. (which let's face it, is probably why you bought a Wii)

Gameplay:
Very good, enjoyable courses, generally pleased with events and layout except for slalom. Which to be honest, is abysmal. Gate's are waaaaaaaaaaay too close together, and only when you max out your character do you start to be able to hit a couple at an enjoyable speed, if your line is just a little off, chances are you'll hit that rail and be screwed.

My one other little gripe is the mountain itself. As you may know, the courses are made up of a combination of SSX3 and SSX on tour (4). One of my favorite things about 3 was how well the mountain fit together, I could board down from the very top off-piste run all the way down, through various little settlements as I went, it was amazing.
Here, that's almost gone, yes you can ski down the mountain from the top, but the feel of it all tying together well isn't there at all, they seem glued on to each other. What doesn't help is that the little challet buildings where you could go in and change your gear or hitch a ride on a chairlift/chopper have gone, now you'll occasionally board a ridiculously coloured chopper but mostly transport yourself with a nice loading bar.

My other gripe is that you can't change gear once you're out on the mountain, if you fancy switching to Skis you have to exit the game and go back into the main menu, then reselect, it seems like the little challet's could have been kept for such needs.

But these gripes aside, SSX blur delivers, it's a great game that you'll really enjoy flying through, multiplayer is good, problem of course presents itself that controls aren't pick up and play. The mountain system still works, you can still go from top to bottom and enjoy it, the character's are fun as ever and the tricks feel very rewarding. So go ahead, give it a shot, there's not alot else out for Wii for a couple months anyway, this will give you alot of fun while you wait for some of the other releases!

A great improvement from the last one
For those of you who have never played a SSX game, SSX is a arcade style snowboarding game, it will have you racing down lush snow filled mountains pulling off the most rediculus tricks that are not even remotely possible in real life to earn boost and go even faster.

I LOVE this game! I have played it nonstop since I bought it. I love everything about it...the style, the graphics, the soundtrack, and (gasp) the controls. I'll admit that I hated the controls at first (more on that later) but it all feels like second nature now...even the uber tricks.

As I write this review, the game has only been out for a couple of days. I find it interesting that on day 1, everybody was complaining about how the controls were "unresponsive" or "didn't register" or "just plain didn't work." Then on day 2 and 3, people were starting to get it and sing its praises. If you don't believe me, visit different gamer forums and see for yourself.

I admit that I also HATED the controls at first. The uber tricks just felt like a bad experiment, and everything else felt touchy and inconsistent. I stuck with it (cuz I shelled out $50!) and was happy to see results after an hour or two. There is definitely a learning curve, but it feels great once you get it. Now everything just feels natural and "right."

For those that don't know, uber tricks are these flashy tricks that can only be pulled off by moving the Wii remote in specific directions/patterns. You have to be fairly precise in a small window of time. The big hint here is that the remote and nunchuk have accelerometers in them, so you have to move your ENTIRE HAND in the shape of the pattern, rather than "drawing" it with the tip of the remote. Once I got this, I was pulling uber tricks off more than 90% of the time.

The bottom line is that the controls register just fine once you understand how to use them properly. I understand that people want instant gratification, but TRUST ME when I say that these controls feel deep and rewarding after some practice.

As for the graphics, they are smooth and cartoonishly Wii-appropriate. There have been some reports about lagging framerates, but I have yet to experience this. Unfortunately the game has COMPLETELY FROZEN on me a couple of times, and I've seen this reported by others as well.

The soundtrack matches the game perfectly, but I wish there was a little more variety. You kinda hear everything you're gonna hear after the first half-hour.

Right now SSX Blur is getting mixed reviews, but that's mostly because people are either hot or cold with the controls. Do some research and you'll find that most people are coming around to loving it. As a previous hater, I now wholeheartedly recommend it to all!

Bit worried, but it turned out good
Like most of the reviews in here, I was a bit worried at first when I bought it. My thought process went along the lines of:

"Ahh, I hate this game, these people should never be allowed to make games, look, I am drawing the shape, I AM DRAWING THE SHAPE!!!"

The "shape" in question is for the ubertricks (more on that in a bit). I was at the point of giving up, until I looked in the internet and found if you press "+" there is an option there to help practice the ubertricks!

Object of the Game:
To snowboard / Ski down the mountain. There is a lot of freedom, though the course can be tricky to make sure you have found all the events you can do, which is why there is also a handy "map" feature to let you shortcut to them.

Events include races, slalom, points score, head to head...

Score more points to get more gear and unlock features, such as characters and more gear..

Big points can be scored with ubertricks, which are quote straight forward to do (depending on which one it is), once you have the hang on them, but remember to keep your cool on the mountain, and not try to rush them. One more thing which was not immediatly obvious to me: You do NOT have to perform the ubertrick which the symbol is showing. When you are in the air, which enough "groove" you can perform whichever ubertrick you like!

Controls:
Controls at first are good for general moving about, but difficult to start with for the ubertricks.

Tricks seem to be a bit random at the moment, backflip, frontflip, spins and grabs are the basics, nothing really is obvious to doing more than that.

Overall:
It is a good game, and enjoyable to play. It is difficult to start with, and once it starts going wrong on a run, it seems to continue to get worse and worse (for me).

Controls could be better, though you do get used to them, they are not completely intuitive. On the ground the nunchuck controls the direction (i.e. the snowboard / skis), however in the air, it is the wii remote which controls the snowboard / skis - with flips and spins. The nunchuck is used for grabs.

Tutorials are not too well thought out, they do not bring you in at a completly "fresh" level, and it is not clear which the best one to start with is, as they are preseneted to you in a circle. The "ubertricks" one would be better off sending you on a long jump to let you get the hang of it. There is also no real feedback for the ubertricks on what you are doing right or wrong (even an indication that you were pressing the "A" button would have been nice, early on).

Courses are big, and there is quite a bit of play on how to get to the bottom, taking some shortcuts, or cutting a corner etc.

So 4*, because it is above average, but the controls could be better thought through, or at least the tutorials / missions could take you through them better.