 |
|
 In
the audio department, no one does it like the Beastie Boys' DJ MixMaster
Mike and the incredible team at Electronic Arts, who've really pushed
the envelope of video game music with SSX by actually making it
a game element that ties into your performance. When you're in first
place and landing big jumps and pulling off great tricks, you'll
hear the full range of the particular track - vocals, bass line,
guitar, scratching, and so on. But when you crash or fall behind
a couple of positions, the music mixes on the fly and discretely
loses its intensity by dropping out elements of the song. The effect
is amazing - you hardly ever hear any abrupt changes that disrupt
the song, and even when you're in last place you still get to hear
the bass line and a few other key elements, so you can still enjoy
the music. However, the lack of elements really pushes you to catch
up to the pack and get the full version of the song back on. It's
really quite an extraordinary effect, not to mention that the music
in the game is really good hard-hitting hip-hop. In all, the game
has over 15 tracks performed by various artists including MixMaster
Mike, Rahzel, Rasmus, Politika, Aphrodite, and Mickey Finn. To go
along with the top-notch soundtrack, the game has fantastic character
voices and supercrisp sound effects. The game has different announcers
for every track, and each character has various little phrases that
he or she says at the beginning of and during the races.
 In
the end, SSX is a terrific snowboarding game that has all the right
stuff. Every element comes together and makes for a game that is
extremely fun and rewarding to play. The graphics will make you
shake your head in disbelief even after a month of playing it, the
sound effects can actually convey a sense of texture, and the music
will have you figuring out the best way to hook your PS2 up to your
computer to record the soundtrack. It's also a very challenging
game that at times crosses the line of frustration, a line that
you're sure to be more than happy to cross time and time again since
the game is extremely rewarding when you do well. You'll want to
complete every trick and course with every single character just
because the game is so fun to play. So to make a long story even
longer, SSX is a must-have PlayStation 2 game that certainly sets
a new standard for snowboarding video games.
|
