Tricky!

So I've Finally Played… SSX Tricky!

I know, not the most up to date subject, even by my standards…

But as someone who is such a mega-fan of SSX 3 from 2003, it is kinda strange that I've never played a one second of another game in the SSX series, let alone the game that arguably put the series on the map.

SSX, the original was an impressive launch title for the Playstation 2, but even developers in the game's behind the scenes videos hinted towards wanting to do more, that's where Tricky comes in.

Celebrity voices, licensed music, augmented level-design, uber-tricks, rivalries, and heightened presentation across the board… no pun intended. And it only takes a couple minutes of playing to trace the linage of so many things I loved from SSX 3.

The uber-meter and system is basically the same, courses share not just corners but entire backdrops, and the character interactions have a sort of continuity. Admittedly, I’m mostly viewing this from Zoe, who mocks Elise every chance, and purrs at Moby.

There are however, several things to separate Tricky from my beloved third installment.

For one thing, there's quite a few more characters, many of which aren't playable in future installments, meaning more visuals, more boards, and of course, more interactions. There's also a dedicated Tutorial course to let you practice each characters set of tricks, and pulling them off during events will unlock outfits for each character.

And most notably…

It's less fun.

I know, I know, nostalgia is one hell of a drug, and it is so easy, so easy, for Tricky to just not click with me, because it's not matching my one reference for the series. The thing is though… I've previously come around to value 

(Campaign) Halo: CE > Halo 2.

Half Life 1 > Half Life 2.

Resident Evil 4 > Resident Evil 5.

Deus Ex > Human Revolution.

Tomb Raider '96 > Tomb Raider '14

Quake 1 > Quake 3.

DOOM '93 > Quake 1.

You get the idea.

I've binged franchises long after their relevance or dominance, and have still preferred earlier installments. I'm not the sort of person that ignores Resident Evil 4, Tomb Raider, Half Life, or Quake, because of game-feel, or "jank."

I think I've got the Thief games to thank for that. If you can stomach that and System Shock 2's moon gravity movement, you can deal with almost anything… and yet, SSX Tricky, while by no means a bad game; clearly notable for the time, just hasn't aged nearly as gracefully as SSX 3, and I pin half of that to gameplay.

Tricky isn't a game that's rougher around the edges but more mechanically in-depth… it's just rougher.

Hitboxes and magnetism for things like grind rails is sometimes baffling, where often my character will just straight up no clip through a rail, that is, if it hasn't kicked me off immediately.

Low-stats don't just feel slow, they feel positively agonizing, making it all the more frustrating when the animation for where your board is, and where the ground is, don't quite sync up.

If SSX 3 feels like bodysnatching a Snowboarder, SSX Tricky feels like pulling strings, especially in-regards to Ubertricks whose animations change up the gravity and camera angle so violently, it's more like watching the game than playing it.

Playing the game, it makes sense immediately why Tricky was developed in one year, compared to SSX 3's two years. SSX 3 has refinements not just in its graphics and gameplay, but the tiny details you only have the freedom to improve in a longer development cycle.

Things like unique character loading-screens when transporting between Peaks, rather than inelegant 3D menus like Tricky, or having multiple stems for high-jump drops in the music, rewarding players with voice-lines for victories and multiple quips, and of course, far less obnoxious audio for the Uber Meter than repeating one sample of Run DMC every, single, time.

When I said fuck it, and used cheats to try all the characters and tracks, I did start to understand what's probably the main thing that makes people who grew up with Tricky, fondly remember it more than its sequel, and that’s in course design.

SSX 3's are wild, but generally in-line with the world they've created. Peak 3's insanity comes from the environment being a Mountain that's collapsing in the middle of races.

The course is mapped onto nature.

In Tricky, the wild courses are much more like Running Man with Snowboards. It's a big challenge, and a big reward when you get these courses right… however, I can't say I’m a big fan of them in Tricky, because of the game's dated controls. The constant pressure to hold grinds, nail landings, and hit big tricks, makes all the technical issues I listed earlier even more evident, and thus, even harder to ignore.

Personally, I'd liken SSX's trajectory to Splinter Cell. Tricky is Pandora Tomorrow, and 3 is Chaos Theory.

Now, all I need to find out is if On Tour is Double Agent…