SSX Tricky pushes ahead of the original SSX, and leads the way to victory.
User Rating: 9.6 | SSX Tricky GC
SSX Tricky for the Nintendo Gamecube is one of the best made to this date, its brilliance is almost unmatched. There is no other snowboarding game such as this one. Taking from the original SSX is the old system, but Tricky has its own originality. You snowboard down pre-made tracks, competing to get in the top three, doing tricks, earning points, and knocking off others. Characters include Elise, Eddy and Brock—my favorites. Of course, there are more characters, but I don’t want to list them all. You can alter the way the characters look, and the boards they ride. Boards have a huge impact on how a character competes. The slickness, weight, and look of it are all factors. The preset maps are unlocked by earning medals in other maps. Most of the maps are fun to go through, have plenty of shortcuts to bust through, and get stuck in. There are plenty of slow spots to mess you up, as well as fast spots to gain rank. The fast spots are usually before the jump ramps. Holding down the A button to build up speed, and crouch for a jump, you can do many things. During the races, you can knock people over to slow them down and take the competition up a notch. Tapping the C-stick in a direction will cause your character to make a shove, and potentially cause a character to fall over—always satisfying. The most devastating time to do this is before a jump, because you can get big air, do an insane trick (grabbing you a lot of points) to build up your boost—but beware, someone can also do this to you. By performing tricks, which rack up points, you build up your boost. Boost makes you go faster by holding down B, but it’s a limited time thing—you can see the meter going down. The meter consists of rings, starting at yellow and ending in red. By getting a full boost bar, you can perform uber tricks. They are harder, but more point awarding tricks. Tweaking is also fun in SSX Tricky. By pressing the D-pad buttons, you can flip or turn. When you launch off a ramp, you can hold the D-up to do a front flip, or D-up+right to do a 360/180 front flip. The tricks are also a spectacle to see, because of the time it takes to complete them. Combined with boost, racing is extraordinarily fun. The music while you’re racing is amazing. The action when you’re snowboarding entrances you, and the music does its part. Light rock to rap is on the SSX Tricky line, and it flows terrifically with the game, getting you into the beat, making you nod your head. Some of the famous people, like Rahzel, lend their pipes to SSX Tricky. Actresses and actors do the music, sound, and special effects! The graphics are well done in SSX Tricky, also. You can’t really notice any bad parts in here; all of the scenes and actions flow from one to the next. The boards, when spinning, have a nice after-glow to them. Nothing bad about the graphics, they’re expected for the Nintendo Gamecube. What I do wish that SSX Tricky had is customizable maps. You can make your own map, just like in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. I loved that feature in there; it added surprise—and challenge—to the game. You could design it, put all the gaps and point boosts in there, and see what would happen when you tried it. Since you made it, you could feel proud of yourself and make sure that you did everything you planned to do. But in SSX Tricky, that’s not the case. I would have loved this feature, I can see why it’s not included—think about how massive you’d make it, all the minutes spent, it would be a good bonus, though. The replay value, however, is incredible. You can play this game over and over, and not get bored. The tutorials in the beginning (accessible in the menus after you navigate for a bit, it’s optional but recommended) really help you learn the tricks, and nail them. Most of the time, you’ll be free riding, not in a competition, because that’s also fun. The Gamecube’s controller couldn’t be more perfect for SSX Tricky. The controller sits in your hand easily; the buttons are easy to reach. I had no difficulty whatsoever controlling my player, shoving another off, and performing a trick within 3 seconds of the previous event. The defaulted schematics are perfect playing conditions for the game. As the courses are sleek, players fighting, and the chance that you’ll find a new shortcut or crash engulf you, you’ll see that SSX Tricky is the best snowboarding game made for the Nintendo Gamecube. I strongly recommend that you buy this, if you haven’t already. 
