SSX Blur- Wii Review

Yesterday I picked up the latest game in the SSX snowboarding series for the Nintendo Wii- SSX Blur. It's the first (and hopefully not the last) of a non-party game that actually has responsive and tight controls. Shredding down the mountain using the nunchuk's analog stick to twist and turn through curves- then flicking it upward to launch off jumps or holding the Z button to grab your board just feels right. You can even rotate the nunchuk for wider turns as well. While in the air- you use the wiimote (waving right and left or up and down) to perform tricks. It's simple and fun- somehow, most Wii games only do the later.

The graphics are comic bookish and vibrant- the navigation screens are easy to get around in and load times are minimal. The sound adds much to the game- the better you do- the better the music gets- faster paced, more beats- it adds to the adrenaline of racing. When your character wipes out (you recover by playing both controllers like drums)- they become covered in snow- moving slowly from the fumble and banging their fists on their head in frustration. You can also throw snowballs at opponents and skiiers.

My only gripe is the Ubertrick system. While pulling off an array of crazy jumps/stunts- your trick meter charges up- reaching an ubertrick mode. In this mode you are suppossed to trace shapes with both controllers while holding the A button. Simple enough right? Wrong. Even in the tutorial- I haven't been able to pull one of these things off. Am I doing it too quickly? Too slowly? Or is it the simple fact the controls crap out for no good reason? I believe the fault lays with all three- but it does land squarely on the programers/game testers. It's something I'll continually fuss until I get it. Overall, despite this hiccup (you don't need to do ubertricks to have a great time playing this game- but you do need them to rack up higher scores later on) the game is solid. It features a two-player split screen and a 'hot-seat' four player mode which you take turns passing the wiimote after each turn- eh....would've liked to have four split screens....oh well, SSX Blur 2, right?

Game on!