SSX [Essentials] - boxed - PS3

SSX is a game from the SSX series of snowboarding titles. A few characters from previous titles as well as some new ones have teamed up to conquer the 9 deadliest mountains. Unfortunately, one of the team members decides to claim all the glory for themselves and splits from the group to go it alone.

The gameplay is similar to other games in the series. You play as a snowboarder riding down a mountain, aiming for fast times and high trick scores. When you perform tricks, you earn points that fill up your "Tricky" meter. You can use your Tricky points as a boost to increase your speed, or let the meter fill up completely to enter Tricky mode. In Tricky mode, you earn more points for performing tricks. In addition to the extra points, you also get unlimited boost for as long as you stay in Tricky mode.

In addition to the standard "Race" and "Trick" modes, a new "Survival" mode was introduced as a fresh challenge. Generally, the goal of Survival mode is to reach the end of the track without dying, or on some tracks to complete multiple runs without dying. There are 9 types of Survival modes, including: Trees, Rocks, White Out, Avalanche, Oxygen Deprivation, Darkness, Ice, Cold and Gravity. These 9 Survival modes are fairly similar and rely on either visibility or health to create a challenge.

The gear is similar to previous titles in that more expensive gear offers bigger bonuses to stats such as speed, boost or tricks. What sets the gear apart from other titles is that some items are more or less necessary to complete the tracks in Survival mode. Headlamp for Darkness, goggles for Whiteout, thermal pack for Cold, armour for Avalanche/Trees/Rocks, oxygen tank for Oxygen Deprivation, ice axes for Ice and a wingsuit for Gravity.

The three game modes are World Tour, Explore and Global Events. World Tour is a campaign mode that follows the story of Team SSX as they take on the 9 deadly descents. Explore is essentially a "free roam" or "play now" mode in which the player can go to any slope and play it, provided they've unlocked it in World Tour or spent in-game credits to unlock it. In Explore, you can also compare your results or times against your friends. Global Events are asynchronous online live competitions in which players can post their results and compete against every other player on the same track. Rather than competing in a direct race against live players, they instead race against replays of other players' runs. When a player completes a run, their path and actions are recorded as "Ghosts". When a player starts a new run, up to 3 Ghosts are loaded onto the track with them. The player can then measure their performance by how well they do against these Ghosts. More