SSX 3 is the third installment in Electronic Arts' popular snowboarding franchise. Even though tricky was more like an upgrade of the original. And as a big fan I jumped for joy after I got my hands of SSX3, even if I still don’t know what SSX stands for? Maybe Super Snowboarding Xtreame? It doesn’t really matter anyway, SSX3 offers significant evolution over the previous two entries in the franchise while building on the solid core gameplay elements. However, SSX3 is, in more than a few ways, a new beginning for the franchise, thanks to some major tweaks to the existing SSX formula. While fellow fans of the franchise are intimately familiar with the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the different events as well as the score and combo systems in the game, there have been some changes and additions. That extends the extreme fun of SSX in almost every way.

There are Four Basic selections to choose after you press Start at the title screen.

Single Play; Conquer the Mountain, and Multiplayer. Single Play mode is strictly an opportunity to play events. No free riding or exploration is available here, and you can only play those tracks that you have unlocked in Conquer the Mountain. Conquer the Mountain is the main event. Here you power up your characters and do basically

everything that is possible in the game. In order to unlock tracks in Single Play, you

need to pass them here first. Multi-player is a chance to race your buddy. Two player, etc. During play you’ll have to upgrade boarders to maximize their skills, with 7 attributes Acceleration, Edging, Speed, Spin, Stability, Toughness, and Tricks.

The bulk of the game is the insane Tricks the boards can pull off. Besides the normal board grabs that everyone has, each character has his/her own set of special tricks. New to SSX3 is Uber Tricks. Ubers actually play a small but significant part in the game, but they no doubt convey a special gameplay treat, and massive eye candy. There are multiple levels of Uber tricks - Air Ubers, Super Ubers, and Rail Ubers. Quick explanation. Once you've built up your Uber meter, tweak a mute, tail, stalefish, indy, nose or tail grab. Then hold it for at least one second to start an Uber trick. Due to the length of time it takes to execute, all Ubers will require more air time than your other grabs. But are 10 times more rewarding. Also new are Monster Tricks. Monster Tricks seem, initially, like a sort of trick book, but they are in fact specialized tricks that are named after different bands whose songs are featured in the game. You disc over the names of these tricks by doing the Career Highlights in the game. There are added bonuses for using these tricks, depending on the difficulty. In most cases, this bonus will help offset the points lost by doing these tricks, many of which are simpler compared to what you can pull off with a fully powered character.

The Big Air events in SSX 3 will be broken up into four heats. The goal of the first three heats is to earn the most points possible in each. But each run is timed, pressing you to keep a quick pace while performing tricks. If you linger too long performing tricks and are unable to complete the race before time runs out, you won't be awarded any points and will be forced to wear a scarlet letter (you’ll see). Scores for five CPU opponents will be tracked to give you a sense of what the competition is up to. You'll see a listing of your competitors' runs before and after each heat to help you keep track of who you’re beating and who needs to be beat. After you've finished three heats, your best two scores will be combined to give you a final score. If you manage to place in the top three, you'll advance to the final round. If you rank fourth or below, you won't progress to the next level, and will have to try again. The final roun d, the fourth heat, is where you'll be competing to get a gold, silver, or bronze medal by placing first, second, or third, respectively.