SSX Blur Comments by Tom Bramwell

I've read elsewhere that you don't actually need to point the remote at the screen to do the Ubertrick gestures, which would be a bit less annoying. Anyone know for sure?

lets see if wiii can break a perfectly good control system.

neilka you got me curious so i just tried pulling an ubertrick while facing away from the television and the trick worked fine. some of them use the nunchuk controller also so the sensor bar isn't used for anything but menu navigation.

H4rdc0re games always get a -2, so it's really an 8.

:o)

What exactly is happening here? Why do most of the people on the forums tend to disagree with the EG reviews lately?
I have yet to play SSX (just unpacked it) but judging by Sonic and EG's review I wonder what exactly the reviewers are looking for in a game.

The complaint about the menu might be valid yet Sonic is probably the worst I've seen in a while regarding presentation and menus. (Again: Where the hell is the retry button when I succesfully complete a mission and want to try again for a better medal?).

Anyway, I'm off to play the game.

doublepost

doublepost :(

@Der_tolle_Emil:

"Why do most of the people on the forums tend to disagree with the EG reviews lately?"


Nothing wrong with disagreeing with an opinion. Especially with a game like this which some reviewers like, some hate

There is a big problem with going "boo hoo, EG suck for not agreeing with my opinion" or moaning that the score should be 7 not 6 or 5 not 6.. or something. That's just plain sad, and the reason non gamers laugh at us.

Wii games seem to divide reviewer opinion more than any other system i can remember actually.

Because a review is just one opinion formed within a couple days with the game at most. In that time the reviewer will either "get" the game, or struggle with it in terms of the Wii and it's control methods. I struggled with CoD3 at first, but stuck at it and realised that actually the controls are far better than any dual-analogue combo could hope for.

More than ever it's important for gamers to test out a game before casually dismissing it because it got a 6, or whatever.

Another average Wii game. Is it really worth buying the console just for the admittedly brilliant TP, when I could simply get it on the Gamecube anyway?

There are many other reasons to get a Wii. You mentioned Zelda, Wii Sports and WarioWare, but the Wii has more very worthwhile alternatives. Excite Truck being the most obvious, perhaps, but the recent Kororinpa is also tons of fun, and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is very nice as well.

For all of those games, I found many reviewers to be complaining about irrelevant details, while missing the point - they are fun games - and I'd heartily recommend them all, at least if you find the concepts appealing. For ET and TH that basically means you have to like arcade racing. For Kororinpa? Well, if you liked Super Mario Sunshine's old school levels, I'm certain you'll love it.

Of course, that there are quite a few gems already doesn't mean there aren't also loads of crap on the machine, but then again it is still quite new.

More than ever it's important for gamers to test out a game before casually dismissing it because it got a 6, or whatever.

I tend to agree. If you read reviews around the net, people love or hate the control method. And why do you hate a control method? Because you can't seem to use them to do what you want. Reviewers of Wii games are as new to this as every other Wii buyer. There are no years of experience like with an old control method. It will be quite some time until reviewers are good at motion controls and can accurately judge wether it's a control method that sucks, or them.

Oh, and I do enjoy this game. ;)

@oerhört:

Please dont respond to retards who post stuff like "another average wii game", it'll just make them pop up in every thread masturbating over how great their ps3 is and how it's got LOADS MORE great exclusives, etc etc.

Not worth the effort mate.

Good pun.

Of course it's ok (and necessary) to differ in opinions. But the scores throughout the last couple of reviews seem somewhat irrational.

I don't want to everyone to agree with me nor do I find anyone stupid for not sharing the same opinion as me. It's just that recently I just cannot follow the arguments as to why some games get rated the way they are. Obviously many people disagree with the Sonic review and for a good reason imho. Nothing wrong with liking the game but the score is just so wrong looking at it and comparing it to other games. I guess you can discuss until you drop over what really matters in a game. Sonic may be fun but it's so flawed that I just cannot understand an 8 rating. Of course the text is much more important than the score in the end but the score puts the text in context. It's not always easy to weigh the pros and cons and while I find the reviews generally well written it's difficult to judge wether the cons distract too much from the fun or not. Quote from the review: "Indeed, it's still a relatively satisfying one once you get your head around the basics.". What exactly does relatively mean? In relation to what?

I am really having a hard time understanding what the reviewers are looking for in the games. You cannot rate "fun". SSX is so much better than Sonic in terms of presentation, content and a lot of other things. Both games are fun, definetly. It's how you get to enjoy the "fun". Running in a straight line in Sonic is fun, looking at the loading screen for nearly a minute and 5 menus just to play a level though is not. The controls of SSX Blur may not be perfect, in fact I was having quite some trouble with the tutorial myself (it's really difficult) but once you get the feeling for it, as the review said, you can really enjoy the game. Just like Excite Truck was enormous fun after getting used to the very sensitive controls.

I have not played SSX Blur long enough and certainly not as long as the reviewer but I fail to see the reason to give this game a 6. I totally understand Kororinpa's 6. The game is short, the graphics are laughable. While I agree that gameplay and thus controls are the most important thing in a game I really don't think that the controls in SSX are that bad to mark the game down despite the good graphics, content and general presentation; It's difficult, not broken.

boo hoo, EG suck for not agreeing with my opinion

"So yes, from that point of view, people are entitled to question the current quality of the Wii's lineup."

Sigh.. okay, i'll bite.

The wii and the ps3 came out at the same time. How many decent exclusives does the ps3 have, and how many decent exclusives does the wii have?

Point proven, now shut up posting the same thing in every thread :-)

If SSX Blur is only a 6/10 then God help the Tiger Woods review. :)

Point proven, now shut up posting the same thing in every thread :-)
No chance. Bundy just can't help himself.

Ive picked up both tiger and ssx in the last few days, and while both offer the new control scheme and require some dedication to get the controls down pat, im still finding that ive played these games a gazillion times before, wiimote or not.

>, im still finding that ive played these games a gazillion times before

But let me guess, if it was yet another fps you wouldnt feel that?

But let me guess, if it was yet another fps you wouldnt feel that?

:)

I disagree with the review. I got the game yesterday and had a chance to play it for the past few days. When I first started the game, I did feel that the controls were a little strange and hard to pick up.
At first I couldn't really pull off any ubertricks no land moves properly, but after persisting with the game for about an hour the control system clicked with me and I was pulling off all the tricks and ubers currently possible with my character level. I've just completed the first peek and on the way to doing tournaments in the 2nd peek.

This is definitely a great addition to the SSX franchise, though it may be a bit more hardcore than some casuals would like of it as you need a while to click with pulling off tricks. But once you do, oh yeah it's a hell of a lot of fun. At the stage i'm at, i think i'd give it about an 8.5, and going further into the game and unlocking new tricks and areas, that score is sure to increase.

If you're into games that give you a challenge, then this is definitely for you. It only took about an hour to really get into the flow of the controls and from then on it was smooth. You do have to persist with the ubertricks after unlocking them as some are harder than others....but there's a section in the menu where you can practice the movement and it tells you if you're doing it right or not. Very fun game and 6 is far too low a score for it. It appears like the reviewer just found it too hard.

Pitty. This all seems to be odds with both Nintendo and EA's 'gaming for all' philosophies...

It's a legitimate question though. All those games he namechecks as "fun", I would see as fairly shallow, throwaway experiences. Only Zelda fits the mould of epic, engrossing, immersive adventure, blah, blah, blah and all those other cliched soundbites. So yes, from that point of view, people are entitled to question the current quality of the Wii's lineup.

Yeah, but then again, I don't see why "epic, engrossing, immersive adventures" are the only games that matter. If you call Excite Truck shallow, I think you need to play it. The same goes for Kororinpa, which may well have the most remarkably well-conceived controls of any game for some time.

Maybe the truth of the matter is just that you don't like arcade racers and platformers all that well? Well, that's surely a shame (you're missing out :), but that doesn't mean those games aren't highly worthwhile for the people who do.

I totally understand Kororinpa's 6. The game is short, the graphics are laughable.

How much graphics matter in a pure platformer is highly debatable, but even if they do matter, the graphics in kororinpa are consistently charming.

The notion that the game is short has some more validity, since you could see most of the levels in a few hours. However, I think the game isn't really something you just "finish", it's most definitely a game you want to "complete" - in this case, that means at least 20 hours of playtime, which is very decent in my view. Kororinpa surely could have been much more, but it is still a vast challenge to complete even as it is.

I've just played the tutorial and had a few shots on quick play; the graphics and sound are brilliant with the music getting faster with every trick. I'm not playing SSX Tricky or another game in the franchise; I'm playing SSX Blur. :)

Another exclusive third party game for Wii. Great news for PS2 owners then. Wait a couple of months for a cheaper and with better controls version. Isn't great being last gen?

Any game that uses the word "Uberrific" in it's HUD deserves an extra point on the score, in my book.

Pitty. This all seems to be odds with both Nintendo and EA's 'gaming for all' philosophies...

Why? "All" means hardcore, too.

oerhört: I completely agree that graphics are not the most important thing in a platformer (or many other genres). Actually I was kind of running low on arguments :)

Personally I don't think graphics are all that important but as a reviewer I guess you have to rate something. To make it short, I have no problem with SSX getting a 6 since I am really enjoying it and I also have no problem with Excite Trucks' 8 which I would rate a 9 and possibly even a 10. Which is special because I'd like to see a 10 only for very few games that really stand out. Ocarina of Time, Mario 64 come to mind for example. It's just that I cannot tell by reading the review why a 6 is justified. One simple question: What is it with SSX that makes it get lower marks than Sonic? Why are many other Wii games better than SSX? True, SSX is not "the perfect game". But what are the reviewers looking for? A review should not only be based on subjectivity because it simply does not work when only one reviewer gets to rate a game. If I don't know what the reviewer is looking for in a game then I simply cannot judge his opinion. Graphics are not important but should nonetheless be a (small) factor in reviews. So should be presentation and menu structure. Loading times could be included too. They are not the most important thing in a game but it all sums up and in the end can spoil the game. I really tend to agree with the people who think SSX got rated down just for being hard. Because looking at the game objectively I really don't think it compares to many other titles rated "only" a 6.

Kororinpa and ExciteTruck have reignited my Wii-love. Both are fab. And I've had more fun playing either of them than TP managed in 50 hours.

@Der_tolle_Emil:

"LOOKING AT THE GAME OBJECTIVELY, I really don't think it compares to many other titles rated "only" a 6."

Just wondering how you do that...

But that's exactly my point. Games should feature a certain standard and polish. It's difficult to judge games by themselves because at the end it's down to someone's taste and thus not at all objective but sometimes you can at least compare between games.

I'm sure you listened to a record once you know is not bad but you just don't like it. Objectively you can tell the record is not too bad because the singer knows how to sing, the lyrics make sense, the drummer is talented. However you don't like the album which can easily be the case. But without knowing what you usually like and look for in music your opinion for me is worthless. It's like asking a Hip Hopper what he thinks of the latest Marilyn Manson album. He will probably not like the album because he is looking for something different in music.

Lately with the reviews I have no idea what the reviewers are looking for. Games that feature good music, good graphics, good presentation, are fun and not too short get worse ratings than games with horrible music, bad presentation and only 6 levels stretched by repetitive missions to artificially enlengthen the game.

I don't trust Eurogamer reviews anymore. I bought Sonic on the strenght of its 8/10 score but I found the controls broken beyond belief and the game wasn't much fun either. As an SSX fan I bought the game yesterday and its beautiful, has great muic, bags of fun and its definitely nowhere near as hard as some reviewers seem to think.

The moral of this story: You're mileage may vary.

Sulaco, completely agree with you on that point, i bought sonic on the strength of eurogamers review and while it was an ok game, there were many things about it such as the menu structure, music, etc that really dragged it down and made me trade it in for SSX and i couldn't be happier. It is far and away the better game in my opinion, really enjoying it and i'd personally recommend it without question.

To clear up the ubertrick issue: despite what the review says you don't need to point the wiimote at the screen and you don't need to wait for the prompt (although if you did these things you'd probably find it just as frustrating as the reviewer did).

Plus the heart shaped one is actually pretty easy to pull off and there's an option to practise the arm flailing required for the ubertricks any time you pause the game.

Loving this game but it's so hard. Or I'm getting old. Possibly both.

For me it's harder to land than doing the tricks. The Übertricks are ok and the message that you don't need to point at the screen is actually on the practice screen too. You just need to really move the Wiimote in the way you want to do the shape, not just point to the screen and "draw" the shape, just like you would do when moving the cursor. You really have to do the motion, then it usually works. Landing is a bit harder. I have to still figure out when exactly I should stop doing the tricks.

You need to press the A button to return the character to a landing position.

I was quite looking forward to playing this, with the opinion that it'd probably take a while to master the controls. So the other day I booted it up and started on the tutorials. About an hour later I still felt I was crap at the trick system. It annoyed me, so I turned it off for the evening. I was worried that the trick system and especially the ubertricks were basically a bunch of turd. Then I loaded it up again yesterday, did some events and practiced the ubertricks some more. At this stage I can pull off lots of ubertricks, sometimes a few in a single jump on the half pipe, I rarely bail after normal tricks, I can do neat combinations of spins and flips and I have no trouble traversing the rail matrices present in a lot of the courses. I guess my main point is that I now feel really comfortable with the control, and more importantly I prefer it much more than the old control setup. I't's much more satisfying. And as for that comment about being able to add more variety to the tricks under the old control scheme, well I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I don't think there's any worthwhile skill to be found in simply holding a random combination of direction/shoulder buttons as soon as you launch off a ramp until just before landing. At least now I actually have to think about what I'm doing trickwise.

I think the problem with most modern gamers if they've been too used to being led by the hand and have every game easy enough that they can complete.

When something like this comes along and really challenges them, they turn it off if they dont master it within minutes.

I like to be challenged, so this works for me.. but as i say.. this is deffo a marmite game.

Lost_In_Darkness wrote: "I got the game yesterday and had a chance to play it for the past few days."


*goes cross-eyed*

lol, meant to say past two days.

I've only been able to put two hours into this game, but I'm really not finding it as arduous as various sources suggest - certainly, Ubertricks seem reasonable enough to me. Mind you, this is the first snowboarding game I've played since Tricky, so I'm not really that critical, just enjoying it.
It may still change my mind, though - it's got time enough to.

(Also, am I the only one that misses the Cool Boarders 2 "Mute, 360 backspin to indy front flip - TWEAKED!" commentary? Because I really do)

Q: What games presides Zelda is decent game for Wii, esp one that has depth and is fun for more then 10mins

Ans: None

With games like: Kameo, Oblivion, Gears Of War, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Crackdown, Project Gothem Racing, Fight Night 3, Viva Pintna, Ghost Reacon 2, on 360 - this seems more the truth to next gen gameplay then any Wii game; inc Zelda (same formula of gameplay).

With Mass Effect, Bioshock, Halo 3, Alan Wake, Banjoo Kazioo, Blue Dragon all AAA titles this year, what the hell has Wii got. Since launch all games seem either medicore or crap, except Zelda. The only difference is control with wii games, not really next-gen stuff is it!....Only Metroid, Zelda, Mario (though i think people are losing interest in the fat plumber) have some hope - though: Halo 3, Fable 2, Banjoo Kazioo, Mass Effect will push the gaming experience further then anything the Wii can do.

I think the Wii will dry up very quick, just like the Gamecube - not much support or games.

"SSX Blur is about as accessible as an Arctic supply station with no doors."

Haha funny shiz!