I got SSX3 yesterday, and I’ve got to say I am hooked. I was a big fan of SSX Tricky, so I knew I was going to have to pick this one up, and so far I am definitely not disappointed.
In fact, the only reason I’m even starting this thread is that I’m at work, and all I can think about is my last run on Launch time!
Who else is playing this game?
Ohh! I Want! I Want! I Want! I Want!
I hate the stupid PAL delays. I’ve pre-ordered SSX3 and should get it by the 31st October. I’ve started playing SSX:Tricky to wet my appetite in the mean time. At least they’re cutting the price to ~US$46 (NZ$80) compared to the usual ~US$60-72 (NZ$100-120).
Oh, do they have the bonus DVD content like Tricky? I haven’t seen anything about that yet. While I do like Lucy Lui, I hated her take on Ellise; it was too whiney for my tastes.
Which one you playing? PS2 or Xbox?
I just popped it into the XBox and started playing. Haven’t even opened the manual yet so I really haven’t the foggiest idea what I’m doing. But I love it. Yes, I love it.
Is it as good as SSX Tricky? Hard to say. It has more features; I’m not hugely enamored with the different feel yet, but boy, there’s a lot of cool stuff. And tricks!
I’m playing it on the PS2. I cannot imagine trying to play it with a different controller. I cut my teeth on the PS2 cersion of tricky, so it’d be really hard to adapt.
Having tried a bit on all three peaks, I can say that I honestly like that they set the tracks up the way they did. It really gives each track it’s own distinct purpose.
For instance, compare the Big Air tracks to say the slopestyle tracks. The Big air tracks are very short, less than a minute to run, but they are geared around getting one really huge jump, or in the case of peak 3’s version about 4 really big jumps. I imagine that if it were possible to set up a real SSX circuit, that is how they would do it, when showing off tricks. they would only use the 5km tracks to race.
I guess my only complaint to this point would be that unlike Tricky, each character does not seem distinct stat wise. Everyone maxes out their stats at 11.
I am currently trying to maxs out stats for Kaori, and I’ve found that the fastest way to make money is by running launch time (peak 2’s big air course) over and over again.
I am definitely intimidated by the platinum medals at this point, but I’ll get there eventually…
My only complaint is that Rahzel is missing.
Rahzel missing is a selling point for me. However I’m going to miss Eddie. Any celebrity voices this time around? I’m having to hold off on buying until I get my dog her shots this weekend and see what I have leftover. 
Except for the music, no celebrity voice-overs. Zip, zero. I’ve heard one quote that was anlong the lines of “Unfortunately, he [Jim Rose] can only give a 11 on a 1 to 10 scale, and we have trouble pulling him back”.
I though Billy Zane, Jim Rose and David Arquette did great work with their characters, but the others were lacking. And don’t get me started about Macy Gray’s ‘Seeya’ shudder.
Well, there may be some hope for Eddie and the rest. There are apparently ‘cheat characters’ that you can unlock, presumably by entering codes, and I have raced against at least JP, Marisol(bleck), Seeiah (bleck), and Brodi…
WHAT?! That sux, I loved when he talked smack when you did a faceplant or whatever.
I’ve played the crap out of the previous 2 games on PS2, if I play the XBox version of 3 are my hands going to get hopelessly snarled?
*I am currently trying to maxs out stats for Kaori, and I’ve found that the fastest way to make money is by running launch time (peak 2’s big air course) over and over again. *
Don’t you get less and less money each time you win the same gold medal? I’m going to have to check it out.
So far, yes, a massive thumbs-up for the game. The graphics are great, there’s a lot to do, and it’s just plain fun.
Bonus snarky tip: to artificially inflate your combo multiplier, find a relatively empty and flat spot, such as near a finish line. Press and hold left or right on the D-pad, and start tapping X. You’ll do really quick 180s, and you can easily run the combo string into double digits.
ElwoodCuse - You get half the value of the original medal when you win it a second time, or something like that. You get $20,000 the first time you run launch time, and $10,000 each gold medal after. It takes about 0:45 to run launch time, and 2 runs per gold medal equals about a minute and a half spent to get 10k, the fastest repaeatable method I’ve found so far.
I finished maxing stats on Kaori this morning, so now I’m exploring everything on peak one. I finally managed to get the gold on R&B, which was very frustrating, just because I’ve never been really good at geting rails. I’ve gotten better at it now.
I ventured up to peak 3 briefly to try the big air track up there, but I haven’t managed to get the gold yet. I need more practice. The peak 3 superpipe looks really cool though…
I’m going to wait until next week to pick this one up, as Toys R Us is doing a 3 for price of 2 deal on Xbox and PS2 games. This week they are having the same deal, but just for GC games (in case anyone is interested). I will be picking up SSX3, Crimson Skies and either JakII or NBA Live…
Wel, this morning, I finally unlocked my first cheat character. I unlocked Jurgen (from SSX 1) by completing the peak 1 goals. It appears that you use cheat characters by activating tem in a menu, and they replace your charcater while you play. They seem to have the exact stats your character does, and the same trick set, just different bodies.
It was actually kind of weird, since Kaori has several unusual animations.
In one of her animations, she is riding the osprey up the mountain, and it shows her sitting on the bench making a variety of happy hand gestures, sort of playful like. When I replaced her with Jurgen, he was sitting on the becnh, doing the strange hand gestures. Sorta creepy, but great fun.
I’ve got tomorrow off, so I’ll probably play it as close to all day as I can get away with. I’ll post more on Sunday morning…
So I got the PS2 version, since I was used to those controls. I’m not sure how much I like it. The trick combo system is definitely cool, and the graphics are possibly the best I’ve ever seen in a game, but I think the game is missing some of the funky personality of the previous ones. No one talks as much as they used to, and DJ Atomica hardly says anything at all. I want Rahzel dammit!
I just purchased the XBox version; however, I am not going to open it until I get a little feedback. How awkward are the controls? The PS2 controller is perfect, but without the 4 shoulder buttons on the Xbox, I’m not so sure I will end up enjoying it. Any opinions?