
Frustrating new controls alter game play
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
SSX's highly anticipated 4th game sold exclusively for Wii, entitled 'SSX Blur' has a lot of good intentions. There are creative new tournaments, many different ways to attempt courses, and a great layout. Though all of these things add to SSX's playability, it takes a few steps back by eliminating what made the game such fun to play- complex tricks that were easy to do.
SSX Blur uses the same format at the third edition of the game, three different peaks with several courses on each. Again on each course you have several options, like a competing in a race or a half pipe tournament. The navigation for these courses is very easy.
The main problem with the game is the controls. To get complete use of the Wii controller the game developers made every action dependent on hand movement on both the controller and the nunchuk, taking a lot of coordination. They do offer a whole section of tutorials so you can get used to this type of play. Though this helps the controls alter the game play in a way that can often be frustrating, inaccurate, and confusing.
Let me explain why:
To move left and right you move the nunchuk in that direction. Ok, not too bad To attempt grabs you hold the Z button and move tilt the nunchuk left, right, up, and down. While also doing this a flip is a strict up and down movement with the wii controller while a spin is a left to right movement. Performing these actions simultaneously can be quite a task.
To perform an 'uber trick' the tricks which have made SSX titles popular, is the hardest of all. You must draw a shape on the screen while holding the A button. These shapes vary from a "Z" shape, to a letter "E" with two loops intertwined. The sensor almost never picks up on these tricks, even if you give it multiple tries on a high jump.
So what if advanced gamers want a challenge? Sure, the game does have a fun factor for those up for it. But lets be honest, it changes the game completely. The whole idea behind the SSX titles are unrealistic and dramatic jumps, spins, and tricks that worked with any gamer because they were easier to do. As the game progressed you could make combination tricks that were perfectly timed. On SSX Blur the gamer wildly flails the remote in an attempt to make a trick work. Out of 100 jumps it is almost impossible to get the same trick twice, proving the game's inaccuracy.
SSX Blur is a game that had promising aspects, but simply did not live up to its expectations and previous installments. Hopefully EA will learn from these faulty motions and improve when developing its successor.
Review ID: 10000000003679185

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