The hardest thing about saying goodbye to my Playstation 2 was the incredible loss of my relationship with SSX3. Undoubtable the most incredible snowboarding game to grace any console ever.
In 2001 we got a taste of things to come with SSX Tricky. In addition to a new pimped up style of gameplay and a very catchy soundtrack featuring Run DMC's "It's tricky", the outrageous characters were graced with celebrity voices from the likes of Lucy Liu , Macy Gray and David Arquette. The game ranked at a high 85% and opened the doors to a very exciting future of PlayStation boarding possibilities.
Then 2 years later it was like the heavens opened and poured down on us everything we could have never even dreamed possible.
An entire mountain.
Not just any mountain, the most beautifully realistic mountain ever seen on any game ever!
Three peaks and 30 different types of snows, and I dont just mean "sort of", there are are seriously 30 different types of snow that you can physically feel the difference beneath your board (aka dualshock controller)!
Beautiful sunsets, snow storms, icy patches, massive neon lit halfpipes an array of tricks that will make you feel like gravity is just some silly theory that some guy who had never had a snowboard strapped to his feet made up.
The missions of this game are challenging and range from 2 minute big air runs to 30 minutes runs down the backmountain. Thing is, even when you have completed every challenge, at gold medal level, for each of the 10 characters, you still don't flog the game on eBay.
Do you want to know why?
Because the sheer pleasure of hurtling down the mountain in just about any direction you want is enough to keep your fingers on those keys long after you have finished the game.
You play, play and play, and when you have blisters on your fingers, you play some more.
It is endless.
Until you upgrade to the PS3, and then your world starts to crumble when the realisation dawns on you that there is no SSX followup for your new thrill seeking machine.
No HD snow sprays, no crystal clear lens flares glistening off of the freshly groomed pixel snow, no breathtaking uber tricks at alititudes that make you dizzy.
It's all just over.
So this is my question - i just need to know - WHY?
Why EA Sports, have you abandoned us?
We bought your game, we dedicated hours of our lives to it, we recommended it to our friends, we rated it 95% (ign.com) and now, we have waiting relatively patiently for 7 years - SEVEN YEARS - for you to bring out a new one. But you have just left us. Forgotten, by the wayside, hidden in the wake of the 10 million Fifa titles you have released instead.
You know - i'd even settle for a Playstation 3 version of SSX 3.
Rumours of an SSX4 have lifted and broken our hearts repeatedly and yet we still sit here with nothing.
It is time.
From the bottom of my pulsing adrenaline snow fueled heart - I beg you - SSX 4 - Please...P.l.e.a.s.e....
UPDATE : DECEMBER 2010
Thank you god of all that is white and boardable ie: EA Sports :)
http://www.ea.com/uk/news/ssx-producer-blog-video?utm_source=ukhomepage&utm_medium=smalltout&utm_content=Battlefield-Heroes-image&utm_campaign=HomePage
(*some images curtesy of www.IGN.com)
