SSX Blur [Wii]

"i couldnt agree more...ive experienced the game the same way as you did... just got the game today : )"

"I love snowboarding games and the SSX games have always been my favorites, because of their cool mix or board racing and over the top tricks. I have played them all to death, especially SSX Tricky. So I have been looking forward to SSX Blur, hoping that it would be a good addition to the series.

However, initial impressions were not too good. I jumped right into the Tutorial, expecting that the controls would need some explaining and getting used to. But on my first run down my Wii froze. It froze so bad that it couldn't be woken up using the reset button or even the power button. I had to unplug and re-insert the power cable to get it running again. Scary...
Back into the tutorial the game showed annoying framerate problems, every now and then the game stuttered, not the super-smooth gameplay I was used to in SSX games.
I also had problems getting used to the controls, turning by tilting the nunchuck was weird and jumping by jerking the nunchuck upwards was even worse. Doing ubertricks by waving the remote like a conductor, drawing symbols in the air?

But I really wanted this game to be good, so I persisted. First, I found out that you could also jump by pressing and releasing the A button, just like before, cool. And using Options I changed the steering controls to just the nunchuk analog stick. That helped, a lot.
And slowly the old SSX feeling returned. Racing down the well designed slopes, through the big red and blue striped curves, jumping off the track to take short-cuts. Soon I won my first Race event.

I couldn't get used to the trick controls at first. Doing grabs by tilting the nunchuk felt strange and swinging the remote for flips and turns was too cumbersome to do quickly after a jump. And the ubertricks? I didn't manage to perform even one... Winning any of the Slope Style or Half Pipe events was out of the question.
So I returned to the Tutorial to retry the trick sections and the special ubertrick practice mode. And after a few tries I got the hang of it. I learned that small and quick swings with the remote worked best for the flips and turns and especially the ubertricks.
And finally I could win the Slope Style and Half Pipe events. After that, winning the first two tournaments was easy. This unlocks Peak 2 and opens up more events and tournaments, which gives you more freedom to go where you like and do what you want.

Gradually I leaned to appreciate this game. The slopes are as briljant as ever, there's so much to discover in each one, you can take a different route each time you go down. The graphics are as good as you can expect from the Wii, not great but better than the last Gamecube version. I wish there were more Race events as these are my favorite. The focus is a bit more on tricks here. Which is a bummer because mastering the trick controls is trickier than ever (haha).

Overall I am quite happy with SSX Blur. It may have been better if they had sticked to the old style controls, but if you persist you will get the hang of the new system. So if you are into the SSX games, definitely get this one, but be prepared to endure some frustrating first few hours. "