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The Official SSX Blur HYPE Thread

LOCK

Member
What do you guys think about the graphics?

Personally they are pretty good considering what we have been seeing on the Wii...
 

Bildi

Member
LOCK said:
What do you guys think about the graphics?

Personally they are pretty good considering what we have been seeing on the Wii...

I dunno, I think they look awesome. I haven't paid much attention to screens admittedly but I can't see anything wrong with them. Should be a good-looking game as always.
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
OP, you put the OP in quotes! WTF?! Free it from the constrains of that horrible box! Delete that poop at the beginning too--it's all included in what should be the unquoted OP. You're almost there big guy! Let's give this game everything it deserves--an unsoiled hype thread!

Also: everyone, you really SHOULD check out the most recent IGN videos. The game is bright, and beautiful, and smooth. Call it hyperbole, I don't give a ****: this is the best snowboarding series in the history of gaming, and the newest title is exclusive to the Wii.

+10 hypeage.
 
I've made my decision: the music will make or break this game. Let's take a look-see...

Stormbringer said:
WOWOWOWOW@this track! Really hoping for more like this.
Stormbringer said:
Here's another good one. Really chill, I think --lighthearted enough to hang out with Katamari's OST.
Stormbringer said:
This is the only track I'd been exposed to up until these other videos, but it's still a good one. Lots better in its buildup than the 15 second clips and awful players I've seen.

The more I look into this game the more excited I get. It really looks like the next real Wii game [out of the 4 or so that aren't ports or mini-game collections], and it's certainly uplifting to see it following Sonic so closely. Both games seem compliment each other as full-fledged games that use the Wii the way Nintendo originally intended.

I don't see this as being SSX remixed so much as a good installation into the series. It already looks great. I have a feeling we'll get everything we're used to in the game --costumes, a bevy of races, and an awesome soundtrack. The only thing that will make this sweeter is the option to select tracks on the fly [probable] and possibly streaming music off the SD card [99% not going to happen, but I can dream].
 
New preview from Gamespot:
Ricardo Torres said:
As EA's Montreal-developed SSX Blur speeds toward release next week, we had a chance to dig in to the game to get a deeper look at the title. The game was announced late last year and offers a decidedly new way to play the latest entry in the long-running series. To date, we had the chance to try out only a brief demo of the game that let us zip around one course. Fortunately, with the game's release so close, we've at last checked out a near-final version of the game to see how it has come together and see whether the SSX/Wii marriage is looking like a happy one.

You'll find a few modes to play around with in Blur: a tutorial, multiplayer, career, and quickplay. The tutorial is a comprehensive rundown of the game's control scheme that goes over every aspect of using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in several focused sequences where you'll get comfortable with the interactive control scheme. The multiplayer mode is your basic two-player split-screen simultaneous play and turn-based racing for up to four players. The career mode is shaping up to offer exactly what you'd expect out of an SSX game. After creating a profile you'll be dropped on the slopes of a mountain and can do some exploring to find events, gather collectibles, or just get comfortable with the control mechanics. As with the last two SSX games, Blur has an open feel to it and makes going around the mountain an interactive menu of sorts. When you start to progress through the game and open up new racers (you have just a handful to choose from in the beginning), you'll start competing in the various tournaments in the game. Victory in the tournaments lets you unlock content that includes racers and performance- and appearance-enhancing accessories for your rider that range from outfits to boards. Once you get on a roll, you'll be able to start traveling between the three different peaks in the game that house the roughly dozen courses. Finally, the quickplay mode lets you jump directly into the various race types for a fast arcade-style run.

In terms of the game's control, the positive first impression we had with our demo extended into our time with the near-final game. The basic system of getting around with the Wii Remote feels good. Moving your racer with the Nunchuk, via tilting, flicking, and pressing the analog stick, still works well. You'll be able to perform a bit of customization on the setup, as you can choose to tweak how much you'll have to use the analog stick in conjunction with tilting the Nunchuk for turns in the game's options. Using the buttons on the Nunchuk for boosting and stance changes provides a good complement to the movement mechanic that keeps the action intuitive. The Wii Remote's function as your in-the-air input device seems to work almost as well. The basic suite of motions you can do--moving it left or right for spins, or moving it up or down for flips--feel right. Throwing snowballs with B to rattle your opponents and hitting A and B to do handplants all make good sense. Using the remote in conjunction with the A button for the ubertricks is a somewhat trickier affair that the jury is still out on. Though we dig the idea behind it, in practice, the act of drawing motions in the air during a jump can get complicated. While it's not so bad with the easier shapes that have to be made, some of the more complex motions are difficult to pull off accurately. We'll have to spend more time with the game to see if it's just a steep learning curve or if the system doesn't work as well as we'd hoped. Despite that one element, though, SSX Blur's control scheme feels good overall.

The visuals in the game have been cleaned up since the work-in-progress demo we saw a while back. As we noted before, the franchise's stylized look suits the Wii nicely, and that impression hasn't changed. The racers we saw all looked good and had a good amount of modest detail, such as Karoi's panda backpack and bits of clothing moving in the wind. Extra flourishes like snow sticking to the characters when they tumbled, motion blur, particle effects for snow, mist, and fireworks, and copious amounts of lens flare and other lighting all help enhance the game's look. The courses seen in previous games should be familiar to longtime fans; they aren't dramatically different overall. From what we saw, there's some slight tweaking here and there but nothing too out of the ordinary. Despite the added polish since we last saw it, the game's frame rate remains high and consistent, ensuring a good sense of speed.

SSX's Blur's audio package stays true to the model set by the previous games, with some enhancement. The center of the experience is the radio station framework that features commentary from a DJ and cycles the different tunes you'll hear as you play. Given the love/hate relationship most players have with the DJ, we'll note that you can turn his voice all the way down in the game's options, allowing you to enjoy your experience with just music. The game's varied soundtrack will cycle in and out as you play, ebbing and flowing in conjunction with how you're doing. Aside from the DJ, the voices vary some; the racers don't seem quite as chatty as they've been in previous games, though you'll still hear everyone to one degree or another as you race. Finally, the game features the expected collection of sound effects for pickups and the like.

Based on what we played, SSX Blur looks like a solid first date for the SSX series and the Wii. The control scheme has a good feel and seems to be a good fit. The visuals are good and feature the additions of some nice bits of gloss to keep the game from looking too GameCubey. As far as content goes, there's a good amount of material to mine through with this "greatest hits" feel of returning courses, and characters may leave fans of the series hungering for more original content. Thankfully, solid gameplay mechanics uphold the game's considerable charm. Wii owners looking for some snowy action will want to keep an eye out for SSX Blur when it ships next week exclusively for the Wii. Look for our full review shortly.
Seems like more of the same as far as content goes, but I'm glad to see the character's will have voices and the music is varied enough. It sounds like Torres described it pretty well, a solid entry with a few new doodads and a brand-new control scheme.

If reviewers pick on anything specifically with SSX Blur, it'll most likely be either taking a while to get comfortable with Uber tricks or that they're too much trouble altogether. Might also get nailed a bit for having more of the same content and not enough changes to courses we've been down earlier in the series.


P.S.
Armchair Empire also has a preview noting that there will be a total of 12 new tracks outside of any old ones they redo.
 

Bildi

Member
Mr. Spinnington said:
New preview from Gamespot

Awesome, thanks for quoting - no decent human being should have to wade through the download-fest of Gamespot and IGN.

I'm thrilled to hear that character voices are in (although reduced but that's better than nothing) and that the DJ is back (Atomika I think?).

The Uber system sounds fine. I remember the Monster Trick system was pretty painful having to remember a string of moves so this can't be much worse.

I'm feeling more confident that this is at least a partial return to form after On Tour.

Armchair Empire said:
There will also be three separate mountains and twelve new tracks for players to carve down.
I think they're referring to the 12 remade tracks.
 
I'm so very pumped for this game. It looks like a real return to form for the franchise, even if it is more of a "beat-of" title. Thankfully the wiimote controls, which seem great, should make things feel fresher.
 

Eteric Rice

Member
I've never owned a SSX game, but I think I'm going to buy this one full price... Which is something I rarely EVER do.

Even though it's an EA game, credit is due if it's good.
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
That review is getting me pumped. And that guy above: the music IS good! At first I was worried about the lack of EA Trax that really shone in the last-gen versions, especially in Tricky and SSX3, but apparently the music system is a dynamic all its own. It was originally recored by some DJ and will feature some of the effects seen in past games that elevate (increased volume, number of simultaneous tracks, etc) as you increase your bad-assed-ness on the track.

Sweet!
 

Saoh

Member
i love how Blur is turning out, but i noticed that it doesnt have as many tricks as Tricky :/ and i loved that part of Tricky. just your regular spin and twist here, and uber moves.

still, the game looks very good, good graphics and controls. i haven't bough an SSX since Tricky, but i might get this one... let's see if i can wait untill it drops to $40 :)
 
This looks like it could be a lot of fun. I'll definitely be giving it a try. To me, this *is* the next-gen SSX. Next-gen controls are far more intriguing to me than next-gen graphics.

On another point-- It's silly and shortsighted the way some refer to the Wii's graphics as unacceptable and "ugly," when 5 years ago, they would have been praising them as state-of-the-art. Just like the beauty of youth, the charm of graphical prowess always fades-- in the end, games are ultimately judged by their design rather than their aesthetics. This has much is obvious, yet gamers tend to be so blockheaded that it bears addressing.
 
This looks like it could be a lot of fun. I'll definitely be giving it a try. To me, this *is* the next-gen SSX. Next-gen controls are far more intriguing to me than next-gen graphics.

On another point-- It's silly and shortsighted the way some refer to the Wii's graphics as unacceptable and "ugly," when 5 years ago, they would have been praising them as state-of-the-art. Just like the beauty of youth, the charm of graphical prowess always fades-- in the end, games are ultimately judged by their design rather than their aesthetics. This has much is obvious, yet gamers tend to be so blockheaded that it bears addressing.
 
I was going to head to Gamespot yesterday to pick up Sonic, but this thread totally converted me and I put my money on a pre-order for SSX Blur instead. The only other SSX game that I've played is On Tour (which left a very sour taste), so at first I was kind of hesitant, but after watching some of those movies and hearing that it's more of an open mountain structure, I'm totally ready for this. The music sounds excellent, too.

Count me in on the hype train.
 
PantherLotus said:
That goes directly against what every single other hands-on preview has said so far.

I've noticed that Wii games are often incredibly polarising when it comes to controls, so what one reviewer thinks is smooth & intuitive another is blasting for being broken. For example, Call of Duty 3 controls garnered some very positive impressions from a number of reviewers, but it also attracted several scathing reviews that claimed the controls were utterly botched (one called the game an "unplayable mess", IIRC).

I'm not sure quite why there should be such a disparity over this. Some, I could understand, as the quality of a control scheme is to some extent going to be a subjective thing, but the wildly varying impressions of Wii control schemes suggest there's something else going on.

Perhaps some reviewers aren't sticking with an unfamiliar control scheme, or are bringing trad pad habits to the new controllers?
 
Mejilan said:
Red Steel was botched. CoD3 was quite fine, for the most part.

Well, one thing Red Steel did get right was the motion-controls for other actions - grenade-throwing, reloading, door opening generally worked very well in RS, where in CoD3 they were utterly broken to the point where they nearly ruined several sections of the game for me (the hand-to-hand fight with a German in the first stage, for example).

However, when it came to movement, aiming and general FPS gameplay, CoD stomped on RS & certainly didn't deserve the criticism some outlets threw at it.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
I'd mostly agree. Shooting and aiming was great. The rest needed some work. That said, I never had problems with the gun-wrestling bits. My brother, however, definitely hit a wall there for a while.
 

vanguardian1

poor, homeless and tasteless
For me it was the opposite, after tweaking the controls (aim assist off + high sensitivity) in Red Steel I was pulling off headshots like nobody's business, and in swordfights I disarmed about everyone with no major hassles.

In COD3 Wii no matter how I configured the controls I could barely shoot the jerries main bodies, much less their heads. The "struggle fights" were horrible, especially the last one. I died over a dozen times against the last "struggle" guy alone, simply because I couldn't get the controls to "shrug" him off. :( I did enjoy the tanks and jeep driving levels though. :)

Btw, I come from playing FPS's only on PC (outside of Metroid Prime series), especially the first 2 Call Of Duty games.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
As someone completely new to the series/snowboarding games in general, I assume there is a ton of replayability with this? I'm debating getting this or Tiger Woods, leaning heavily towards Blur.
 
PantherLotus said:
Let's talk about SSX Blur, the most underrated 3rd-party exclusive to the Wii yet.



Yeah really, my little brother is picking this up. It looks pretty awesome. I just hope the level design is back up to shnuff with Tricky and the Original. SSX3 was great because of its open-mountain feel, but the tracks were rather generic.
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
schuelma said:
As someone completely new to the series/snowboarding games in general, I assume there is a ton of replayability with this? I'm debating getting this or Tiger Woods, leaning heavily towards Blur.


SSX, as a series, is the NFS of snowboarding games. TONS of replayability. Basically, you can go through the entire game with one character and build them up, unlock outfits and boards and accessories and stuff, and then do it all again with another character. It's freaking awesome.

Wait another year on Tiger.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Thanks for the thoughts..assuming reviews are decent I think I'll pick it up.

I had the same thought re: Tiger. By next year hopefully any control kinks will be worked out and it will be online.
 
PantherLotus said:
SSX, as a series, is the Burnout of snowboarding games. TONS of replayability. Basically, you can go through the entire game with one character and build them up, unlock outfits and boards and accessories and stuff, and then do it all again with another character. It's freaking awesome.

Wait another year on Tiger.
Fixed :)

Also, pick up Hot Shots 5 later this year if you know what's going down in gaming's golf.

Now back to anxiously awaiting reviews at midnight EST
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
I accidentally brought a woman to tears playing SSX once. I pointed out she had better downhill times if she didn't touch the controller at all for the entire run.


oops.
 

unomas

Banned
It looks pretty good gameplay wise from that video, but graphically it would have been nice to go for a more realistic look. I'd buy it if I had a Wii.
 
Oh I'm hyped for this game, alright. Strangely enough one of the main reasons is the music: they've designed the music especially for the game. I think this should be something developers should do more instead of just plastering a lame soundtrack of some random bands on it. It reminds me of Rez, and ANYTHING that reminds me of Rez is good in my book.
 
Moz La Punk said:
Oh I'm hyped for this game, alright. Strangely enough one of the main reasons is the music
The soundtrack is on iTunes. Search the store for Junkie XL to listen to it.

It's a really good one, I'd have to say. I'm really excited for the game's OST as well, so it's a huge deal to me that it sound this great.
 
Mr. Spinnington said:
The soundtrack is on iTunes. Search the store for Junkie XL to listen to it.

It's a really good one, I'd have to say. I'm really excited for the game's OST as well, so it's a huge deal to me that it sound this great.

Thanks for the tip man. Going to search for it now.

Kind of proud to see JXL in any game every time though (him being from the same country and all). Except when he made the soundtrack for the DOA movie... pff.
 
Ah crap, I didn't realize this game was out this week. I swear my poor wallet is going to kill me, especially after getting Crackdown, Sonic, and Naruto EX last week. ;_;
 
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