SSX

This past week saw the latest release in the SSX series, the first in over six years, but more importantly, the first of this generation. With snowboarding games being in a woeful place since the SSX brand truly popularised them with ' Tricky' (the second installment in the series) in the early years of the new millennium, EA had already had their stage set by their competitors, with titles like  Shaun White's Snowboarding ,  Amped 3 and Stoked whetting people's appetites but never totally fulfilling the urge. All the SSX series had to do is deliver another solid title in an already impressive series, and it would reap the rewards.

The initial outset of SSX is extremely appealing, despite being shrouded by an average plot to motivate you. Team SSX are a group of the world's most elite extreme sports athletes and their aim is to 'dominate' the nine deadliest descents on the planet. However, one of the group has left and taken most of the sponsorship deals with him, and it's up to Team SSX to replace him and to continue impressing to keep their funds up.

So they might as well get the most eye-catching boards money can buy!

The working title of 'Deadly Descents' is the appealing aspect though, not the reverse underdog story, and each descent has its own danger, examples being ice, rocks and my personal favourite, avalanches. The main campaign of the game (entitled World Tour) is to go to each mountain, beat a team mate to assess if they're ready for Team SSX and then to have them train through race and trick challenges before pitting them against the full descent, prominent danger and all. Though this game mode is quite short and has a learning curve that shoots up way too fast for the final two challenges, it flows very nicely, and you go from one descent to another at a leisurely pace with the challenge of the next descent's danger and the introduction of a new character being a nice excuse to keep moving forward.

To combat the initially underwhelming length of the World Tour mode however, there is also the option to 'Explore', which allows you to choose from a huge 153 drop points while competing for medals, or even more appealingly, provided you're connected to Xbox Live or PSN, against your friends on RiderNet, a system that posts your friends' high scores directly to your game screen. RiderNet is much like the Need for Speed series' AutoLog, whereby you can send challenges, post your best scores instantly and basically just show off. When attempting to rival your friends challenges, their ghost is also projected on the course and this is, unfortunately, as close as SSX gets to genuine multiplayer. It works well with SSX and for the more competitive player can provide hours of added gameplay.

All this considered, the game is well presented, and the option to personalise your music with what's on your Xbox 360/Playstation 3 or choose from the list of commercial dub-step/drum 'n' bass/dance music they have on offer. Sound effects are all spot-on and the character's voices alongside their assistants in the helicopters, that give you valuable insight into the course as it unfolds, are performed very well and come out crisp and clear.

This could either score a lot of points or end very badly...

One disappointment is the lack of any character creation. Understandable, as the game is about Team SSX, but you have to believe they could have turned the main protagonist, Zoe, into you, the gamer at home. It's a minor gripe however, that is actually compensated by allowing you to customise the characters as you play, unlocking more credits and equipment as you go. And with each descent requiring a different piece of equipment to survive it, there's plenty for you to purchase.

But if anything looks better than the equipment you can collect it's the game itself. The landscapes are breathtaking, the graphics of the snow are excellent whether it's falling in the sky, being carved by your snowboard, or crumbling down towards you in an all-encompassing avalanche, the effects are as good as you could ever hope for. The characters are maturely animated and keep the charm of the ludicrous, reality-defying, spectacular action without looking childish. The action moves at an incredibly smooth pace with the frame-rate never dropping and the camera behaving itself at all times.

At first, I have to confess that I struggled with SSX as I played it. The action moves fast and the controls are quite loose, and for those that haven't played previous installments in the series, it will take some time to get used to it. However it quickly becomes apparent that the game would suffer, were the controls any tighter and as you start to adapt to them (thankfully quicker than you would expect), you can feel yourself using the entire width and length of each course to aid you in gaining a high score, which is important to win in trick challenges, and also important for races as you earn boost upon completion of a trick or grind.

Much like other EA Sports games, SSX has finally evolved to the dual analogue control system and tricks can either be performed with the simple flick or rotation of the right analogue stick while in mid-air. Grinds are also performed with general ease, your boarder automatically beginning a grind should you come in contact with a bright red rail, or you can hold the left trigger to attempt a grind on a piece of the landscape. The only problem is that there is a loose 'auto lock-on' system, and though it has only happened once so far, my boarder actually fell off the side of the cliff after the game forced me to move gradually towards a grind rail.

However, another trick that SSX has learned from other games is the 'rewind' system. Originally introduced by Race Driver: Grid to wide critical acclaim, it's a system that does away with the archaic concept of the screen fading to black before replacing your intact car (or in this case, boarder) back on the course at the cost of a few seconds, and instead allows you to rewind what happened. Most games limit this system to an amount of uses, and whereas SSX also does for the survival descents, during the race and trick challenges, you can use them as much as you like, though your rivals will continue moving as you do and you face a penalty of points. It works well, and though you never forget it's there, it effectively discourages you from using it unnecessarily.

Snowy, damp socks guaranteed.

SSX is a complete package with smooth gameplay that looks great all the time and from every angle. EA have truly revived the genre in style, and brought back a much-loved series successfully. Whereas SSX suffers for having limited online and local multiplayer features and has room for improvement in terms of customising and personalising the player's experience, these downfalls are undermined largely by how much it shines in just about every other department. With some minor tweaks, a follow-up would be nearly impossible to criticise.

8 out of 10.

PSVita Launch Titles: After the dust has settled

The weekend is drawing to a close and the launch buzz for the PSVita is slowly winding down as the eager buyers have nabbed it as fast as possible while other interested parties have seen the price, winced and started considering the 3DS instead.

Probably the most curvaceous model
I'll be getting my hands on this year.

However, those with fat wallets and appreciation for modern technology will undoubtedly see more appeal in the PSVita from the outset. The latest handheld console boasts a 5" LED touch-screen, combined with a touch panel on its back, twin analogue stick controls as standard, sixaxis tilt control, graphics reminiscent of  the Playstation 3, two cameras and optional 3G support. Basically, with the exception of 3D, the PSVita has just about every feature you've ever seen on a portable electronic gadget.

So how is it? Well, being that I don't have the pleasure of taking one home with me, I can only really comment on the game line-up and to be fair, if I was overly enthusiastic about commenting on anything else, I suppose I'd consider that to be a slight dent to my gaming roots.

For overall scores of each launch title, take a quick gander at the PSVita section on metacritic. The line-up was an interesting one, and also big, holding a lot more titles and variety than most consoles did on release. You had some gimmicky games in titles like Little Deviants and Reality Fighters mixed in with the more serious efforts, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and WipEout 2048. So all things considered, Sony definitely deserve credit for efforts in getting the catalogue off to a well-rounded start with a lot to choose from.

I can't lie, Little Deviants did impress me with its innovation. For example, one mini-game involves using the back touch panel to alter the landscape so that you can roll a little balled up creature around, and it's a pretty unique game concept, evoking a certain whimsical feeling of nostalgia for anyone who was lucky enough to play Marble Madness as a kid. The only problem with this is that it gets old  a little too quickly. It's interesting and somewhat fun, but like the other game modes and levels, it really isn't very gripping at all. It isn't a way I would choose to play games, just a way that is now possible to.

And this character also has 'rejected mascot'
written all over it.

Reality Fighters is much the same, in that it impresses you its fancy tricks, but as soon as you get over the (admittedly hilarious) fun of dressing up a character with your face and voice, you're simply playing an average fighting game in a genre already filled with excellent competition. Still, points should be earned for effort, augmented reality is a popular gimmick at the moment and this is a great example of how amusing it can be, even if the joke is shallow.

But the title that really grabbed everyone's attention was the new Uncharted. The idea of having one of the greatest gaming series of the past decade on a portable console, without sacrificing anything in terms of graphics or accessibility was a huge draw. And Golden Abyss is a good game, much as it should be, but there are problems with the concept as a whole.

The benefits are typical, the great hybrid gameplay of platforming, shooting and fighting, the controls are smooth and it looks great throughout. But the problems are initially a little less obvious. My biggest personal gripe is that Drake's adventures are too grand to be captured by such a small device. Part of the appeal of Uncharted is sitting comfortably and watching the epic story unfold and being captivated by the exceptional cinematic set-pieces and beautifully rendered environments. This feeling simply cannot be captured on a handheld device unless you have a peaceful environment and enough time to get engrossed. And if you do, you're probably at home, sitting next to your Playstation 3 and presumably at least one title in the Uncharted trilogy.

Adventurous, charismatic, honourable... And probably extremely smelly
after wearing the SAME CLOTHES for FOUR games.

Golden Abyss also insists on trying to use every Vita feature possible, from touch-screen brawling, to tilting the whole machine while walking tightropes. These features are gimmicky and quickly become more of a nuisance than a novelty. When all's said and done, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a good game, but it simply doesn't rival its big-screen older brothers. The benefit of it being portable is minimal too, for reasons previously mentioned.

Interestingly enough, the games that have impressed me most are the 'ports'. Titles such as Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom, Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend and Rayman Origins all feature in much the same form on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but they all have the instant gratification that is well-suited to a portable console. These are games you can play for ten minutes or so and then put down straight away. They also look incredible on the LED screen and it's a pleasure to see a portable equivalent to home console games that fully retains all the features. They also don't use any of the gimmicks that the Vita offers, being ports and they're all the better for it. The term 'tacked on' has become overused since Nintendo got their hands on the casual market, but that's another argument for another day.

Words cannot express how fantastic Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend
looks in motion, it's nothing short of glorious.

As I have briefly mentioned throughout this post, the biggest concern with handheld consoles is 'when?' though. When are you going to play it? Whilst at home, sitting next to your far superior Playstation 3 or Xbox 360? Or whilst on your commute to work which, for most people, consists of pushing, shoving and fighting for a seat? Naturally it will work out for some people, I used to have a two-hour journey to and from my store on a relatively quiet tube, and had the Vita come out when I still had to bear that, I'd almost certainly pick one up. But for many, it's an over-priced luxury that takes itself a bit too seriously. The appeal is still there, but for now, I can resist it quite comfortably.

An Introduction

After viewing some excellent blogs that have been created by friends (such as video-game based 'The New Challenger' by Miles Daniel-Davies and 'Late To The Party' by Heather Benedyk as well as the more cerebral 'Incidentally,' by Alex Degroot, all three of which are fantastic blogs, by wonderful, close friends of mine), I have decided to finally put my degree in Creative Writing, my product and industry knowledge gained during my time as an employee of the biggest games retailer in Europe and my own personal passion for gaming to some use.


Well, here it is, Chaos Mushroom, a blog about video games with a little bit of general interest thrown in for good measure. For those who don't understand the title (shame on you), the 'Chaos' refers to the chaos emeralds collected to unlock the true endings in the original Sonic series and the 'Mushroom' refers to the vegetables that power you up in various ways in the original Mario series.

Arguably the most iconic items in gaming history. What do you mean plagiarism? They're emeralds, not balls!

So how are things looking in the world of gaming and why start blogging about it now? Well, February has been a generally placid month with the exception of a few somewhat interesting releases, but nothing barnstorming up until Sony chimed in with their portable behemoth, the PSVita. With opinions vastly divided on a machine that has been received with indifferent shrugs from many of my colleagues across the region, but seemingly glowing reviews from the majority of customers, it's an interesting time for handheld consoles, with both Nintendo and Sony attempting to pull in the hardcore demographic while not entirely abandoning the gimmicks that keep the casual market hungry for fresh and fashionable technology.

In between typing this, I did a little research into how well the PSVita launched in the West after an apparently disappointing release in Japan, but was unable to come up with any solid news after my lacklustre attempt. Naturally if you have any legitimate info, feel free to comment.

But back to the point... March is coming, and with it, we have an awful lot to look forward to in the inevitably brilliant Mass Effect 3, the dream crossover Street Fighter X Tekken, the genre-reviving SSX, as well as a few other releases that look set to impress.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite blog on the internet"

Long story, short, it's a good time to start a blog about gaming as 2012 is already getting ready to explode and we're only a few months in. I intend to capitalise on that, because let's face it, without me encouraging or berating you, you'd just make silly purchases and miss some absolute gems.

Before I end my first (and very lengthy) post, I would also like to give a shout-out of gratitude to my former Creative Writing classmate and good friend, Hannah Rogers, who encouraged me to finally do this while managing to put a big fat smile on my usually miserable face at the same time. That's not to say I don't hugely appreciate the numerous acts of encouragement I've received from many other friends though, you know I love you all!