Sliding on rails in SSX made us all nostalgic for Jet Set Radio. Good thing there's an XBLA revival coming!

Someone, somewhere decided that the loveable, over-the-top SSX formula was in dire need of a hardcore makeover. Nevermind the tried-and-true snowboarding racing and tricking off the size of normal mountains; little SSX needed piercings, tattoos, and a deadly element. And that, folks, is how the little rebel Snowboard Supercross (SSX) team end up literally killing themselves to conquer the deadliest mountains in the world.

Despite the new aesthetic and theme, in many ways, this is the SSX that series vets have come to know and love. Gameplay is largely untouched — there are boosts, colorful mountains, aggravating races, and, of course, Uber Tricks, which allows your rider to disconnect from their snowboard and breakdance in midair. But there’s a new element here, too, which breaks up the cycle of race/trick. They’re called “Deadly Descents,” and they’re mostly hit-or-miss.

One of our favorite additions to the series is Geotags — stationary orbs that you drop in Global Events, after which they earn you points the longer they sit without another playing collecting them. Placing them strategically will help you generate the points needed to buy new stuff — as will collecting other players' Geotags.

Each of SSX’s nine mountains houses a Deadly Descent, each representing a different, specific challenge. On one mountain you’ll have to carve around dangerous icy chasms using pickaxes (Ice); on another you’re tasked with surviving the Antarctic cold by staying in direct sunlight (Cold).

The poster child for these Deadly Descents is Gravity, in which you don a wingsuit and soar over gaping chasms to defy certain death. It’s fun, fast, and fits right in alongside breakdancing snowboarders. Unfortunately, for every “fun” Descent, you’ll find two painful ones.

Whether by design or not, many Descents are incredibly dark, and one, called “White Out,” requires you to surf down an almost entirely white mountain, filled with “gotcha” cliffs and ridges to kill yourself on. Each Descent allows you to purchase upgraded tools, which help you survive the Descent but don’t make it any more fun.

Wingsuits work wonders for crossing dangerous precipices. Rewinding helps, too.

Likewise, SSX has implemented an excellent rewind feature (à la Forza 3 and Need for Speed: The Run) that makes missing huge jumps or falling down cliffs a thing of the past. But even if you reverse time, your opponents carry on with the race, unaffected. This means falling down that crevasse will often still cost you the race, rewind feature be damned. We’re used to a healthy amount of frustration in our SSX games, but the difficulty in this newest iteration feels wildly inconsistent.

Fortunately, the bad Descents and tough races make up only a small part of the overall gameplay, which leaves SSX a bit of room to branch out. Take the Avalanche Descent, for instance, which provides you with a helicopter view of your boarder as he or she races away from huge avalanches. Then there are the always-enjoyable trick competitions, which are more outrageous and fun than ever. Time the right jump and you can easily land a 10-flip trick, or spin a combo that’d make the Tasmanian Devil dizzy. But that’s not the only place where SSX feels bigger. Rails are more magnetic than ever and you can stay on them indefinitely (think Jet Set Radio). Moreover, pulling off Uber Tricks has never been easier, and you can land them from an ollie.

In the Ice Descent, carving is almost impossible without equipping pickaxes.

To balance tricks being easier to perform, doing the same trick multiple times decreases its point value — a setup that’s sure to make multiplayer, which has gone through a fair bit of tweaking, more refined than ever. The only multiplayer in SSX takes the form of “Global Events” in which you set contest parameters and compete with your friends or strangers over Xbox Live. People who have already competed will appear as ghosts, and active players appear as they slice down the mountain. There are no time limits, and once you reach the bottom of the run, you’re dropped back at the top again. There are huge point deductions for heading uphill (called “No Flow,” which will quickly kill your Tricky and deplete your score), and, as on a real mountain, there’s nary a Vert Ramp to be seen.

Most of its refinements give SSX a new sense of size and scope. The mountains feel vast: not like arenas with two-minute time limits, but like actual mountains that feel both dangerous and ludicrous. Perfectionists will find plenty to keep them busy in Explore mode, which offers three medals for every drop point of every mountain. If you can make it through the yellow snow without quitting the sport, SSX has enough to keep longtime fans busy…and happy.

PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts  •  DEVELOPER: EA Canada  •  ESRB: Everyone  •  MULTIPLAYER: Online only, ghost riders and live players alike  •  ACHIEVEMENTS: A grind  •  COST: $60

On Xbox 360

+ Beautifully remodeled with plenty of colorful, vibrant visuals.

+ Enormous mountains that give races a sense of danger.

– Mind-bogglingly inconsistent difficulty; hit-or-miss quality of Deadly Descents challenges.

? Hey, where’d all the other snowboarding games go?

7.5