Pre-Review: SSX Blur (Wii)

Jeff’s Take:
When I heard that the next game in the SSX franchise was going to be a Wii exclusive, I was (pardon the pun) a wii skeptical. I just didn’t like the idea of EA trying to tack arbitrary motion controls onto the SSX Franchise. Despite my initial reservations, the game works… mostly.

The graphics are some of the best the Wii has yet to offer, at times making you forget that it’s not an Xbox 360 or PS3 title.

As for the controls, after a bit of practice, you’ll be flying down the mountain pulling off all kinds of tricks. Most of the time, this feels great, but sometimes the system will fail and you will pull tricks, jump, or move in a direction you don’t intend on accident. Aside from that, you’ll likely end up making the same kinds of motions over and over again with each jump, shaking your controllers every which way in somewhat random movements.

In the end, it’s actually a fun and engaging entry in the SSX series, although not quite attaining the same longevity or excellence of the series apex, SSX 3. The verdict: 8.6.

Geoff’s Take

Exactly what SSX Blur is going to be has been the subject of some confusion. Will it be a new entrant into the series? Basically a port? The newest information coming out seems to indicate that the Wii version will feature re-mixed versions of past SSX tracks - they’ll be similar, but ultimately unrecognizable. This leaves me with mixed feelings, because I think it echoes my previous concerns: that the Wii is going to copy other games with a slight “Wii twist.” And that’s what’s informing my pre-review.

Like Jeff mentions above, the graphics are some of the sharpest on the Wii - the developers use the soft blurs and lighting effects that were so effective in Twilight Princess to similar effect. The somewhat stylized look is perfect for a console that can’t do photorealism, but can generate colorful landscapes. Additionally, the use of the Wii controller does help you feel a bit more connected to the sport, with its emphasis on leans and turns.

That said, the new trick system is a mixed bag: great fun when it works (it succeeds admirably at making you look like an idiot in front of your friends and relatives), but occasionally feeling a bit jury-rigged. Sometimes you can’t draw the symbols you need accurately or quickly enough to pull them off; other times, its sheer obtrusiveness makes you wonder whether or not there would have been a better way to integrate the controller into the action.

Ultimately, like Jeff says, SSX Blur mostly works. It’s a fun entry in the SSX series, with an intriguing trick system, a user-friendly interface, and respectable graphics. It’s also going to benefit from a bit of hype, due to the fact that it’ll be the first well-reviewed Wii game in some time. However, it doesn’t break the new ground that I had been hoping from it, and so ultimately it’s going to be hard for it to climb above an 8.6.