Pros: Great control. Good graphics. Innovative soundtrack. Longevity
Cons: Fiendishly difficult. Less character customization than before.
The bottom line: A great franchise arrives for the Wii and it's a winner.
SSX Blur is the fifth incarnation of the classic snowboarding series from Electronic Arts (EA). Previous versions on other consoles such as the PS2 and Xbox were huge successes thanks to their extravagant graphics, pulsating soundtrack, vast array of tricks, challenges and extras and great modes of play such as Career and Multi-player. With the Wii version, EA have seen fit to radically overhaul the control system, so much so that it seems the Wii's revolutionary controllers have been invented solely for the purpose of playing this game. They're not of course but the Wii's nunchuck and wii-mote fit this style of game perfectly.

Playing PS2 or Xbox games on the type of controller that comes with those systems, a lot of players tend to move the controller as well in an effort to turn the skier around an almost-impossible corner (well, I did anyway). It's almost a sub-conscious reaction on the part of the player to do this but obviously it would never affect the gameplay. Now, due to the accelerometers within the nunchuck and wii-mote, these subconscious movements are now translated into movement of the character on screen and it's a great system. Carving left and right in the snow is achieved by tilting the nunchuck left or right and it's an enormously satisfying feeling. To perform tighter turns, the left thumb joystick comes into play and by using a combination of the two actions, moving your character feels natural and intuitive. For those who have played the PS2 or Xbox versions, converting to this new system should present no problems at all - I certainly picked it up pretty quickly. For newcomers to the series, it may prove to be more of a challenge. Mastering it however, is another kettle of fish.
Interestingly, buried within the options screens, there are settings that allow you to customize how the controllers react and work. You may have a bias towards using the thumbstick as per the PS2 and you can change this more to your suiting. The tutorial section, so often ignored by head-strong gamers, is highly recommended here. An hour or two spent completing the tutorials will pay dividends later and stand you in good stead for some of the more crazy tricks and challenges.

Performing tricks is an essential element of any of the SSX games and Blur is no different. When approaching a ramp or snowy-knoll, hold down 'A' and as you launch off the edge, release 'A' then by moving the wii-mote sideways or up and down, your character either spins around or loop-the-loops respectively, or both if you prefer. While in the air, tilting the nunchuck along with the wii-mote movements allows you to grab the board or otherwise modify or 'tweak' the trick giving much more variation and complexity. As you perform a trick, this adds all-important boost to your Uber-meter. Boost, as the name suggests, gives your character a much-needed turbo-like speed boost and the longer you press the boost button (Z, on the nunchuck), the faster you go - essential for winning races. Tricking on older versions of SSX I always found to be a rather hit and miss affair and quite often it was a case of mashing down the buttons on the controller in a random fashion and your snowboarder would spin, loop and do all manner of things before landing safely back on the piste. In Blur, there is a more considered approach and while there is still a certain random element to the types of trick you pull, Uber-tricks are definitely much harder to accomplish, requiring a fair degree of concentration and dexterity. It's also harder to make sure you land safely (I found anyway) and requires a timely tap of the A button to set up a safe landing. With everything else going on, this takes some getting used to. If you crash (or wipeout as us 'boarders' like to call it!), a vigorous shaking motion on the Wii controllers forces you to recover back into a standing position. If you're quick enough, you can recover a trick via this method while still in the air without detriment to your boost meter or points score for that particular trick.

An Uber-trick can be performed when the Uber-meter is at level 3 (there are 4 levels in all) and consists of using both the Wii-mote and nunchuck together to draw certain shapes in the air. Successful completion of a shape causes your character to perform the most incredible trick, complete with a brilliant animation and screen effect, bringing in huge points bonuses and more boost for your meter. To break into the upper echelons of the free-style events (where you win by scoring points based on the tricks you pull), Uber-tricks are a necessity or else those big scores are not attainable. Ubers are incredibly difficult to perform - much more so than on say, the PS2 where all that was required was to push buttons in a certain order. But, the sense of satisfaction gained after pulling an Uber-trick is much more than before as is the rewarded bonus you receive. It's hardcore gaming at its best. Like any game, practice makes perfect though and EA have seen fit to include a nice little Uber-trick training section available any time the game is paused. Pause the game using the + key and flick down to the Uber-trick section to access the Uber-training. This allows you to draw the shapes on screen and it tells you if you've been successful or not.

The graphics are certainly on a par with the older PS2 versions and whizz along at breakneck speeds with no evidence of slow-down. Using boost, particularly on icy sections, really makes your character zoom and EA use a nice 'blurring motion' effect to enhance that feeling of speed. Maybe that's where the game gets its name from? The three peaks in the game (the latter two are unlocked at first until you start competing) are depicted beautifully and are quite often breath-taking. However, in SSX 3 there were a couple of race-tracks and freestyle events that wound their way through tight, neon-lit cityscapes and provided welcome relief from looking at snowy mountains all the time. It is a shame to see these urban challenges missing from Blur. Also, the mountain doesn't seem as big as previous versions. In SSX 3, free-riding from the top of Peak 3 right down to the bottom of Peak 1 would take about twenty minutes but here in Blur it takes only about fifteen minutes. Maybe the skiers are faster but it certainly seems shorter. Free-riding down the whole mountain in this fashion is, thankfully, free of loading-times and this is a great achievement on EA's part - it's still a big mountain to ride down.

Playing solo, the Career mode is the place where you will spend most of your time. This consists of entering tournaments, completing challenges, discovering new secrets and increasing the stats of your character. Tournaments are new in SSX Blur and 'lump' together different types of event in to one. For example, to unlock Peak 3, you have to be placed in the top 3 of a combined race, freestyle and slalom tournament. Slalom is particularly difficult with the red and blue flags placed at impossible angles and requires absolute control of your skier to beat the top guys in this event. Mercifully, you only have to finish third to progress (fourth to beat the heats) so while incredibly difficult to win an event (certainly on the later tournaments), unlocking new challenges and tournaments is never out of grasp.

Another omission that is sorely missed from previous versions are the equipment stores that could be found at various way-points around the mountain. Spending hard-earned points on a range of pieces of equipment would enable you to customize your character, adding new clothing, boards, skills and even extra music tracks to listen to while playing. In Blur, there is less scope to do this - new skill points are attributed automatically and there is a small inventory section but it's on a much smaller scale than before. Unless of course, I've missed them.

The music system in Blur, first seen in SSX Tricky (the fourth version), seems to invoke the 'marmite' reaction in those who experience it - it's either loved or hated. As the boost meter fills up, the music starts to swell and layers of instruments are mixed seamlessly into the track playing. If you crash or stop for any reason, the music stops as if someone had put their hand on the record and it's only after you start skiing again does the mix start again. There are about 20 tracks ranging from melodic, uplifting house to energetic, dance-based rock and it's great to hear the music react to what's happening on screen - it vaguely reminds me of an old PS2 game called 'Rez'. There's nothing quite like zooming down the mountain in first place of a race, maxxed-out boost meter and the full mix of a hardcore dance-track blaring from your speakers, compelling you to the finish line. I love it but then I like marmite too.

A feature of all the SSX games is the vast array of challenges, secrets and special items to unlock. Eschewing the normal tournament route and free-riding down a peak allows you to explore the scenery at will and there's certainly a lot of it to keep you occupied. You will come across challenges such as 'Hit Ten Yetis With Snowballs' or 'Grind for 300 meters' and they become increasingly more difficult as you progress up the mountain. Thanks to this tried-and-tested method of unlocking new features, longevity of the game is assured. You can also discover short-cuts - handy when competing in races but they tend to be more risky than the normal route.

On SSX 3, I only ever played multiplayer game with two people and it's a nice experience that is duplicated here albeit now with two-players being the maximum allowed (previously it was 4, I believe). In this mode, you can race against a human opponent on any of the tracks that you have unlocked in Career mode. Is the 2-player maximum a serious enough omission to warrant a lower rating? In my case, no but if you like playing with more than two, it could be.

In conclusion: Is it a game worth buying? Definitely. With a few caveats. It will certainly help if you've had experience of the older versions. I would say it isn't a game for the Wii newcomer or someone not used to using the nunchuck. It is certainly challenging (and then some) but not frustratingly-so. It's *always* satisfying, which is a good thing. The graphics are great, as is the music, the controls are easy enough to pick up but are a devil to master and with the sheer number of things to do, it will take you a long time to attain that almost-mythical 100%.

Highly recommended.

Also posted on Ciao.co.uk under 4ku-papa.