Astrobastard
2005
God, I wish I had better things to say about On Tour. I hadn't played this since I was ten, but remembered broad strokes of different areas, as well as it being my first introduction to LCD Soundsystem. While I still proudly stand by SSX 3 as the complete package, and Tricky as the fun but flawed progenitor of the series as we know it, I can't say anything nearly that positive about On Tour. Runs poorly, feels a little worse, and is just plain uglier than 3. The best I can give it is that the painfully mid 00's, Napoleon Dynamite reminiscent aesthetic is a fun, sorta cringeworthy relic to look back on, and the soundtrack has its share of bangers.
2023
Played a ton in 2020/2021 when it was still on Game Pass in early access. Have so much to say about the 1.0 release that I can't write in good confidence because I'm still sitting at about 25% completion. As it stands— very good, but I wish I could get some of the extended event/item sets immediately instead of having to clear runs first. Tough but uncompromising, beautiful, immersive and a really fantastic soundtrack.
2023
Wrote a more complete review on Steam when I played through it in August, but BRC is absolutely a dream come true. My only complaint was not having just a little bit more. BRC differentiates itself enough in its mechanics to be a successor that bests the original while still being exactly what you want. Truly an ode to JSR, extreme sports games and anyone who ever considered a video game rental store a holy place.
2012
A complete study in "don't know what you've got 'till it's gone." It's not perfect, but it's a very fun evolution of SSX, and, with hindsight, I've realized it's probably where I'd want the series to end.
2012 is SSX realized as a "flow-state game," foregoing rigid and deliberate control for something looser and laidback. Uber tricks are less deliberate and rigid, which is both good and bad, as sometimes I feel like I'm not even supposed to be comprehending what's happening in some of them. The visual flair is also still some of my favorite in the entire series— the shockwaves that ripple out as you touch down from massive air is still one of my favorite effects I've ever seen.
It's a shame that its cardinal sin was, well, being produced in 2012. SSX's characters have never been BAFTA-winning studies in how shredding gnar changes you as a person or anything, but they were at least likeable, goofy caricatures. The redesigns are fine, nothing more, but the character barks and dialogue are very much tinged by the time period. The one thing that really survived is the soundtrack, primarily because Foster The People, Flux Pavillion, The Qemists, et al can very well be considered throwbacks at this point. The one thing that really bugs me about 2012, however, is the fact that it was a clear omen for things to come.
The gear system is horrid. Stats tied to boards, bonuses tied to outfits, limited time mystery items, exorbitantly overpriced super boards to push microtransactions if you just can't complete a challenge— it feels like a coal mine canary dying in reverse. I legitimately think playing this on a less-than-legitimate 360/PS3 ten years after the fact is how I was supposed to experience this game, free from the ability to spend actual, real world money on Epic Glowing Suits and Legendary Boards.
I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually really came around on the Deadly Descents angle and the different groove of SSX gameplay. While some of the deadly gimmicks are a little more annoying than others, fighting the elements and just trying to get down alive still feels great. There's an alternate world out there, perpendicular to our own, where EA didn't course correct away from the gritty, overly-serious original pitch that I firmly believe would've been worse and even more devoid of character. SSX 2012 is not 100% ideal, and it's absolutely marred by the FOMO landscape that now dominates games as a whole, but the series could've come to a far worse end.
2012 is SSX realized as a "flow-state game," foregoing rigid and deliberate control for something looser and laidback. Uber tricks are less deliberate and rigid, which is both good and bad, as sometimes I feel like I'm not even supposed to be comprehending what's happening in some of them. The visual flair is also still some of my favorite in the entire series— the shockwaves that ripple out as you touch down from massive air is still one of my favorite effects I've ever seen.
It's a shame that its cardinal sin was, well, being produced in 2012. SSX's characters have never been BAFTA-winning studies in how shredding gnar changes you as a person or anything, but they were at least likeable, goofy caricatures. The redesigns are fine, nothing more, but the character barks and dialogue are very much tinged by the time period. The one thing that really survived is the soundtrack, primarily because Foster The People, Flux Pavillion, The Qemists, et al can very well be considered throwbacks at this point. The one thing that really bugs me about 2012, however, is the fact that it was a clear omen for things to come.
The gear system is horrid. Stats tied to boards, bonuses tied to outfits, limited time mystery items, exorbitantly overpriced super boards to push microtransactions if you just can't complete a challenge— it feels like a coal mine canary dying in reverse. I legitimately think playing this on a less-than-legitimate 360/PS3 ten years after the fact is how I was supposed to experience this game, free from the ability to spend actual, real world money on Epic Glowing Suits and Legendary Boards.
I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually really came around on the Deadly Descents angle and the different groove of SSX gameplay. While some of the deadly gimmicks are a little more annoying than others, fighting the elements and just trying to get down alive still feels great. There's an alternate world out there, perpendicular to our own, where EA didn't course correct away from the gritty, overly-serious original pitch that I firmly believe would've been worse and even more devoid of character. SSX 2012 is not 100% ideal, and it's absolutely marred by the FOMO landscape that now dominates games as a whole, but the series could've come to a far worse end.