SSX Blur - First Impression
I'm mildly hooked on SSX Blur for the Wii, which isn't to say that it's all that great, but it's not a bad game either. My experience with SSX is limited primarily to SSX 3, which both Sunny and I have gotten a fair bit of mileage out of on the PS2. In fact, we enjoy SSX 3 so much that our immediate reaction to trying SSX Blur after the first hour or so was to fire up SSX 3 and play that instead. There are many things in terms of production value and accessibility that SSX 3 offers over SSX Blur: for example, SSX 3 is less buggy (Sunny had SSX Blur crash on her--twice!), has an easier to master control scheme (arguably), and seems to me to offer a greater variety of tricks (one of my favourite features of SSX 3 are the grabs that are executed using shoulder buttons, which is something that SSX Blur lacks entirely as far as I can tell.)What SSX Blur offers over SSX 3 includes better graphics--although I wouldn't say by a whole lot, especially since the framerate varies heavily. Fritzkrieg, who is also a fan of SSX 3, was definitely unimpressed with the new art style, so that may be a factor in which game you feel is better visually. SSX Blur also offers novel challenges over SSX 3; in particular, I like the control scheme of SSX Blur in spite of the lack of grabs. Steering with the nunchuk creates a nice feeling of really carving with your board, although I can't say that the Wiimote-based twists and flips interface is much to get excited about, and I've had a really hard time mastering the new uber-tricks system which involves drawing shapes on the screen (some players will undoubtedly find that feature annoying.) Still, the novelty factor hasn't worn off yet, and I find that SSX Blur is different enough from SSX 3 to be worth playing in spite of my overall preference for SSX 3. As for whether or not SSX Blur justifies its $60 price tag, well, I would say that if you're fairly desperate for something to play on the Wii and your SSX needs aren't already covered by one of the other SSX games, then SSX Blur is probably worth checking out. As with so many games, you'd be well advised to rent it first before buying.
In other news, I'm really tempted by a variety of old-school RPG experiences coming out of the Wii Virtual Console, including Beyond Oasis, Dungeon Explorer, and Double Dungeons (although that last one is reported to suck.) I have a really, really deep weakness for 16-bit era RPGs, especially the more exotic sort such as Japanese titles that either never made it to America or were released for relatively obscure platforms such as the TurboGrafix 16. Nintendo's Virtual Console is doing a good job so far of tempting me with nifty games that I've never had access to before, although the steep price point ($6 to $8 to download an emulated game that's more than 15 years old?) remains a heavy deterrent--combined with a general lack of spare time.
One old-school style RPG that I'm very likely to pick up in the near future is the Atlas published Nintendo DS title "Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja." The title alone is quite amusing, but the game itself is also something of a tile-based RPG Rogue-alike, including randomly generated dungeon content. It's supposed to have a fairly limited appeal (that is, only good for serious RPG fans, which makes it all the more interesting to me.) I'll be sure to keep you updated on whether or not I'm actually able to find this crazy title.
posted by Parappa @ 11:07 AM
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