A lot was expected of the Playstation 2 launch. It had been hyped beyond hype and promised us a revolution in videogames.  However, the majority of the system's launch titles were mediocre at best.  There were a few gems in the lineup however, and it's safe to say that SSX is the best of the bunch. 

The first thing you'll notice about SSX is that it looks simply incredible. Everything in this game is just jumping off the screen with loud, vibrant colors.  The characters animate realistically, and the racecourses are awe-inspiring.  It's an experience in itself to scream down a hill with all these colors flying by while fireworks light up the sky every time you land a really big stunt.  Even cooler is the fact that you can see far ahead of you on the course.  There is no draw-in or pop-up to be found here.  Technically, there is nothing in this game that really utilizes the Playstation 2's full power.  This game could be done on the Dreamcast and look just as good.  However, while all that may be true, SSX is still a stunning game regardless of whether it pushes the PS2's abilities or not.  It is not important what system this game is for, what matters is that it looks incredible.  The only complaint to be made is that there is a drop in framerate during some turns, but it’s so minor, I might be nitpicking by even mentioning it.  

What sets SSX apart from other snowboarding games isn't just its beautiful graphics; it is the ultra smooth gameplay.  In SSX, you must find the perfect blend of speed and trick performing to succeed.  Each time you pull off a trick, your player gets an adrenaline boost that increases their speed a little.  Keep pulling them off and you'll get going really fast.  However, if you overdo them, you'll lose too much speed and other racers will pass you.  The challenge here is to find the right time to pull tricks and the right time to concentrate on speed all while dodging obstacles and occasionally shoving other racers out of your way.  

Speaking of the racers, most of them are bursting with personality.  Not only do they verbally taunt each other when shoving them, they also compliment themselves when performing tricks, and scream in terror during an especially long jump.  It's really quite entertaining to hit your first big jump and hear your player scream, "OH MY GOD!" as if death was imminent.  Not only are the voices good, they're all distinct.  The self-absorbed girl makes snotty remarks while the fun-loving guy lets everyone know he's out to have a good time.  It is really pleasing to the ears.  Especially when you have the music turned up.  Some of the songs in this game are downright groovy.  "Shake what yo mamma gave ya" can literally have you shaking your booty while you play.  It's very refreshing to have so much going on in the audio department of this game.  Little touches like screaming fireworks and the sound of your board carving into the snow and ice really complete the experience.  The way the music's volume lowers a bit to emphasize the sound of howling wind when you are catching major air is really cool.  When you land, the music comes blasting back into the game again.  It’s really a top-notch effort by the audio crew.

Now with all that said, SSX just wouldn't be the same without its off-the-wall courses.  Each course has hidden shortcuts and an assortment of huge jumps, corkscrews, and loop de loops.  There are also all kinds of items on the course that can either serve as obstacles or things to pull tricks off of.  Rails, cars, trees, you name it.  The best part of all is the length of each course.  A normal race can take around 5 minutes to complete.  Compare that to some other racers and you'll find that’s quite a long race.  This can be good for a number of reasons.  First, if you mess up, you don't have to restart because you have the length of the course to help you get back in contention.  Second, you won't be looking at a loading screen every two minutes between races.  You can have a nice, full, five to six minutes of uninterrupted gameplay.  

So with great graphics, killer sounds, and smooth gameplay, is there anything to complain about at all?  Yes.  While this game can easily be the best time you've had in a while, it can also be an exercise in frustration.  While the idea putting a loop de loop in a course may sound good, it’s not always easy to ride through it.  You can hit that loop and lose track of which way you need to steer and fall right back down to the base of it.  From there, you don't have nearly enough speed to give it another try so you have to purposely try to fall off or just restart the race altogether.  Sometimes players can get stuck in certain areas of the courses like this and lose the entire race.  Not only that, but battling with CPU players will almost always be pointless since they always seem to win.  It can be very irritating to be riding near two or three other players and have each one of them smack you around like a soccer ball.  Aside from that, most of the game is great fun.  There's always the possibility of getting stuck or beat down but, for most players, it won't be enough to ruin the rest of the game.  

Some people may expect a lot out of SSX since it's been called one of the best games that the PS2 currently has to offer.  It is an excellent game but, in truth, it is not the awesome experience some may expect it to be.  Keep in mind this is just a videogame.  It's not the best videogame ever made but it is a damn good one.  It's easily better than any other snowboarding game out there.  I don't think this game alone would be worth buying a PS2 for, but if you are going to buy a PS2 anyway, you really should own this game or, at least, give it a try.  SSX isn't revolutionary, but it is a lot of fun and it's just the start of what we can expect from the PS2.