Even the highly vaunted super-addiction that is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater never managed to ensnare me. Too little twitch and even less thinking is not generally my recipe for a must-play. So when the original SSX helped launch the PS2, I ignored all the glowing reviews and went back to my regularly scheduled game of DoDonPachi.

Altitude + Attitude

Now that SSX: Tricky is out on the Gamecube, I decided to try it on the advice of a colleague, and was very glad I did. The game is, of course, fairly derivative, borrowing liberally from THPS, but it adds nosebleed-inducing heights and speed and tons of humor. The trees and rocks hurtling toward the screen add an essential extra dimension, and it is such a relief not to have to listen to the same Offspring or Primus song fifteen times in the same day.

There are four initially selectable characters: Eddie (my favorite), a retro-dressing trash talker who kind of looks like a displaced FOnewm (male magic user) from Phantasy Star Online; Elise, a Charlie's Angels wannabe, (appropriately voiced by Lucy Liu); Moby, a well-balanced British boarder; and Mac, who starts out strong enough, but becomes a insane trick machine after you start pumping up his stats. As you progress in the game, you unlock eight more characters, each with his own personality, multiple outfits, and multiple boards. Players are rewarded both for scoring a medal in the races and for hitting certain tricks for the first time. Consequently, extras are unlocked with great regularity, and a few days worth of casual play or one long session of obsessive gaming should be enough to earn most of the accessories of a single character, along with all but one of the courses.

Electronic Arts went all out in developing the characters and fleshing them out as individuals. Of course, they're all boarders, but there is still a lot of room for personalized flair in clothes, boards, movements, and speech. The brush strokes are necessarily broad, but the effect can't be denied. The level of characterization here surpasses most fighting games, and you may be surprised to find yourself growing attached to a certain character for more than just his fancy grabs. You can not only access a rider's biography and vital statistics, you can even read an interview(!) with each one. How's that for depth?

Well, maybe an interview page isn't so surprising considering how much the riders love to talk. They talk to you when you select them, they taunt each other during the race, and they even interact before and after the event. As the game progresses, alliances are formed and enemies are made, and this is reflected in a table before each race in addition to the verbal zingers exchanged between the boarders. You wouldn't think people hurdling down a mountain at 120 miles per hour would be such chatterboxes, but the barbs fly almost as fast as the bodies. The number of sound clips in this game is impressive, and not just for technical reasons. I was pleased that the developers made the time to put in quips that help you relate to the characters and often make you laugh. Including twelve snowboarders would have been a waste if you had only two or three interesting competitors and a bunch of dreary clones. But the attention to detail here shines, and you feel compelled to race through a few tracks with everyone just to see who will say what.

But let's say you don't care about the script. After all, you can hear smart-aleck comments every place from television to church nowadays. Those of you not enamored of the Gex school of one-liners should have no fear. True to the name of the game, the main reason to play over and over is the tricks. In addition to the standard twists and turns, each rider has five übertricks at his disposal. Build up your meter by pulling off simple grabs and rotations, and you will soon hear a clip from the Run-DMC song "It's Tricky." Then all you need is a nice high jump. A quick charge and press later, and you will see one of your rider's most amazing stunts, whether it is riding the board like a bucking bronco, spinning the board around like a propeller, performing the Worm, or one of dozens of others. Each character has twelve übertricks tied to which of the three types of boards he is using, as well as one character-specific trick that can only be accessed on one type of board. The übertricks cannot be interrupted mid-animation unless you crash, which makes for some white-knuckle moments as you watch your boarder imitating Superman or breakdancing, seemingly oblivious to the jagged rocks that are fast approaching.

The joy of victory and the agony of the cheat

When you first begin a game of Tricky, you can choose to jump straight into the World circuit, enter a single race alone or against a friend, or go to the practice round to discover some of your moves and get a feel for the differences between the contenders. In this case, skipping practice won't hurt much, because the first races are easy wins for anyone with any racing experience. Since it can get lonely boarding by yourself, the best way to learn is to throw yourself into the fray as early as possible and see what you're made of. Besides, the World circuit is where all the character interaction takes place.

Once in the competition, there are a number of goals to meet. Of course, placing first, second, or third is a priority, but racing to the finish line is not all you should be concerned with. In order to excel at the later races and become powerful enough to pull off the nastiest combos, you need to become proficient at both racing and stunt work. Winning a gold medal on a course is accompanied by a rise in ranking and six attribute points that you may distribute among four categories: Edging, Speed, Stability, and Tricks. Each course is tackled twice, once in a straight race and again in Showoff mode. This means you have to be fast and fancy, though in different proportions at different times. Neither speed alone nor tricks alone will get you far.

The Showoff events are much more difficult than the races, because you are required to reach the bottom of the mountain in a set amount of time while simultaneously racking up enough points to qualify for one of the medals. Around the third such event, the minimum score starts looking pretty daunting and the time limit ridiculously unrealistic. Luckily, there are no other racers to get in the way, so you have only yourself to blame for running into a rock face. Beyond familiarity with the best shortcuts in each course, the later Showoff rounds require high stats and good boards, so it is advisable to play through most or all of the available Race events before testing your skills here.

Your character's overall movement is assigned to the analog stick, while the D-pad is responsible for adding forward spin and clockwise/counterclockwise rotation on the board. Pressing and releasing the A button causes the player to crouch and jump, respectively. The three triggers (yes, even Z) are used in various combinations to perform grabs, and B, in addition to providing a speed boost, is used after a grab to provide an extra flourish. Holding directions and buttons well before the jump results in the moves coming out with more force. The C-stick is used to shove down other riders, a technique that can net you enemies, but will also fill your Tricky meter all at once.

A full meter early on is a great advantage because performing six übertricks in one contest (the tricks can be stringed together during particularly high falls) nets you infinite boost for the remainder of the run. The Y button is used for repositioning after a crash or a tumble off course. Y introduces a dynamic made to be abused, because it instantly puts you back on the main path no matter how badly you have screwed up. As a result, the ugliest spills can be negated or altogether avoided with the mere press of a button. A typical scenario: Luther and Eddie are racing neck-and-neck through a winding pass, Luther in first place, Eddie in second. Luther stumbles on a couple of turns, but Eddie full-on crashes into a wall. Because Eddie uses the Y button trick effectively, he feels no ill effects from the wipeout. In fact, he finds himself in first place. In the heat of competition, even players who know better will be tempted to take advantage of the Y button's amazing ability to warp you past small jumps and to the other side of obstructions. During one tight race, the strategic use of the cheat button - er, Y button, enabled me to zoom past a series of ice walls even as all the other racers were crashing into them again and again.

Nice, fresh powder

As a next-generation title, the visuals are fairly standard -- a fact that I suspect attributes to being a port of its previous PS2 counterpart. Though the graphics provide a couple of "ohmigosh" moments, most of the thrills are elsewhere. The framerate takes a slight hit every now and again, even when you are not in two-player mode, but the effects were so modest that I hesitate to even mention it. There were one or two cases where a polygon popped into place a little late, but you can always see far enough ahead to position yourself favorably. The glitchiest area seems to be the Tokyo Megaplex, a course that's reminiscent of a Sonic-esque level with its pinball motif and the air vents blowing your character high in the air. I once fell through the floor and writhed around in front of a starry background for a few seconds before being dropped back into the race, still in the lead. Several times I got stuck scraping against the wall of a vent as I ascended. These occurrences were not frequent enough to present a major problem, but they do happen.

The courses range from the usual snowy peaks to a desert complete with swaying wooden bridge. There are some fireworks displays and a race through falling snow, but these events are not visually spectacular, nor do they have any impact on gameplay. A raging blizzard or dust storm in one of the stages would have added some interesting play mechanics, but there is enough going on to keep you from getting bored easily. As with any good race, look for plenty of shortcuts. Breaking through glass barriers and jumping over large rock formations win you precious seconds that you can use for even more spectacular stunts.

The music is not remarkable or particularly memorable, but at least there are no alt rock/grunge lyrics in the background to annoy you like there are in THPS and Crazy Taxi. I am not sure a hard-driving techno beat would have helped, but some kind of musical overhaul is in order for the sequel. The voices and sound effects are crisp, with some excellent crunching snow sounds that really pull you into the game.

Overall, SSX: Tricky makes a great addition to your existing Gamecube library, especially if you have played Pro Skater 3 to death. There are control issues, but you would be doing yourself an injustice if you refused to look past them to see what an enjoyable game this is. Once you get used to the Z trigger, half the battle is won. The other half is learning how to a) avoid hitting the Y button accidentally during a jump and b) avoid relying on the Y button to get ahead during a slump. Oh, and you might want to play it during normal waking hours. I woke up my wife several times alternatingly yelling in exhilaration and screaming obscenities in frustration.

It's that good.

· · · Nick