Maybe it's time for EA to realize that it wasn't that they "bet unwisely" on the PS3, it's just that they SUCK.

Hmm... I was wanting to pick this game up, but this will also be the first SSX game I will buy...

These are all the reviews for the game currently listed on Metacritic:

88 - NGamer UK
85 - Game Informer
84 - GameTrailers
84 - IGN
80 - GameDaily
74 - GameSpot
74 - GameBrink
55 - 1UP
50 - GamePro

As you can see, there's an unusually large gap between the bottom two and the rest. I can't claim with certainty that 1UP and GamePro are missing something with the controls since I haven't played the game, but I'd be more inclined to go with the majority.

It's kinda obvious the the bottom two are kinda outliers.

Oh yeah, Games Radar gave this one a 9.

um, SSX Blur is for the Wii.

I have to say the GamePro article sounds like someone that tried it and gave up when they realized the game takes some damn effort to get good at... kind of like what Matt C.'s review says.

havent the gamespot and 1up always been known for being overly critical of nintendo games?

I think we will see a lot of these big disparities in Wii games, because of the different control mechanism. You essentially know what you're going to get with a traditional controller, a la 360 and PS3. The HIG is very familiar now. However, the Wii controller adds a variable that is going to attract some people and alienate others, hence the wide range of scores.

Haha, at Metacritic the user average is a 9.3/10, but the critic average is 75/100 just because of GamePro and 1Up. I've never played an SSX in my life and I'm not interested in this one either, but I think it's funny that the reviewer at GamePro just sucks at the game and is all whiny about it.

1Up and Gamepro reviewers are suck in videogames. They only play Tetris and Barbie games.

1up hates Nintendo for ALL the IGN exclusives they give them. They say it everytime on their podcast.

SSX Blur is great, I own Two for gamecube, one for Ps2 and one for Xbox and this one is great, maybe these guys want like the ultimate ssx experience but I have to say EA is making a difference by translating such a BIG game to the Wii and making the controls work. The problems is these old dudes are just to fucking tired to be moving their arms, instead they rather have 4-button combinations like you played SSX 3 in 2005.

Remember these guys said they don't understand why you have to play Wii Sports standing up, for them its just silly.

Exactly, its like the first year of the DS, you're going to get a lot of games that don't really know how to use the Wii's capability, especially from third parties, Nintenod will probably have to show how to properly use the controls

I'm a hardocore SSX veteran and I just don't want:

SSX 5!
+more clothes for Elise AND Kaori
+A new mountain with 2 different new runs
+new crazy tricks with the same button combinations for that same old feeling
+23 New EA TRAX with Fallout Boy and Avril Lavigne's new single!!

I already got bored with SSX On Tour for that. You can only play the same thing a few times before it starts to get boring.

ANOTHER SLAM DUNK FOR THE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

... i want more clothes for kaori...

Appart from it being a rehashe with a new spin, I'm really not surprised. I like to play my SSX games and sports in general with a regular controller, thank you.

I have little interest in this game. At least not at full price. These are always the kind of games that never keep my interest for more than a half hour :/

That said, I can't speak for 1Up because I never go to that site (it's a god damn mess and would make any designer cry), but I dropped Gamepro YEARS ago because they sucked. I'm glad to know nothing's changed.

dont listen to review people



DONT LISTEN TO REVIEW PEOPLE






dont listen to review people





since this was scored very well to medium to bad i can say what i want to say, and not look like a fan boy



reviews dont mean anything, they suck, just rent it or try it at a friends or listen to a friends comments or ANYTHING but reviews. reviewers are either overly cinical or not hard enough, and theres no way to know which they are


i personally am not very intersted in this game but ill rent it

It's a Wii game? Why would anyone want to play THAT?

Man, I am loving this game. I'll admit the game is frustrating for the first hour or so until you get the ubers down. Now I can pretty much do them on demand and I win all the trick competitions pretty handily, scoring 1 million plus points sometimes. However, the races and slaloms are still really challenging. I am quite satisfied with my purchase

I was disappointed with the reviews, particularly since the pre-release hype and play-tests all came back extremely positive. I just wrote up a lengthy analysis and criticism of 1up's previews/review of the game at my own blog. Essentially, 1up completely reversed on things that they loved in their initial hands-on, which has me suspicious and worried. Feel free to check it out from the link in my signature.

-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com

Those reviews are way out of line. I bought this game earlier tonight, and I actually felt exactly like how it sounds as though they were feeling for about 45 minutes to an hour. Then everything just clicked at once. This was probably no different than my learning curve to pull off ubers, etc with the first SSX game back in the day. I would recommend this game to anyone who owns a Wii. Other than Wii Sports and Wii Play I was never planning to buy any party games, so this to me is the first solid offering since Zelda, and it is solid indeed. (Oh, and I really like the soundtrack, must just be personal taste) :)

Yeah, the bottom two reviewers just didn't take the time to get comfortable with the controls.

It took me about 30 minutes and it took my seven year old daughter about fifteen! The trick system take a little getting used to but once you get it it works great. I still haven't mastered the uber moves, though.

One thing, however, the soundtrack blows. And, unless you have a flawless run it's constantly starting and stopping.

"I just wrote up a lengthy analysis and criticism of 1up's previews/review of the game at my own blog. "

Uh, get a fucking life. A hyped Wii game turns out to be mediocre and you guys start analysing the "offending" reviews?

Just get over it, SSX Blur simply ain't that good.

Practically every review says that the controls plain and simple suck. Thanks to Wiimote, even the trick system has been dumbed down to just a few different moves.

Even though I have never played a Wii and never will, I feel the need to point out that I feel Wii motion controls will ruin every single game they are used for. I know this because my 360 and/or PS3 and/or Bible tell me so.

I mean uhh... 1Up and GamePro are the 2 most trusted names in gaming reviews! How dare you Nintendicks doubt them!?!?

James, we already know that you don't like the Wii. You don't have to point that out every time you post about the system. How about covering the systems you do like?

And if "it's sorta like DS's first year", then I'm not "fearful that Wii is just a gimmick." I can't wait for year two to get the flood of great, unique games.

And thanks for heads up that the game currently has the lowest average with only nine reviews in so far. Did you see that Sonic and the Secret Rings has the highest average of the new gen titles? Oh, you probably wouldn't want to talk about that.

This is my problem with the Wii. The controls really are not precise or reliable. I tried Trauma Center and could not regularly pull off that star thing for that slow down power. I would make the same gesture everytime, but maybe one in five times it would work. The same, but not as severe goes for the Wario Ware game. Certain gestures just don't work everytime.

It makes using the Wii very frustruating. I consider myself a hardcore gamer. If the controls frustruate me, what about the casual gamer Nintendo seems to be targeting??

Just download the free demo. Er, never mind.

Seriously though, they gave it a bad review because they hated the game. Others really liked it. There is no conspiracy and these people have as valid of an opinion as a consumer.

The average score still puts it up there with the top Wii games, so this is probably a must have for many starving for a good game.

Well, I've been a fan of SSX since the original. I've play through every version except for the craptacular GBA version and the suspect PSP version.

I was going to get the Wii version but there are two aspects of it that are deal breakers for me...

1) rehashed old tracks. - EA went the "business as usual" route and remixed too many of the same damn tracks that we've already played through in at least two other versions of SSX. Great job EA, would it have killed you to make a TRUE SSX for Wii...jerks.

2) this really isn't EA's fault, but , no online.
This I blame on Nintendo and will call them out on it with every opportunity until they dammit fix it.
I'm a working professional, I have no children, I live alone. My friends are all working professionals. We don't have the damn time to coordinate for multiplay at someone's house on a regular basis so online is our savior. SSX Blur is a title that's victim to another Nintendo blunder. 360 was online at launch, PS3 was online at launch, Wii...was gimped at launch and we're going into March and still won't have any online relief for the Wii and won't for at least another 6 months. Thanks Nintendo...thanks alot.

I've come to the conclusion that I won't be buying any Wii games until this asshat mistake is fixed, So no SSX Blur for me. I'll be playing Oblivion and Armored Core 4 (ONLINE) for PS3 though.

Most likely the 1up and Gamepro people didn't go through the tutorials. Also in the menu options there is a way to practice the uber trick moves. Some people have no problem getting it on the first try. But others are going to have to do the practice and learn what the motion range is for them.

Btw a lot of people will tell you the manual is paper thin. So thin a lot of stuff is not mentioned that makes the game a hell of a lot more fun to get into. The tutorial covers a lot of stuff the manual doesn't.

Number 28 you just suck. 99% of people have no problem with the star when they put in the practice and figure it out.

Why is it that the people that bitch about mulitplayer are lonely sad people who when they actually play a multiplayer game bitch about the game being multiplayer and requiring them to talk to other people or work with other people?

"Uh, get a fucking life. A hyped Wii game turns out to be mediocre and you guys start analysing the "offending" reviews?"

Go run with some scissors already, will ya?

Anyways, I'll have to reserve judgment on this title until I played it. The videos look good but I'm curious about the controls.

We'll see.

"Should there be reason for concern with another hodgepodge of reviews?"

"So then, aren't we a little concerned? Fearful that Wii is just a gimmick. SSX has been a reliable franchise, but Blur has so far scored the lowest average of any of the series' console iterations -- it's hard not to see a message in that."

The only pattern I see here is your constant bringind down of Nintendo Mr.Ransom-Wiley... the paternal tone you use trying to convince us that "Nintendo is teh DOOOOMED" is quite sickening & unsulting... so the Wii is a gimmick because someone didn't figure out/put the time in SSX Blur at 1UP, who are always ripping on the Wii by the way...
The only message that is hard not to see is your hatred towards Nintendo & the profound adoration you have for Sony, anyone coming regularly to Joystiq can see that!!!
I'm totally with you Steve 3.2 #27!!!

jlk (25)-

You've completely missed my point. I don't give a shit what they gave it. They could have said their disc took a crap on them and given it a 0 for all I care. If that's what actually happened, then I'm all for it.

My point is that less than 2 months before they're review, all of their complaints were actually compliments. They addressed control in their previews and said that the game "felt natural" and "fantastic". So what the hell happened? Are they actually suggesting that something broke between the time that they played it and the time it shipped? If you'd bothered to take a look at my link rather than go into personal-attack mode, you would've seen that it was the actual journalism I was addressing, and not the game review itself (as I still haven't played it).

-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com

THANK YOU LESHRAC! I thought i was the only one that noticed that shit. There is a HUGE disparity between then and now, and it doesn't make much sense at all.

I've played every SSX game on the PS2. As a result, I breezed through On Tour. I didn't even feel challenged until "Pro-Master".

I WANT games that require skill! Uber/Monster tricks are supposed to be hard, however in On Tour you just push the right analog stick and pull off the move every time! On Tour is more RPG-grinding than skill. You grind (complete a whole lot of little races) in order to earn money so that you can buy abilities. I don't want to buy abilities, I WANT MY PERFORMANCE IN A GAME TO DEPEND ON MY SKILL PLAYING THE GAME! I find it far more satisfying to complete a game because I kick ass, than to complete a game because I put in the prerequisite number of hours.

The IGN reviewer understands this when he says "The game demands coordination, but is also one of the more rewarding games on Wii". The GameSpot reviewer does not when he says "We were able to get only the most basic of ubertricks to work on a regular basis". Snowboard tricks to hard to pull off in real life, why should they be easy in a game?

this is like the 4th Wii game in a row where the critics scores have been

(a) hugely divergent
(b) usually much lower than the scores the readers give it.

I still think reviewers don't know what to make of it.

The 1up one is suspect becaue it seems to mostly dislike it because "we are used to the old way".. which is a dumb way to score a game thats designed for new players.
And attacking the course design, where its based on SSX3 courses that got great reviews is also kinda dumb.

So i can see why 1up gave a bad review at 1st..i felt exactly the same way untill i started getting the hang of it...and ive gotta say it really really works well...IT JUST TAKES TIME....

rented it last night. meh. better than a lot ive played on the wii but not the best game. but to be positive i did have a good time, and it is an EA game *Gasp*. maybe there is hope for them yet.

Number 36 bother to look up any game preview. You will find what was praised in the preview is smashed in the review.

SSX Blur isn't alone. Tons of high profile and even highly rated games have gushing previews that are compeltly opposite of the review.

Here is the thing a lot of other SSX Blur reviews praised the controls once they took 15 minutes to get into them. Here is the thing a preview version is basically the easiest fracking mode of the game. It's called a preview version or demo version for a reason. It's not the full game. They delibertly make the preview version neutered in difficulty and time it takes to get into since the preview isn't the full featured game that has much more you have to learn.

Now that I am over the initial shock that the original SSX really has died over the many versions since, I will likely pick this one up again with a different attitude. Still, I couldn't help but wish the developers were with me when playing so that they could explain to me what they were thinking sometimes.

Must say I was never this frustrated when picking up other versions of SSX, and although I am sure it will take time to "get it", it completely goes against what Nintendo was hoping to do in the first place. Do you think Wii Sports would have taken off if you needed the nunckuck to move about, while swinging with the remote? Ease of use and simplicity have gone out the window with this one it seems, almost begging me to be handed a dual analog setup.

Well this is my first try to the SSX games. I picked it up yesterday and play it for about 2 1/2 hours, and let my tell you that the controls are very good. The carving feels so great, but the learning curve for difficult tricks and the Uber tricks are a little bit high. I got frustrated at the tutorial with the Uber thing. But after an hour or so (at the Pipe, I love the HalfPipe) finally I got it.

I think the controls are pretty challenging for tricks but I think the game is about making diffult tricks so it must be challenging to perform a trick like the Uber ones. There are 12 UBER and you start with 3 ( 2 of them are pretty much easy when you get used to it).

I think is about the timing, coordination and planification. When I am approaching to a ramp I have to place the Wiimote ready at the position where is gona start the Uber symbol, at the ramp pull up the nunchuk and almost inmediatelly press A on the Wiimote and perform the symbol to get it done. If you dont make the jump or start late at the air, there's no time to make a good Uber. Sometimes I got it some times no. But right now I'm very used to the controls and its freaking cool just to race downhill as fast as I can.

Music is great and the guy from the radio station (EA BIG radio station) pumps up the feeling.

Go play the game people...


"As far as guys like 1up, all I can say is they either 1) rushed to get the review out and weren't enjoying the game at all, or 2) it just isn't for them.

Some of the guys at the IGN LA office tried it and thought it was ok, others loved it, and I personally had a damn blast with the game. No joke... I played until my arm hurt last night."

-Bozon of IGN

The only thing I'm getting annoyed about concerning the Wii is the fact that people expect an extension of the things they could with a traditional controller.

This may be the case for a few games (like Zelda for example) but for games like this, the Wii-mote is new. Wondering why I can't perform tricks the same way I could with a traditional analog controller set up with the Wii-mote is like wondering why I can't slam dunk a basketball with a hockey stick.

Of course it's hard to do perform certian moves in this particular title...you actually need to incorporate a level of precision physical skill (a higher level anyways) as opposed to mashing a bunch of buttons. Because of the aforementioned, I've never really took to the SSX series, however when it comes to the Wii, I'm very curious.

Anyways, that's enough of me sounding like a Wii-fanboy. I'll continue playing Crackdown untill I beat it, then perhaps try this game out. It sounds fun.

I am skeptical of this game after reading the Gamespot review. They seem to think the controls are sluggish and inconsistent. I haven't played Blur, but I noticed the same thing in Zelda too. Sometime I will shake the nunchuk and nothing happens. Then a second later I do the exact same motion and Link will attack. Then sometimes I will just barely wiggle the nunchuk while shifting positions in my seat and Link will swing his sword when I didn't mean for him to attack. Plus, the attacks all feel slugish... like there is a bit of lag between inputting the command and you character doing the command in the game. It's not so bad it detracts from the game, but it's noticeable. The Boxing on Wii Sports behaves the same way too. This sounds exactly like the sort of stuff they experienced in Blur.

the learning curve on the other ssx games is also high. sure, anybody can guide the board down the slope, but i've played the last 3 for many hours and still pretty much just mash the buttons to perform tricks. i'm not going to memorize 50 button combos to get my ultra uber when i can just randomly press buttons for the same effect. how is that design any better? at least if you memorize 12 actions, you can't just be swinging the remote all over the place and accomplish the same goal (or maybe you can). anyway, i probably won't get it cuz it's still basically ssx and the only one with any standing power for me is still the first for ps2.
and i do get tired of hearing 'tacked on' about the wii control scheme. they are still video games, pretty much the same as every other video game, with a different controller. if it's too similar, it feels 'tacked on', if it's too different, the 'learning curve is too high.' reviewers want something different, but don't have the patience to play the game if it's not the same as everything from the past.

Ha! Well this is why I don't care what any reviewers have to say. I picked it up last night and I'm having a blast.

As for 1ups comment about it being one piece ~ What about the boarder? meh ~

I haven't had so much fun with a SSX game since SSX3 and as far as learning curve my 7 year-old was pulling off sweet tricks after 15 minutes but hey she must be hardcore 'cause she only gets to play games a couple of hours on the weekends.

I swear a lot gamers are reviewers are lazy when it comes to learning something new, it's not that hard if you...hmmm. Think?

i wonder if the sluggish controls are from Bluetooth interference...

Don't you guys listen to podcasts? they truly reflect how they think inside their offices. Te guys 1up hate Nintendo and everyhting that as to do with it, why they think its a gimmick, thye didn't say that in the beginning but suddendly a couple week before launch they didn't like it. weird... Could it be they don't get free stuff and preview builds from Nintendo to play? they mentioned that Nintendo doesn't care for the press answering an email a couple podcasts ago. They sure love their xbox360s one of them was even angry at the couple that recently was giving up on Microsoft since the 7th xbox360 they owned failed again. They said they just were on a bad luck streak, xboxes don't fail that much. yeah right...

The game is great, I don't understand wyh tey can believe EA made a good old button combination game into a good motion controller one. Thank god you are a dying breed, and next gen, you will be saying Microsoft is getting motion controllers like totally fucking cool amazing new tecnology! I sure ope you aren't developers that just can't make Wii games.... The guy from Loco Roco was just saying how te team was dreaming about a Loco Roco game for DS rather than PSP and that the Wii IS NOT gimmicky and tis guy knows tons more than a couple fanboys up there in the comments. Grow up people, just buy games don't tatoo them to your arm, believe me girls think games are for dorks, try not to stay virgin, I mean, fanboy...

I've read a bunch of the reviews in question and all I can get out of it is that some of them seem to be more open minded about it and put more effort forth, while others feel it should be as easy to play (especially if they played the older versions) as a normal analog controlled game.

and the 1up discrepancy between the preview and review is probably due to a different person previewing it then reviewing it and they both fit into those two different catagories...

Also to that guy talking about Zelda, I don't know what you you played, but when I played Zelda he did exactly what I wanted all the time, but I will say that for awhile in the beginning I was doing a SLIGHTLY different motion then I was suppose to for the shield and I thought it was the controls... but it was me... I watched some video online of somebody doing it right (found the video by accident) and after that it worked perfect for me