SSX was the only reason I wanted a PS2 last year. I loved 1080° on the N64, and was quickly drawn to SSX’s pretty graphics, and wicked, over-the-top tricks. Not that 1080° was a snowboarding simulator, but it’s a lot more realistic than SSX. SSX focuses on big air, unbelievable tricks, and getting to the finish line first. EA Big has now unleashed its sequel, SSX Tricky, on the GameCube. SSX Tricky has come a long way since Spaceworld, and shaped up to be one hell of a ride.

My biggest concern about Tricky was the control setup. SSX was designed for the PS2 controller, and porting it over would be a little difficult. It took me a few tries to get used to everything, and I’m a lot happier now playing SSX with a GameCube controller due to its stiffer analog stick. You control your character with the analog stick, d-pad = flips and rotations, A=crouch/jump, B=turbo/tweak, X=resets character after a crash, L, R and Z = grabs. It sounds complicated at first, but it’s not too difficult. There’s also a training mode if you want to practice, or learn new tricks. Highly recommended for veterans and rookies.

I have one word for the game play – insane. Big, phat air and completely off the wall tricks. The riders remind me of a line up straight out of Ready 2 Rumble -- smack-talking boarder punks with loads of attitude. It’s sometimes hard to remember that you’re actually racing to the bottom of the mountain while you’re pulling off insane grabs, flips, and the new Uber tricks. Tricks actually matter in SSX because they add to your boost and speed. The more tricks you do the more your boost meter raises. When it’s full, you can perform an Uber trick. How about riding the board like a bucking bronco? Or maybe twirling the board around like a helicopter propeller? With SSX Tricky, you don’t always need to be attached to the board. It’s not all that realistic, but it’s a hell of a good time and looks sweet in the replays.

The graphics are decent for a GameCube title, but I think they were optimized more for speed. I saw a few frame rate hiccups when there were a lot of riders in the same area (usually turns), but it didn’t affect the game play too much, and it didn’t happen often. The animations of the riders are detailed, and they look great. Other than that, it doesn’t look all that different than its PS2 incarnation.

SSX Tricky has an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack of big artists like Run DMC (word), BT, and Mix Master Mike. Famous actors and musicians do the voices of the riders, like Lucy Lui, Oliver Platt, Billy Zane, David Arquette, and Macy Gray. It all melts together for a full-on aural feast.

So far, SSX Tricky is an absolute blast. If you were a fan of 1080°, you might like SSX Tricky. It is a different game, not to say it’s not a lot of fun. It’s just different. I recommend at least a rental. EA has reworked the entire menu process, added new features, a few new courses, and fixed the tournament scoring to be a lot fairer than it was in the original. All in all, I think EA has taken what made SSX such a great game, and just made it even better.