A new week, a new SSX trailer

• Joe (@Joe_of_the_Dead)
• Friday, January 13th, 2012
• 0

The EA hype machine is really getting into gear, now that the release of SSX is nearly upon us. The upcoming title will be a first for the series on XBOX360 and PS3, and the folks at EA want everyone to know it’s coming. To that end, they’ve released a new trailer, hot on the heals of last week’s nostalgia-fueled Tricky tribute. But where that trailer harkened back to the good old days of Gamecube and PS2, this week’s trailer is all about the future. So what new info does the trailer contain? Read on for the details, and to see for yourself.

Right off the bat, the trailer hits you with a big number: 150 drops, spread over 9 regions. That’s a lot of real estate, and just like in previous SSX titles, the tracks can be played in a number of different ways. The game modes on display in the trailer include race, trick, survive, and explore. While race and trick modes look great, it’s the survival and exploration modes that intrigue me the most. Survival pits you against the elements in a race to escape avalanches, rock slides, and even the bitter cold itself. The coolest aspect of survival, at least to me, is that it appears to take place at night. The darkened tracks, illuminated only by the player’s helmet lamp, look fantastic, and more than a little foreboding. Explore mode allows players to journey through the environments at their own pace, not having to worry about competitors or countdown clocks. A cool feature of explore mode on display in the trailer is the ability to play against ghosts of your friends’ runs.Pull off a particularly gnarly trick? Or set an unbeatable record? Send a ghost of your run to a friend, and let them witness your shredding prowess for themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQqB7DCBmbI

I admit, I’m pretty pumped for this game. There was a good stretch in late 2001 through 2003 when a SSX title rarely left my PS2. Seeing the franchise brought back in such a big way after so long is very exciting. Anyone else share my enthusiasm? Or should I stop writing an article everytime a new trailer hits? Either way, let me know. SSX releases February 28th in North America, and March 2nd worldwide.