In the midst of all this gaming mayhem of late, SSX Tricky arrived on my desk with little fanfare. I knew it was coming, but I've been so busy with other games that it kinda dropped off my radar. But it's here, and I really like it.

The biggest question from just about everyone is going to be "how different is it from SSX?" Well, it's different enough for me. Most of the courses have the same names (Snowdream, Elysium Alps, etc.), but they're totally redesigned and reworked. There are more shortcuts in each course, as well as new twists and turns, so they feel like totally new courses. There are 12 riders in the game, 6 of which are new. Elise, Kaori, Zoe, Mac, JP and Moby return from SSX, while Marisol, Brodi, Eddie, Luther, Seeyia and Psymon make their debuts. The roster feels fun and diverse, so there should be someone you like. It's obvious EA is trying to manufacture "cool" with all the characters, but they come pretty close, so I don't really mind. The characters are fun, and that's what's important.

Graphically the game is quite nice. It's got the requisite edge-smoothing that second-gen PS2 games should have, and the environments and models are all nicely rendered and well-textured. The animations are great too. The new UBER tricks are really over-the-top, as each rider flips and throws their board around in the air in impossibly dangerous fashion. Some are cool, but some are downright funny/disturbing, such as fatass Luther riding his board like a mechanical bull. The frame rate is still a bit jumpy at times, but I hardly noticed this in the original, and I barely notice it here. There are a few random dots and seam-shreds, but these are few and far between, and usually only noticeable during replays. The front end and menus are all really slick and well-done. There's a new 3D selection environment which is cool, though I prefer the static 2D menus of SSX. Nitpick, for sure.

The play mechanics should feel very tight and familiar to SSX vets, but there are a few nice additions. When your rider does enough tricks to fill up the Boost meter, you can pull off an Uber trick. You've only got 20 seconds to do so before you lose the opportunity. Each rider has a handful of Uber tricks, and if you can perform 6 of them in one race, you'll have unlimited Boost for the rest of the race. Although it's a racing game, the incentive to perform tricks is even greater than in SSX. Obsessive boosting is sometimes the only way to beat some of the more difficult courses, so you constantly have to be busting tricks to keep pace. It's fun and addictive gameplay, pure and simple.

Each World Circuit race is 3 heats, same as the original. New to Tricky, though, are rivalries. Each character has natural enemies and friends. Enemies will seek you out during the race and fuck around with you, knocking you over and costing you time and boost. Riders can be neutral or friendly also, which means they won't go after you if you don't go after them. Knocking down an opposing rider will instantly fill your boost meter AND enable the Tricky meter, so there is an incentive to get nasty and knock people on their ass. Finally, you can access each rider's trick book within a race, so you can quickly see what tricks you need to unlock.

The DVD extra content is outstanding and well-polished. There are several featurettes documenting the development process, from concept to courses, to characters and voice acting. My favorites are the audio and voice acting features. All of the voices are supplied by established Hollywood talent, including Lucy Lui (Elise), Oliver Platt (Luther), David Arquette (Eddie) and Billy Zane (Brodi). They all did a really good job, even though some of them didn't quite understand what they were doing at first. Each actor has a small video, and it's great to see them getting excited and improvising during their recording sessions.

The music features are great too. Seeing Mix Master Mike (of Beastie Boys fame) scratching and creating music for this game is really cool. He's really into games, and he "gets" what game music is all about. Speaking of music, Tricky features some awesome tunes. From the front-end layered music to the dynamic on-the-fly tracks in the game, Tricky rocks out with its cock out. There are tons of great new techno/dance tracks, as well as remixed versions of fan faves Shake What Yo' Mama Gave You and the SSX intro song (forgot its name). And yes, the game has Run DMC's Tricky in it, and it sounds great. All of this sounds incredible in full DTS with 5 discreet sound channels. I was knocked on my ass by the outstanding sound this game was generating. I personally hope that every company follows EAs lead and implements 5.1/DTS sound options in their games. It makes a world of difference for those with the necessary equipment.

Overall, I really like Tricky. I think if you liked the original you'll enjoy this pseudo-sequel. But like always, you might want to rent it and try it out, especially with all the other top-quality games out right now. I'm very happy with my purchase.