SSX Blur - hands-on

Guiding the rider down wide open mountains is as easy as moving your wrist. The Nunchuk's motion-sensing tech lets you swerve and slide your way through the course with surprising accuracy. A quick jerk causes the rider to jump, and the analog stick modifies grab tricks while you're soaring through the chilly breeze. Much like the Tony Hawk series, SSX forces you to land the tricks in a level position - otherwise you'll crash hard. When you bail in Blur, quickly shaking the remote and Nunchuk gets you back in the action. We know there are skiers in the game as well, but there's been no word if you'll be using both arms like ski poles or not. Please let us use both arms like ski poles, EA.

The Wii Remote affects your tricks while in the air. Flicking in a given direction activates any number of tricks. Titling up does a backflip, right makes you spin, stuff like that. There's even a way to toss snowballs at your rivals while grinding down posts and shredding in between trees. Who hasn't always wanted to chuck one of those icy bastards into the back of some smarmy snowboarder's head?

The silky-smooth visuals and easygoing experience should appeal to both casuals and the trick-obsessed. Other helpful effects, like your rider becoming covered in powder and the trail your board creates in the snow, help sell the whole package. There's just something inherently relaxing about carving a path down an iced-over rock and landing a series of gravity-defying tricks. Add in some bass-y tunes, an alleged 3,000 combo variations and obligatory game modes (career, multiplayer etc) and we could be looking at a hot little sports title for the spring.

Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.