91
20 bucks are you crazy??? This game should still be worth 50 in ten years. Its a fast paced, fun, long, good looking sports game that is so addictive I could become an alternative for drug dealers.
This game starts you out with a crap guy against other crap guys and you try to boost yourself up in the leader board. As you progress you will get better guys skis and snowboards and face better guys skis and snowboards. The game is really really long and should keep you busy until you beat it. In the on tour mode There are so many challenges and they re all so fun and to beat them all must take near forever.
The graphics in this game are top notch. Everything looks so beautiful although there are many glitches with graphics.
The soundtrack is so good. You get old 70's and 80's rock like LED ZEPPLIN you have your modern rock, and you have your rappers if you like that stuff. All the music just sounds so good together and goes along with the game so well. The sounds are good to and they fit well with the very realistic gameplay.
This game is an absolute beauty and I think anybody should buy it whether or not skiing or snowboarding interests you. To be crap or to be awesome I think the question has been answered.
100
Along with SOCOM, this is one of my favourite games. I find it really addictive and being an armchair snowboarder probably the closest I'll get to the real thing. Buy it!
80
Originiality - 50
I bought this game expecting it to be a new game! I have played SSX 3 all the way through. I've played every level tons of times. When I got this game I thought all the levels would be exactly the same. There are some different objectives and challenges to do, but the settings are exactly the same. Although they didn't take the time to put in new levels, just about everything else is different and new, but that wasn't enough to get me to keep the game.
Controls - 70
Obviously the PSP hardware doesn't have the best setup for controls, but SSX does a fair job with this setup. I played SSX 3 on the Xbox, so I had somewhat of a hard time adjusting to the new PSP setup. It'll take you about an hour or two to get used to the controlls, although I highly recomend playing it in a Playgear Pocket because it's much more comfortable.
If you have played SSX 3 a lot, do not buy this game. But if you've only played it a little bit or not at all, you should definately buy this game.
91
Having always been more of a Cool Boarders man myself, and always living in hope they'd revive that series for PS2, I've always tended to ignore the SSX series. Big mistake. What is out on the PSP is beautiful.
It's fast, it's colourful, and perhaps more than many other PSP titles, it's rewarding. Nothing really stands out at first as easy to do. With Cool Boarders it was always so simple to pull off point racking combos, not here though. So it took me a good hour or so of play to start racking up some medals.
No detail has been lost in the courses, all with their own distinct charm and frustration levels. Each track is littered with stacks upon stacks of hidden and not so hidden shortcuts, some, obviously more rewarding than others of course!
Loadings times are what you'd want as well, nothing too long to leave you hanging around for your next race, often course runs will be looped back to back to keep the virtual adrenalin pumping as well.
Couple all this, with one of the best soundtracks i'm yet to hear on the PSP yet and for me, you have one of the best gaming experiences yet on PSP, you should be adding this to the collection very soon if you haven't already!
90
Leave it to Electronic Arts to have SSX: On Tour developed in their Montreal Studios. If anyone knows about snow it's them; being a hop, skip and a jump away from the Quebecois. Playing in the white stuff can be fun, and so can your PSP with EA's latest installment of the SSX series available on your favourite little handheld.
Now I admit, we had a bit of a lull in terms of titles being offered for the PSP, but now, they are a flowing. Make no mistake, there now is, and will be, a lot to choose from come this holiday season and amidst the GTA Beast, the X-Men and countless other games coming up, SSX: On Tour ranks as one of the best purchases you can make right now. It's just a lot of fun.
SSX greets you with basically 2 modes of play; Practicing and all out Tournament, the latter of which you'll be playing mostly. The Goal? Become the ultimate SSX King by besting CPU opponents through flat out races and trick style events. What I first noticed about SSX is that it has style. The menus are easy to navigate and have a cool funky style to them. Yes, there's the loading wait times, but even those are interspersed with animation/hand drawn characters and figures. It has the whole "Gnarly" snowboarding them going for it. All of this is accompanied by the usual EA Trax music selection. The music is subjective. Some tracks are recycled from other games such as Burnout: Legends, but most are new. I really like the music, with tracks ranging from rock to rap such as Paul Wall (nice grills).
Back to the Tournament mode. There is no character creation mode like the console versions but you can choose from 2 characters whose characteristics progress the more gold medals you acquire. This progression allows you to buy better Board's and Ski's and Outfits for your character; eventually moving you up the ladder to becoming #1. There's a great sense of accomplishment as you progress and you'll continuously find yourself wanting to play "just one more event". I mentioned that there are Snowboarding events and Skiing events, so there's almost 2 separate campaigns you can accomplish at the same time. (At this point I stop my review to go put on my snowsuit. This is where the fun begins.)
You'll be amazed by the graphics when you first start swooshing down the mountain. This is one of the best looking PSP games out thus far. Everything looks great, and it's smooth and fast. There is the occasional clipping here and there but it doesn't detract from the experience at all. The camera auto zooms slightly closer and further from your character as moves are pulled off, and for the most part, it works really well. Sometimes when it's in too close, you lose your sense of direction, but as you learn the courses it's not a huge problem. You won't be dissapointed by the visuals. They're fantastic.
Under the options menu you have the choice of a regular control layout and an advanced control layout (shown to you by, again, a funky menu). I stuck with the regular layout as I found the advanced to be too confusing for me. Your character can be controlled with either the PSP's analog nub or the directional pad. Again, I stuck with the D-Pad. The X Button Jumps, which is great for catching big air off those ramps. The Square Button is a Boost (more on this later). The other face buttons are used for various grabs and tweaks. The L and are buttons can be used for grabs as well, or for throwing punches at your opponents when your not gliding through the air. When you wipeout, you must tap the Square button repeatedly to recover, which brings me back to the boost button. There's times when you catch some small jumps and hitting that boost button grants you a face full of snow. This is the games biggest setback.
The control after a few races works out extremely well, and you'll be more careful with the boost button, but it does take some getting used to. Holding forward on the D-Pad also allows you character to "tuck'in" and gain speed, however, this can also grant you a face full of snow if you aren't careful. The more tricks you pull off, the more boost you earn by your boost meter on the right hand side. Fill it to the top, and your granted a chance to pull off monster tricks by using the trigger buttons together with one of the face buttons. Pulling off one of these babies looks great, as do the rest of the moves. They are addictive. There are collectables scattered around the tracks as well as other goodies for you to discover. The track layouts are also well done. There's plenty of opportunities to catch some serious air and show-off. The difficulty is right up there, so this game will keep you busy for some time to come.
What more can I say. SSX: On Tour is an addictive and fun game. There's a few minor quibbles but if you enjoyed the console versions at all, you'll enjoy this game as well. While you might have seen some of the tracks ported over here, the developers really have spoiled us with an on-the-go version. I'm just hoping it doesn't get buried and ignored amidst the onslaught of Holiday titles coming up. Make no mistake, this is one of the best PSP games available. OK, back to skiing.
90
A must buy if you have a PSP and enjoyed the other SSX games.
93
I've owned every SSX game (except the gba one), when I couldn't stand waiting for GTA I decided to fork out a little cash and pick up this beauty. It's exactly what I was looking for to pass the time away sitting on the dock of the ... Oh sorry.
Pros
Graphics are supurb. The power of the PSP amazes me to no end. I haven't noticed any slow downs. All in all I'm not looking for any better graphics in a portable game, period.
Sounds are perfect, wasn't too impressed with some of the music choices of the pass SSXs but this one seems to hit the rockstar style that seems to fit the genre so well.
Gameplay is pretty good. It's got the usual event stuff with a few alterations mixed in to keep it a little fresh. The ride down the entire mountain was taken out to keep the ammount of time that you are just coasting without anything to-do to a minimum. I don't miss the '1 mountain' idea at all. Another thing that totally floored me was the introduction of skis, when I first heard of this I thought you'd be having skiers vs boarders (which I believe is availible in the console version). I'm liking the fact that you are forced to get good at both. It keeps things moving and you aren't stuck playing the same way down the same mountain.
The menus and load screens are just fun and different. The cartoony black and white really work after you get use to it.
Cons
There are times in tunnel areas that the camera travels really close and unless you have experience w/ SSX3 then you might not know which way you have to turn. This is more of an annoyance than something I hate.
The controls .... AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG .... I hate the fact that SQUARE isn't tweak anymore and instead it is a grab. This means when you go to start boosting early after a trick you frequently end up grabing your board and then doing a very unwanted faceplant. This also comes into play when there are small little hills which I'm very use to holding down boost to get over them ... well now if there is enough air time between the hills you'll end up doing yet another unsucessful attempt at a grab. And to top it off you can't change your controls except between "normal" and "advanced", advanced throwing anything you ever learned about SSX out the window and starting from scratch with the most annoying control scheme I think I've ever seen.
The Stuff I Didn't Care About
The loadtimes are there, can't avoid that, but just look up from that funky animation to see what time of day it is and when you look back its probably already loaded. Lack of music styles, while rock is good , some would prefer other choices and this SSX seems to be limited in choices.
Overall, SSX rocks and I'm very glad I purchased it. Besides the controls, which I'll get use to in time, there isn't anything wrong with this game. It is a sure buy and the only reason for taking points off is because of the lack of customizability in reference to the controls. The reason the high score still is the fact that the Pros definitely out weight the Cons here.
95
I've loved the previous SSX games, so I rushed out and bought this one too. It's pretty good. A worthy successor to the previous versions, expecially for it being a handheld version.
The good
The graphics are great. I'm really impressed with the quality. Very little slowdown at all. Sound-wise it's right up there. Lots of ambience to keep you immersed. Gameplay is pretty standard fare for SSX. It's got all the main playstyles, Slopestyle, Big Air, Freeride, and Race.
The only thing is that unlike SSX3 where you rode down the mountain to whatever event you wanted to compete in, On Tour goes back to the old, boring style of having to just pick an event and have it start.
Adding skis to the mix is a welcome change. They definitely play differently than the boards, so it adds just that bit more replayability.
The bad
The camera can really suck sometimes and you just end up hoping that you're going in the right direction. I find the analog stick to be far too sensitive as well. It's far too easy to oversteer with it.
Another minus for me is the music selection. I'm not overly into all the mainstream crap they put in there and the only way to take it off the playlist is to listen to the track from beginning to end. Needless to say I started the playlist, turned the volume right off and left my PSP alone for awhile.
The loadtimes are bearable, but not very snappy to say the least. But you get funky little hand drawn animations to watch while it loads, so I guess that makes up for it. Ok, maybe not.
Overall, a great addition to the SSX lineup. It could have used a bit more depth and I would have really prefered it be one big mountain like SSX3, but we can't have everything now can we?
85
(dear moderators-- please remove my post - found here: link
I purchased both SSX on Tour for PSP and SSX on Tour for PS2. I've been playingI purchased both SSX on Tour for PSP and SSX on Tour for PS2. I've been playing all series on the PS2. Both games are similar in ways of presentation, but for those that has playedd SSX3 will be familiar w/ the courses found in SSXontour for PSP.
The graphics for the PSP is awesome - very clean and well detailed. I recall when I first saw the 'screenshots' I thought perhaps maybe it will be too grainy or will lack anti-aliasing (like Burnout for PSP). But I was pleasantly surprised how clean the graphics are.
I've played the PS2 version last night and was able to "develop" my character. I've been working on my profile for the PSP this afternoon, and I'm loving both game version.
The controls are easy to get used to, despite the fact that you are now missing the 2 additional shoulder buttons found on the PS2 controller. This is also why I got the PS2 version instead of the Xbox version for console, because of the controls. As for the use of the analog stick - well, I mainly use the D buttons instaed for doing Monster tricks, or any other tricks. I rarely used the analog Stick, mostly in races. And the fact that, really, some games for the PSP, the analog stick is just a bit cumbersome (position-wise).
The sound is good. As always, best played w/ headphones on. One thing I wish could have been better was the "Pocket Trax" collection. There are a handful of cool tracks, but I wish they were more "fast paced" like some of the trax from SSX3. Funny that a couple of tracks can be heard also from Burnout.
Overall, I place this game for the PSP along side my top PSP favorites -- RidgeRacer, WipeOut Pure, and now SSXonTour. All series on the PS2. Both games are similar in ways of presentation, but for those that has playedd SSX3 will be familiar w/ the courses found in SSXontour for PSP.
The graphics for the PSP is awesome- very clean and well detailed, IMHO. I recall when I first saw the 'screenshots' I thought perhaps maybe it will be too grainy or wil lack anti -aliasing (like Burnout for PSP). But I was pleasantly surprised how clean the graphics are.
Iv'e played the ps2 version last night and was able to "develop" my character. I've been working on my profile for the PSP this afternoon, and I'm loving both game version.
The controls are easy to get used to, despite the fact that you are now missing the 2 additional shoulder buttons found on the Ps2 controller. *This is also why I got the Ps2 version instead of the Xbox version for console, because of the controls. As for the use of the analog stick- well, I mainly use the D buttons instaed for doing Monster tricks, or any other tricks. I rarely used the analog Stick- mostly in races...And the fact that, really, some games for the PSP, the analog stick is just a bit cumbersome(positionwise)
Sound- Overall- it is good- as always, best played w/ headphones on. One thing I wish could have been better was the "Pocket Trax" collection. There are a handful of cool tracks-but I wish they were more "fast paced" like some of the trax from SSX3. Funny that a couple of tracks can be heard also from Burnout.
Overall, I place this game for the PSP along side my top PSP favorites- RidgeRacer, WipeOut Pure, and now SSXonTour. (Burnout for PSP should have been similar to the Burnout Console series, in other words, it could have been better).
E
100
This is the first game I'm going to give a perfect score.
Pros
• Great graphics
• Ski or board? first choice in ssx games
• Fast paced
• Great ad hoc
• Cool soundtrack
Cons
• You have to unlock other players but I like it because it's challenging. Not really a con.
This is by far the best EA or EA Big title out for PSP right now. I'm a huge fan of SSX. 
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