SSX On Tour

SSX On Tour is an arcade snowboarding and skiing race in which the player goes through the career of a fictional music tour around the mountain resort of Peak, assembles a crew of riders, and links tricks into long, flashy combos, choosing for each character between riding a snowboard and skis according to what suits them better. The EA Sports BIG series is defined by an exaggeratedly stylized presentation, a distinctive soundtrack, and an emphasis on showmanship as much as on the actual race placement, further supported by the newly introduced special trick Monster Uber and the option to choose between a snowboard and skis for each character based on preferred riding style. The tracks are full of shortcuts, ski jumps, and alternative routes that reward repeated runs down the same course via a different line and the search for faster passages.

The PC version was released alongside the console versions in 2005 and includes the same tracks, characters, gear, and game modes as the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube versions, including the entire career line and all unlockable bonuses. On more powerful contemporary setups it offered the option to set higher resolution and detail than the consoles of that time, but the controls were primarily tailored to a gamepad, and playing on a keyboard was less comfortable for precisely inputting tricks during jumps, especially with more complex combinations entered via directional combos requiring quick and precise presses. Multiplayer on PC was limited to play on a single computer, just as on consoles; the game did not offer an online multiplayer version on any platform of that generation. In terms of content, number of tracks, or career length, the PC release did not differ from the console versions in any way, and it was essentially an equally valid choice depending mainly on which controls the player preferred and what hardware they had at home, or whether they preferred playing in front of the TV or at a computer with headphones and a mouse at hand.

Why play it: Content-wise identical to its console siblings, the PC version of SSX On Tour tempts with higher resolution — but again, for precise tricks during jumps, we recommend a gamepad over a keyboard.