Being a Better Gamer
As you make the transition from being completely experience-oriented to completely score-oriented, you’re actually just becoming more self-betterment oriented, which is a great thing for a game to force the player to do. Two hours later, when I replayed Fast Forward for the twentieth time, I hit the hard-to-reach jump and flew across the finish just like my opponent did. I landed hard in a fashion that would shatter all but the strongest kneecaps in real life, and looked at my score. 21 million! An impressive feat. I then did a victory dance. That is, my character in the game did. Or was it me in real life? Does it matter? Or maybe I don’t even remember. The feeling of achievement during such moments is remarkably palpable, and what do you know – it’s all because I beat a high score.
I think games like SSX prove that score-chasing is far from dead. Not only that, but it doesn’t have to refer to 8-bit alien blasting either. The concept of score-chasing actually enhancing immersion by representing one’s ability in a highly skill-based gameplay climate, where said skills are visually represented via the style and panache players bring to each and every encounter and in-game play instance, is one that I feel is highly effective and ought to be explored more. Whether an arcade-style snowboarding simulator will continue to push boundaries in this regard I have no idea, but I’m sure glad I’ve played SSX enough to extract such wild experiences from it.
Fellow enthusiasts will understand completely, but if I seem crazy, why not give this game another go? The console generation is wrapping up, afterall, and EA has yet to confirm a sequel. You may just find yourself screaming at the top of your lungs, completely drowned out by the rush of your snowboard sharply and stylishly ripping through the air around you, your pre-ordered PS4 waiting to be picked up at GameStop days after its release. I’ll admit, that’s probably a huge stretch for most. But I could definitely see it happening to me.
