When you are "Uber Ready" press any of the grab or tweak buttons on a rail and you'll do a rail trick.. this will also add a letter to the "SUPER UBER" meter.

Head-to-head went to PS2, but bearly, and only because of it's "online" mode.

As for me, I like the button layout of the ps2 better, but I much prefer the analog sticks on the S-controler to the shoddy sticks on the dual-shock. Also, it's much easier to switch your thumb from the stick to the pad (to pre-wind) on the S-controler than it is to do on the dual-shock.

So the control issue is almost a draw for me, but I slightly prefer the X-box controls to the PS2's for the reasons above.

Holy crap there is so much to do in this game!!!!!
I just now realized:

1) You can do tricks on rails
2) You can buy Uber's!!!!
3) You can unlock an assload of hidden characters!

Damn this game is deep.

I think the rail UBER ricks give crap for points. Only about 4,000 - 5,000. The best way to rack up points is with the combo feature. You'll notice the little timer after you complete a trick, just pull off another trick and that'll add to the combo. And you'll see the combo points adding up. If you don't wipe out after the last trick all, those bonus combo points get added to your score. On some courses, like the half-pipes, it's very easy to rack up 300,000+ points just from combos. One of the career highlights is to pull off a 100x combo. If there's no jumps to trick off of, just do a lot of little 180 jumps or forward and backward leans, and that'll keep the combo count going.

i was noticing the combo feature, it's really a nice addition. another way i've been racking up some serious points is by holding the UBERs as long as i can, which i think is another nice feature to this version. if you buy one of the UBER tricks that is "short" (for example the board doesn't spin around a lot), you can hold it for a long time with some good air. it really adds a lot to your score.

Thanks! I really appreciate your input.
You have me thinking I'll keep the Xbox version. I have enough to play online now and like I posted earlier, I'm not so interested in head-to-head racing. Too bad they didn't go all-out with an online mode like MS did with Amped 2.

I was concerned that the S-controller would be difficult to use without the shoulder buttons, but if you think they're acceptable, I'll go that route.

Anyone playing this online? I just hooked up my nw adapter earlier today and raced against one person. It feels very sterile I guess the word would be. With PC online games I can type really quick while playing and everyone is usually very chatty.

It's gonna be a chore unhooking the pc and powering down the modem to play PS2 online until I get a router though.

My name is the same here as it is in the game.

I wanted to build up my character a bit more before heading online. Maybe I'll hook it up tonight. Need a USB headset though. Check some od the deals websites for routers. Got a nice wireless router with 4-wired ports for $25 recently.

So is there a way to cancel a jump once you've initiated it? In the original SSX you pressed L3 I think but SSX3 doesn't seem to have that option. Anyone know how?

this game is awesome!

I'm getting my SSX callus/blister/soreness again... on my left thumb. I had it when I was playing the hell out of Tricky, and I can feel it coming back.

I can totally relate. All the new games this week have my thumbs aching. I need to keep them in training so I don't have to suffer the seasonal soreness!

My impressions of the Xbox revsion:
I really like what they've done this year. It does make a huge difference that now you don't have to just race. The open-ended gameplay means you can just pick it up and mess around for a half hour and actually acheive something. Very few games are like that these days. The graphics really are impressive, especially the snow. I love how the sun glistens off it -- very cool! Sound is quite imersive, though I wish they would have let you import songs.
I'm still having some trouble with the controller -- the PS2 just feels more intuitive for tricks, but that may be largely due to what I've been used to for so long. I really don't think I'm missing out on much by passing on the ps2's online mode -- I know I'd just humiliate myself.

Anyone finish the Big Challenge "Tricky Gates" on Peak 2 yet? This one is driving me nuts. I think you have to go through the 32 gates to finish it and win 100,000 but every time I hit number 32 it says I fail. Either the game is buggy or they didn't spell out the info entirely for that particular Big Challenge.

Nevermind, I figured out what I needed to do and feel stupid now.

I need some help on the Peak 3 superpipe.... how do reach the 2 upper level pipes? I tried to do a handplant on the way up or down but it doesn't seem to work.... Is there some trick to getting to the upper level pipes that I'm not figuring out?

Also I asked this before, but anyone know how to cancel a jump once you've initiated it? You could do this in the original but I haven't figured it out for SSX3. I'm using the pro setting.

I finally got Psymon maxed out and am going to be buying UBERS and accessories now. I'm pissed that you have a limit to the amount of accessories you can add on to a player! I wanted to have devil horns, the scuba gear and a flaming board but I cant! The snow man cheat character is hilarious too. He has a sled as his board and even has his own UBERS!

Well, I have done this only once, but I also haven't tried very many times.

Basically what I did was a bunch of Ubers in a row to get my height high and just kept trying to hit the handplant. I got it the one time, but I found it wasted WAY too much time to try and get so I have passed on trying it again.

I would be very interested in finding out if there is an easier way to get it to work right.

i unlocked the peak 3 "peak jam"... wow... it gives you 33 minutes to make it down the mountain, and you have to score 1,000,000 points to beat it. i got it on my first try. took me 28 minutes to go from the top of peak 3 and i earned 1.3 million points.

good times.

So what is the deal with "Monster Tricks"?? They talk about them over at gamefaqs.com but I'm not entirely sure where in the game they talk about this. Also, anyone know which is the best UBER to buy to give the most points?

I think Monster Tricks are the "Super Ubers" I would guess.. once you do 4 Ubers and fill up the word "Uber", your Ubers change into the crazy breakdancing ones.

No the monster tricks are something else entirely. Different than the UBER's altogether.....

I think the Monster Tricks are the tricks that show up under the Career Highlights. For instance if you do a "150m rail slide", then a trick is revealed. It'll say something like "1080 dnL Mutilating Ass-Muncher". But the game doesn't tell you how to do the trick... I guess you just have to know.

I've done a couple by accident. A little animation pops up on the screen that says "Monster Trick!!!"

This game is out of control! Any game that can make me gasp (one of those huge drops offs) followed by an "oh sh**" is doing something right. I'm playing on the PS2 and have noticed little to no slowdown. I don't know theres just something about this game that makes me feel incredibly competent. Like after I've grinded off of a fallen tree and went directly into an uber trick...just makes me feel like I'm on top of the world.

I haven't really had any problem with any of the races on Peak 1. This compared to the first SSX where I was stuck no the first race for a good minute (I had a hell of a time getting used to the controls). I think this is because I've been maxing out my character instead of buying clothes and cards and the like.

I think I'll probably play through the game with a few different characters since its that damn fun.

Can I say how much I hate the BIG challenges? Some of them are highly frustrating.

I stopped playing the game after trying the Gravitude Big Challenge of going through 44 gates after getting to number 38 every time and missing 39 many, many times heh. It was a good thing though since I finished up Castlevania:LoI, Primal and I started playing Jak 2. I'll go back to SSX3 eventually, just not in a hurry after that annoyance.

I just finished and won the big race from the top of peak 3 to the bottom of peak 1. My brain literally feels fried.