VIDEO GAMES SSX 3 snowboarding title is a winner

The game includes mutliplayer challenges and online competition.
WASHINGTON POST
Back in the days when PlayStation ruled the video-game world, snowboard games were a dime a dozen. Today, just three snowboard games remain on the shelves -- Nintendo's 1080 Avalanche, a GameCube exclusive; Microsoft's Xbox-only Amped 2; and EA's SSX 3, the sole title available on all three platforms, but also the best of the bunch.
SSX 3's arcade-style take on the downhill action makes it accessible to the novice virtual boarder, but the game's options go deep enough (and its third, massive mountain is steep enough) to challenge even seasoned vets.
Options
Gameplay is simple and open-ended: You start at the top of a photorealistically rendered slope, and whether you stick to a practice run, perform tricks, compete against others or stop at a lodge to buy new equipment depends entirely on your choice of direction as you glide downhill. This free-range gameplay provides long-running replay value.
While you're catching air in a halfpipe or off a rail, a system of trick-based combo moves, sort of like in Activision's Tony Hawk's Underground skateboarding game, elevates the fun factor; music from the likes of Fatboy Slim, Queens of the Stone Age, Jane's Addiction and N.E.R.D. provides the soundtrack for your stunts.
Add multiplayer challenges -- including online competition on the PS2 -- and you have the most well-rounded snowboarding experience yet on a game console.
XDetails: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, $50.