Snowboard? No, snow excited: SSX On Tour for the PSP

It's that time of year again; you phone up to book a week snowboarding in Whistler only to discover that your Barclaycard is in a worse financial state than a third-year medical student. You've been rejected by your travel agents, so what now for the aspiring snow fiend? Perhaps SSX On Tour for the PSP is the answer. For less than the cost of a day's lift ticket and the bottle of vodka you drink each morning to steady your nerves for the slopes, you could have a PSP and a copy of SSX On Tour. Who's to resist?

So how does this frozen wonder compare to earlier offerings, and do the wild expanses of fresh powder and stunning vistas fit on the PSP's screen? The answers are: 'brilliantly' and 'yes'.

Electronic Arts has done an impressive job of translating the look and feel of real-world snowboarding into the physics of an arcade game. While in real life, you could never hope to land some of the jumps possible in SSX, there's plenty to entice the snowboard fan. The rider's boards have a full range of motion that let you interact with the snow in almost limitless ways, and -- just like in real life -- you can even catch an edge and send yourself hurtling down the mountain in a tumble.

Skiing is also an option in the game, though there doesn't appear to be the option to yell insults at snowboarders while you're skiing -- EA has yet to capture that painful reality. SSX is out on 28 October. Expect a full review soon. -CS