SSX 3 [GC]

Complete and utter freedom. That's the theme of the antics in SSX 3.

Unlike most games in the extreme sports genre, developer EA Canada shows no concern for locking the player into a set path. The high-speed shredding is constrained only by the size of your addiction.

Your journey begins when a plane plops you on the lowest peak of a mountain three times taller than Everest. You have several choices about how to proceed. There is the Freestyle mode, where you try to rack up trick points. In Race mode, you face off against other boarders. You can go nuts in Free Ride mode, or compete against a human online (the online option is available only on the PlayStation 2).

There's also a neat feature -- the main courses of each peak link together. After earning high ranks on the leader board, you can cruise through them all seamlessly, turning typical five-minute runs into a 15 to 20 minute festival of frostbite.

The freedom extends into the trick system. Employing literally every button on the controller, you can pull basic grinds and grabs or multiply their impact with the "Uber Trick" meter. After powering up, the gravity-defying aerobatics in SSX make the wirework action in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon seem like amateur hour. The phenomenal character animations never fail to dazzle, no matter how many times you pull the same stunt.

Add to that the graphical pizzazz of the game's environments and it's easy to conclude -- with no exaggeration -- that SSX 3 is one of the most gorgeous experiences. EA Canada has rendered a genre-busting, snowboarding extravaganza that tops nearly every game on the market in terms of visual glaze. Even on the PlayStation 2, a console criticized for its lesser graphics, it's shockingly beautiful.

Several hours in, after you conquer enough courses and rake up ample cash, you earn a lift ticket to the very tip of the third peak, rising so high you would need an oxygen tank to last more than a few seconds in real life. Thankfully, reality is pliable in SSX.

So after you brave avalanches rushing behind you, blizzards blowing you about like a pine needle, and trees collapsing in every direction -- awaiting your grinds, no less -- just remember that you are a mere mortal. Such amazing feats are best left to the video game realm.