It's a snow-boarding game. You can do stupidly high jumps and mad 'Uber' tricks. There is a mode where you need to get as many points as you can ('Showoff' mode) and a mode where you race five other AI people ('Race' mode, natch). Winning these modes unlocks more riders, and hence, more tricks.
So, SSX Tricky is just like all other snowboarding games.
Until you turn the sound up.
The music in SSXT is fantastic. Do enough tricks and you can build your 'boost bar' to the top, and then you are in 'Tricky' mode. Run DMC's song 'Tricky' is seamlessly mixed into whatever music is playing and your PS2 screams "Tricky, tricky tricky!".
You fall in love with it instantly.
Whilst in 'Tricky' mode you can pull off absolutely crazy moves which can involve things such as leaning down, undoing your board straps, and doing a windmill break dancing move before landing again, at which point it shouts "TRICKY!" and you are on your way to stardom.
Everything else about the game is just as you'd expect from a PS2 sports game, fabby graphics, tons of options and stupid characters. The controls are a bit ropey at first (you need to use the left stick and the cursors sometimes which is next to impossible), but once you get the hang of them they work - kind of. And sometimes you fall over for seemingly no reason, and the AI players are (as always) much faster than you, and some levels can be frustrating to the point of lobbing the joypad across the room (not good when it's someone else's PS2)...
But then you land an Uber trick, it screams "Tricky!", fireworks go off and the crowd goes wild...
And you can forgive it everything.
SSX Tricky is fantastic.

I didn't like SSX games because some moves required pressing L1+L2 or R1+R2 and anyone who designs a game where you have to press two shoulder buttons on the same side of a Dualshock controller at the same time is a massive dick.

I didn't like SSX games because some moves required pressing L1+L2 or R1+R2 and anyone who designs a game where you have to press two shoulder buttons on the same side of a Dualshock controller at the same time is a massive dick.

As a game I enjoyed SSX3 more than Tricky. But Tricky has Run DMC.

I didn't like SSX games because some moves required pressing L1+L2 or R1+R2 and anyone who designs a game where you have to press two shoulder buttons on the same side of a Dualshock controller at the same time is a massive dick.