As Spinal Tap's David St Hubbins so rightly said, "There's a fine line between stupid and clever." And in games, there's a gine line between challenging and frustrating though to be honest it's not as funny. Yet SSX3 attempts to grind its way down that line, slipping occasionally to one side, occasionally to the other. As people who speak Micra might say, it's a mix of the two - chustrating then, or maybe frallenging. But at least it's not spafe.

No, it's definitely sporty, but EA hasn't played it safe. While it could easily have spurted out a celeb-packed mini-twist on Tricky for Christmas, it... hasn't. SSX has been stretched in all directions, and where previous games were merely huge, this is godlike. Witless PR babble about 'go anywhere gravity' aside (What? Like down?), the big deal is having various courses smoothed faultlessly together in one giant, multi-tracked mountain. The addition of hell-plane 'transport' cut-scenes masks loading times as 'travelling up' the mountain. And once you're deposited in the area, even choices are made by following signposts through powdery lanes. It brings a feeling of freedom and immersion that being dumped at the start of a three-second countdown can't compete with.

Most impressive of all, however, is the lack of any obvious loading after the initial countdown, no matter how long the course. And get this: one mid-game challenge is to ride from the top of peak two to the bottom of the city - a journey so long it gets dark before you finish. Your time to beat? Nineteen minutes. There's right, n-n-n-n-nineteen minutes of super-fast, super-smooth racing without ever seeing the same thing twice. You've never played anything like it. From the very top it takes 30 minutes. Light swearing is acceptable here.

Course design is as inspired as we've come to expect, though the ante has been upped so far a giraffe could wear it as a hat. Avalanches shake the screen, chasms open in front of you, ice ceilings collapse, trees topple onto the course and the race organisers have blown their lunch money on tons of glorious pastel fireworks.

Meanwhile, higher passes are indisputably more hostile, less landscaped and somehow even steeper. It's a good visual trick - to make it any more precipitous you'd have to push the telly on its back.

But just as we were getting that lovely warm feeling in our tummies, we faceplant into the yellow snow. Importantly, this isn't just about gorgeously poised 'tricks equal boost, boost equals speed' racing. Your career takes in other contests, such as mountain and half-pipe events where trick scores are king, item collection tests and specific challenges such as jumping through hoops or popping balloons - isn't jumping through hoops a bad thing? Unfortunately, no matter how huge the tricks, pulling them for the sake of it can feel aimless, and freestyle contests just aren't as gripping as racing. While sumptuous in a race situation, character control isn't exactly through-the-eye-of-a-needle. Reacting to ground deflections is all part of the fun in downhill mode, but in these super-tight tests there's often no time to react. You must anticipate them or fail. We're talking trial and error of OJ Simpson proportions.

The addition of the 'board press', which links tricks for big scores, has complicated things requiring the use of both sticks, the D-pad, the face buttons and the shoulder buttons in quick succession (hint: choose the 'pro' layout - it's easier). When all the challenges exploit this difficulty of control, it's hardly surprising things can get frustrating... soon the calm female voice announcing 'Mcomm' every time you quit to retry will have you sharpening icicles and firing them at pensioners.

Mercifully, you don't have to complete everything on one peak to get to the next, so you have the option to give the most annoying things a miss. It'll take months to discover all the shortcuts and sneaky lines, which is perhaps where the real joy lies - then there's the still-great split-screen multiplayer, plus online co-operative events, which are also two-player only and hence disappointing. What, no six-pack races? Still none of you've got broadband anyway. And then there's... well, there's the end of the page. But trying to describe this is like trying to describe a sunset. It's must better if you just see it for yourself.

While not all the new content is totally successful, don't let that put you off. The huge game occasionally slides the wrong side of challenging and annoying, yes, but it always makes ait back alive.

Graphics 90%
Super-fast, stylish, smooth and detailed.

Sound 70%
Famous tunes 'mixed' almost beyond recognition

Gameplay 80%
Beautifully poised racing, freestyle/challenges less so

Lifespan 80%
Huge and heavily ribbed for near endless pleasure

Overall 90%
Expands an already huge game. Not always successful, but with massive style and verve. You should own it.