Extreme sports. Ahh the sudden smash upon the gaming world that extreme sports as brought is almost unbelievable. Maybe this was down to the very popular Tony Hawk’s series. Now we have seen rollerblading, BMX, snowboarding, etc etc, finally they bring out an amazingly great wakeboarding game.
This game is just another addition to the extreme sports genre of games again which has tried to make itself that little bit more popular by slapping a guys name that nobody has ever heard of in the title. However this game truly does do the sport justice.
The graphics in this game are outstanding. The water far surpasses anything ive ever seen before including Wave race for the GC, and I’m sure a lot of you know how good that is. The effects and lighting of the wave created by the boat that is slinging you round the lakes / flooded towns looks very realistic and adds a lot of power to how much the player enjoys the game. The rest of the game has also very good graphics just not as impressive as the water. Taking after the same sort of look as the likes of Tony Hawks and Aggressive Inline most of the visuals in this game are not superb, however great the water maybe.
This title is by far the hardest extreme sports game I have played in a long time. It takes much more time to get used to the method of playing than other games of this genre. This could be down to the fact that you have very little control over where you go, the boat is on a set track and is pulling you the lakes, you can release yourself from the rope but they’re is only so far you can go without straying to far from the boat.
The moves in this game are much harder to pull off. Less ramps and rails means you must use the low waves created by the boat to get tricks, this can be tricky as height is not easy to obtain from these wakes. The levels each have a number of challenges, gap and “Groove” tasks for you to complete. Some of these are ridiculously hard to accomplish and require a fairly high skill level. Tasks such as Video shoot and Tricky trick can be a major problem when you need just 1 or 2 more percent to reach the next level, trust me I know.
The usual aspects of extreme sports games have been included in this title. Things such as different boards, stat points and a large number of tricks. However one vital part was missing, which is the option to design your own character; this was a slight disappointment in the game but nothing to serious. The co-op mode was a very nice touch to the game, allowing one player to drive the boat while the other does the boarding. As well as whole new career mode designed on this co-op it can keep players going for a long time.
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Game play: 8 – Difficult at first but becomes rewarding later on.
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Graphics: 8 – Amazing water effects, the rest is not greatly impressive
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A.I - 0 – I suppose there isn’t any except for the way the boat slows down to wait for you when you fall or comes to pick you up ( just remember overall score IS NOT an average ;)
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Sound: 9 – A very enjoyable soundtrack and some nice water / character sounds.
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Lifespan 8 – You may give up after days of trying to complete a task or you may not, either way you will more than likely keep coming back to his game.
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Overall 9 – The best extreme sports game I’ve ever played, many people may disagree but if you’re a fan of the genre then this game is for you.