Wave Race 64

Summary

Genre: Racing
Number of players: 1-2
Rumble Pak: No
Controller Pak: Yes
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

Wave Race 64 is one of the oldest games for the console. As you may have guessed from the title, it doesn't involve cars, or karts. Instead, the action takes place on a water arena, with you riding a super powered jetski. So how does it play?


Gameplay: The game, for one so old, is remarkably smooth, and quite fast too. The characters are all fairly easy to handle, with the possible exception of fat boy Dave Mariner, who is unresponsive. Of course, this is deliberate, but it doesn't stop it being very annoying indeed. Especially since I had decided that I was going to race as him. Grr......

There are only four characters to choose from, which for a racing game is very limited indeed. Mario Kart managed 8, so why are we only given half that here? Strange indeed. What's more, a Grand Prix only involves the four people you can choose, which kind of takes away from the racing feel of the game. But still, it is quite good fun.

In addition to the Grand Prix mode and the Time Trial mode, there is also a stunt mode - granted nowadays nothing special, but this was the first N64 game to do so, so it deserves some credit. The goal here of course being to perform stunts to rack up a big score. The idea is a good one, and it works very well indeed.

In general, while you won't have any major problems with the gameplay, you will get quite tired of it soon, largely due to the extremely limited amount of tracks and the limited amount of characters


Challenge: Not too tricky at all to be honest. You'll have completed the Grand Prixs in a couple of days if you try, and have unlocked all the courses and mirror mode. And after that there's nothing else to do. A great shame.


Graphics: For such an early game, the graphics here are very very good indeed. In fact, they're much better than some of the recent games that have come out - and you certainly won't be disappointed. The seas that you're racing on create realistic waves, which is great, the characters look very nice indeed as well. They even include such sights as a Killer Whale, a dolphin, and a helicopter circling overhead as you race. Nice touches!


Sounds: The commentator can be quite funny from time to time, though only because when you hear him the event has already happened- for instance when I was racing I hit into a wall at speed and fell off my jetski - only to hear about 3 seconds later the commentator's cry of "WATCH OUT!" Yeah, thanks!

Other than that, the sounds of the characters grunting when they crash is ok, nothing really special though, and the jetski noises can grate just a little. The music is largely a background affair, and don't really add anything to the game at all.


Multiplayer: Only a two player game unfortunately, which is a huge point against it. Multiplayer would have been so much better had four humans been able to compete in Grand Prix, but sadly you can't do this. You're limited to playing match races alone. No good at all, you won't be playing it for that long.


Summing up: A reasonable jetski game, which could have been so much more. It's definately showing signs of age, but it is worth checking out. Definitely try before you buy.


Gamesmark: 78%


Reviewer: Tangycheese



Maverik's opinion: Considering its age, Wave Race is a great game in many respects. True, it may seem a trifle 'dull', with no potential for combat or other interfering with opponents, and few useful moves, but it's certainly quite addictive, and of particular note is the water itself, with realistic waves and surf which affect the jetskis considerably. The courses are thus dynamic and interesting, and require quite a bit of skill to succeed on. A good game, despite the lack of four-player racing.