Nintendo DS

Surf's Up

Because it doesn't have dozens upon dozens of championships and courses, Surf's Up isn't going to supplant Mario Kart as the racing game of choice for Nintendo DS owners. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable racer that does right by the movie. Harassing opponents with squid torpedoes and making your penguin break-dance in midair is goofy fun. You'll only get a solid afternoon or two out of the championship mode, but the multiplayer race mode can easily extend your play time by days or even weeks. Just be prepared to wait for people to show up if you're looking for opponents online.

Surf's Up is one heck of a missed opportunity. Instead of offering up the system's first surfing competition, the designers simply wimped out creatively and offer up a formulaic racing game that never rises above "okay" status. The movie's about surfing penguins, guys...give us surfing penguins. Leave the kart racing for the Mario crew.

Les Rois de la Glisse sur DS n'est pas un mauvais titre, il est juste incroyablement basique. En effet, son gameplay manquant de profondeur rend cette adaptation facile et ne lui permet pas de rivaliser avec les meilleurs jeux de courses de la portable de Nintendo. En outre, son contenu reste assez limité. Bref, on s'amuse deux ou trois heures avant de retourner jouer à Mario Kart.

Surf’s Up is a bad Mario Kart clone (replete with cloned weaponry) with a dash of the barest of bones from SSX thrown in. As such, there’s no excuse that it’s made for young kids, because any kid would be way better off just playing Mario Kart DS, which uses almost the exact same basic formula, but offers depth and polish.

Surf's Up could have been something unique to the DS -- a trick-based surfing game like the one found on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 2. But instead we get a mediocre kart racer on a system where that genre is already well-represented. There's really no reason to play Surf's Up on the DS.

Surf's Up uses its licence well but flawed execution means it fails to get the pulses racing. Fans of the film can dive on in, but the rest of us will have more fun back on dry land