PlayStation 2

Wave Rally

Eidos aims to win the Best Water competition with Wave Rally, the company’s personal PS2 response to Nintendo ds Wave Race. Wave Rally takes the exact Wave Race formula (race around tracks while slaloming around red and yellow buoys) and peps it up with a Kawasaki endorsement and special attention to water graphics. It’s a formula that has proven successful in the past, so Opus and Eidos seem to have decided not to fix what ain’t broken.

Der größte Pluspunkt ist neben der gelungenen Grafik aber auf jeden Fall die variable Wellenphysik, die im Gegensatz zu Splashdown auch gewaltige Brecher zu bieten hat, was das Gameplay anspruchsvoller und abwechslungsreicher gestaltet. Die Mehrspielertauglichkeit von Jet Ski Riders ist allerdings ein Komplettausfall und auch die CPU-Fahrer agieren wenig überzeugend. Insgesamt ist man trotz Edeloptik und brachialer Wassergewalt bei Splashdown besser aufgehoben, auch wenn man dort auf Jetskis komplett verzichten muss.

The available modes are arcade, championship, time trial, freestyle, and head-to-head. There are six courses in the arcade mode and eleven in the championship. n'eight. en random. or high or even random. f the race, you will be passed by at least five opponents. e game. The modes are otherwise exactly the same, save for a checkpoint countdown in the arcade mode.

Wave Rally, the Opus-developed jetski racer just recently released by Eidos Interactive, is a very capricious sort of game. To a certain degree, that's to be expected and welcomed -- water is a capricious thing, and so a realistic virtual representation of water ought to act that way some of the time. But all things are best in moderation, since that's usually what makes for a fun game, a moderate dose of reality. Wave Rally often gives us a little more of that than seems absolutely necessary.

As much as they come, as fast they go, as many as they are, racing games will always be a part of the traditional video game lineup. Eidos Interactive -- a company that's known best for its adventure and action games mostly -- has now taken the opportunity to test the waters in the racing foray by publishing a jet ski racing title that not only looks good in action, but also adds a few innovations you may have never seen before in a wet, wild, and wacky game such as this. If you're quick to the chase, and not afraid of the thrill of being wet while completing insane stunts, then get ready for some Wave Rally racing!

Wave Rally had some aspects that could've made it an incredible contender. The GZWave technology is really solid, and it manages to provide excellent water effects on the power of the PS2, and shows a relative lack of flaws. A good selection of riders, even if their stats don't mean anything and they can't race more than two watercraft, and courses that are attractive and pleasing to the eye could've made it a really good title. Even with all of its strengths, I still don't feel right calling this an enjoyable title, as it just feels like the same hacked out stuff that we've seen before. Lack of player choices and absurd overall difficulty don't serve well for impressing a player. It could've risen to the challenge, but instead, let its flaws pull it down into mediocrity.

The release of the original Wave Race for the Nintendo 64 was noteworthy for a number of reasons, but none more obvious than the fact that the game became a blueprint, which nearly all other developers would use in constructing their own jet-ski-based racing, or similarly themed, games. As expected, Wave Rally incorporates features that have become standard in these types of games, but the development team at Opus has done its best to set Wave Rally apart from past and present jet-ski racers by including some new features--the ability to select between two different types of craft, as well as a freestyle mode that rates your trick ability based on several criteria.

In Japan it's the year of the snake, but in America it seems to be the year of the ocean with all of the incredible water effects seen in games these days. From Splashdown and Wave Race: Blue Storm to Pikmin and TransWorld Surf, more and more video games are featuring realistic water effects that are pretty enough to make you stop playing the game for a few minutes just to stare at the gorgeous sea. Wave Rally is another game that should be added to that list. Wave Rally uses GZ Wave technology to create real-time water that reacts differently based on the player's actions. The result is a water effect similar to ICO: impressive reflections that shift and ripple very realistically.

In terms of graphics Wave Rally is subpar. The water has a cool blurry effect, but it looks somewhat chunky and pixilated. Likewise you won't find any scenery you haven't seen in other jet ski games. You probably won't see many tracks anyway, since you can't select them, and you must place third to advance to the next one. The sound effects are practically non-existent, and the generic dance music is bland. Wave Rally really doesn't have anything to offer jet ski fans.