Serena Del Mar
OVERALL GAMEPLAY:
When I first popped in the CD i was expecting something like Wave Race 64 but a lot more advanced with new moves new and
more courses and a lot better graphics. All in all I wasn't too impressed with what I got instead. Gameplay wise the game
is played the same as the original. Even so certain tasks like turns were made much more difficult. For example sometimes
it is impossible to get the certain angle you need to reach a bouy or when you run into another player this can and will send
you very far off course from where you were heading. As for stunts and jumps they have been modified coordination wise from
the original. It is now timed differant to do differant stunts and jumps and some don't time nearly the same as their
counterpart. For example left barrel roll is timed differant than right, depending on the type of player you are this can be
a blessing or a battle with the controller. If you were looking for new moves over the orginal don't look for them here.
This game has practically all of the same moves with a couple challenging additions. Now for the good additions in gameplay
they added a squat button (B) and they made it possible to lean (R) and finally turbo. Turbo was implemented perfectly
within the game making it a balanced feature making it affect your overall speed everytime you use it. When I first played
the game I thought that only about 3 buttons were used but after I got to play around with it for a while I realized that
almost every button was utilized within the game. Another welcome addition is the changing weather conditions they make the
game much more exciting and changing so each time you race its not the same old same old. It changes visability, the track,
not to mention the visuals. For example in one track you can see a tree get struck by lighting right in front of you.
GRAPHICS:
Nothing too bad in here. Very realistic water affects, I looked at the Nintendo 64 version and I thought that was good but
once you look at it here you will be amazed. It looks very realistic and so does the rest of the game. The characters,
buildings were all done spectacular using the power of the GameCube. Unfortunately this did not help the back drops much
since they still lack a realistic appearence. The weather though is an extreme varient on the graphics. With each and
every differant condition the graphics change as well. When it is stormy you will see impressive lighting and water effects
with the rain drops.
SOUND:
Music wise the music except for a few tracks didn't stand out much at all. The most noticiable thing sound wise were the
"Crew Chiefs" that would talk to you every five seconds. One of the best narrator features I found is that depending on
your character the voice of your chief would change so it gives the sound a little variation. Unfortunatly though after
three laps of almost any level you will already have heard about everything they are going to say to you. But is a definate
improvement of the 64 version.
REPLAY VALUE:
This game is a great multiplayer game. It gives you the choice, first between racing or stunt mode and then from there you
get a wide selection of levels to choose from with varing weather choices. And with a single player they have stunt, championchip,
time trial and free roam modes to use. Unfortunatly though it is very easy to unlock everything this game has to
offer. In the abouut 6 hours of gameplay I got from this game I unlocked almost everything possible in this game. Fun with
other players but as a single player this fun can run out rather quickly.
| REVIEWED - PCM |
SCORE |
| OVERALL GAMEPLAY: Great controls, some challenges, nothing really new over the orignal. | 7.5/10.0 |
| GRAPHICS: Great graphics showing the power of the Cube. Water is very realistic and so is
the effects of the differant weather conditions. | 9.0/10.0 |
| SOUND: Music wise nothing that really stands out. Variation of Narrators is nice but it can
get old fairly quickly. | 7.5/10.0 |
| REPLAY VALUE: Good multiplayer but secrets are easy to unlock in no time at all. | 8.0/10.0 |
| OVERALL SCORE (NOT AN AVERAGE): | 7.9/10.0 |
