Surf's Up

"Not quite a Wipeout"

Introduction:

This game is based on the movie "Surf's Up", which is a computer generated cartoon about penguins that surf. You can start as one of the main characters from the film to take on the waves in Championship mode or multi-player.

Game Play: 6/10

The goal of the game is to land as many trick points as possible before the end of each course. Even though there is a finish line at the end of each course, it does not matter which character finishes first. Points are the only determining factor in who wins. In championship mode, there are different point goals you need to hit in order to pass each course.

There are five courses in all: Shiverpool, Pengu South, Pengu North, The Volcanos, and The Bone Yards. The first four courses have at least daytime and night time versions that differ in both lighting conditions and obstacles. They also come with different objectives. The objectives are: minimum points needed to pass the course, number of goals you must pass through before you finish a course, and points needed to master the course. Each course has waves on either the left or right side, and your penguin can do tricks on them. The middle of the course can have rails (to grind on), barriers (to break through), unbreakable barriers, goals, and power ups. Goals are little arches you can pass through to get extra points. If you pass through the amount shown on the requirements screen, you will unlock something.Power ups consist of point boosters and lighting bolts. There are three kinds of point boosters: 2x, 3x, and 5x. For a short duration of time, each trick that you do will be multiplied by whichever multiplier you picked up. Lighting bolts fill up your stoke meter, which acts as both a turbo meter and a trick enhancer. If you press the triangle button when your stoke meter is full (which is accomplished by doing enough tricks or by picking up a lighting bolt), you can do more tricks per jump, and /or you can do a mega trick buy simply pressing the triangle button again. Each mega trick is worth 3,000 points (and can be multiplied). There are also a set number of little penguin figurines scattered throughout each course that can be obtained to unlock a bonus course and art work.

Penguins can do simple tricks, advanced tricks, "lip grabs", grinds, and free style tricks. Considering most of these things can be done by pressing one button, it is not hard to pick up on. Advanced tricks take longer to do than simple tricks, but are both done by pressing a single button. Stoke "mega tricks" are cheap as hell because they are worth so much and can be pulled off by pressing only one button as well. Free style tricks are done by pressing and holding the right analog stick. This will make your penguin do flips in the indicated direction. The best part of the game is the grinding and jumping from rail to rail to reach hidden powerups. It is also fun saving a full stoke meter until you find a 5x power up, and then execute a "mega trick" for 15,000 points. It is not uncommon to double a course goal by being cheap like this with the stoke meter.

Each character has different attributes that he or she comes with. They are along the lines of: handling (important), speed (not so much), stoke (important), and free style (not so important). As you progress through the game, you can unlock more characters from the movie, surf boards, game music, and board patterns. Surf boards significantly improve your characters stats. The best surf boards will make any surfer extraordinary, so character selection ends up being a novelty.

I scored Gameplay 6/10 because the game is generally fun to play but never gets out of second gear. It is obvious that the game was intended for kids, since almost everything can be done by hitting a single button. That however is not the problem. The game is still pretty fun to play, but it is waaaaaay to short. A few extra environments with more elaborate layouts would be a huge plus. It would also have been nice if the attributes freestyle and speed actually gave gamers an advantage with completing certain objectives. An objective like, do a 1000 degree flip would help balance this problem.

Graphics and Sound: 8/10

The tunes are great if you like pop/rock. The graphics depict the enviroments and characters with justice.

Time Replayability: 2/10

I scored replayability 2/10 because the average gamer will beat this game in a day if they have four or five hours to kill. When I say beat the game, I mean finished the game with everything unlocked. It is probably possible to do the same in less than an hour but its not worth anyone's time. Finding the little penguin figurines is boring and offers little reward. Once you have every level unlocked, collecting penguins for art seems lame. I loved unlocking all the playable characters, music, and boards, but it all happened so fast. Even a person who rented the game would have four days to let it collect dust on a five day rental.

After you the beat the game on "championship" mode, you can play three different leaf sliding challenges. They consist of sliding down a volcanic course on a leaf while avoiding obstacles. Instead of gathering points, the goal is to be fast (ie don't hit anything). This will be completely finished in less than a half hour.

Final Recommendation:

The game scored a 5/10 overall. It is fun to play, especially with kids. I played it with people who don't play video games and they loved it. But the average gamer would get bored of this game real fast due to its limited length and depth. The music is upbeat and catchy since it is done by actual pop/rock bands, and the graphics are nice. You can buy the game brand new for $19.99 but you would feel ripped off for the above reasons, but it is definitely worth the play if you are in the mood to just relax and beat an easy simple game. After conquering the game in hours, you will feel like you are the best gamer ever, but it will be an empty feeling.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/08

Game Release: Surf's Up (US, 05/30/07)