Blood Wake

"High speed entertainment at high tide"

As the first entry that I'm aware of into the gunboat-mayhem category, I have to give Blood Wake a very solid thumbs up. People can compare it to Twisted Metal all they want, it's not accurate. BW is really more of a mission-based...Spy Hunter esque boat game, and it's loads of fun.

Graphics - 9 out of 10
Very, very tasty. Not only is the water just gorgeous (as with basically all water effects on the Xbox, it seems...), the boats, weapon fire, explosions and animations are all extremely high res and well done. Really solid polygons, good use of color and lighting, some great transparency effects. Of particular note is the way that ships separate and splinter when destroyed - often, the carcass of a destroyed ship will linger briefly, smoking and ripped, before sinking into the depths. Lighting effects are really well done too - light sourcing and shading on boats and terrain is very nicely done indeed.

Sound - 8 out of 10
Here was a nice surprise. With the exception of the main character, who's voiced over by Dorkus McCorkus, apparently, all the characters in the storyline are voiced _really well_. The soundtrack, also, is great - very Mortal Kombat in theme, as a whole. Not at all what I expected, and a very pleasant surprise.

Game Design - 7 out of 10
They could've cheaped out and left this game as a much more simplistic setup than they did. They really worked hard and developed some excellent levels for the missions, and some great strategy for the battle modes. Though at the base of it the game is pretty simple adrenaline-pumpin' blastemup stuff, there's depth and substance here.

Gameplay - 8 out of 10
This is of course the most important part, and it does quite well. The control is very well thought out and will be second nature in no time. The targeting is very nicely done, and there is almost never a problem with cameras (how rare is _that_ anymore?). There could've been some more variety in weapons and powerups, but as it is what's there is well implemented.

Presentation - 8 out of 10
The pacing of the missions, the tight control, the great soundtrack and the quick menus make this a really nice piece of work. It keeps you playing, and wanting to come back for more. The title of the game is a little weak IMO (there's really no blood at all in the game, much less an entire wake of it...), but the rest of the details have been well attended to.

As a sum, it's a very solid 8 out of 10. At its current price point of circa $20, it's really hard to go wrong here - this is really good stuff, and a type of game you won't be finding elsewhere anytime soon.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/02, Updated 10/26/02