Wave Race

"Dodgy controls hide a beautiful game"

This game may not have been my favorite around,but Wave Race was a very good attempt for Nintendo's first attempt at a Jet Ski game.Nowadays games are all about graphics and not about the gameplay...but this game mixes the 2 superbly.

Sound:4/10
This games sounds are only in the actual menu,when it comes to racing there is no other sound other than the sound of your jet ski's engines as well as the opponents.The sound effects are very good though as you can hear the sounds of the jet ski's engine running through the water or as you collide with an opponent.The menu music is the same though and can get tedious.This is certainly not one of the main point of the game,as I said though the sound effects are very good.

Graphics:7/10
The graphics are a top down view and aren't bad for Game boy graphics.The bad thing is that the water can sometimes look like sand but the jet skis and the riders are well illustrated and are very nice.The ramps and the whirlpools are realistic and one thing I don't understand is how there can be arrows in the water but there we go.The water as I said is VERY poor but you can put up with it.

Gameplay:9/10
There are 2 one player modes that contain 2 further menus,Circuit...in which you race against 3 computer players in 3 modes-550 cc,650 cc and 800 cc.It obviously gets harder as the cc goes up and you can only access 650 by completing 550 in 1st place and so on.This mode is quite challenging as there are many courses...4 in 550 cc,6 in 650 cc and 8 in 800 cc.The computer also gets better.The Slalom is similar,there are pillars in the water that have flags in the middle,the first racer to get through the pillars and get the flag gets a point,it starts off with about 4 flags and works up,the Slalom has an identical amount of course and the routine is similar,there are also the 3 cc classes.When these are complete you have essentially completed the game,but there are 3 more modes,Multi-player mode which I've never done so I can't comment on it,Record mode which lets you view your best times for each track and Practice mode which lets you race by yourself on the track.

Controls:2/10
I haven't said this before but this is what essentually makes the game very hard.The controls are TERRIBLE!!!!I repeat TERRIBLE,the handling is really bad and you skid everywhere,it can get very annoying and as a beginner I skidded everywhere,this doesn't get much better even when you are an expert at this.This said,the computer also lowers the rating because their handling is perfect.

All-in-all this is an enjoyable game and you should try Wave Race 64 or Wave Race:Blue Storm if you like this,I did and loved them all.Thank you and I hope reading this and enjoying this game as much as I did,especially if I helped!

See ya!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/02, Updated 09/09/02