Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray

Written by Adam Woolcott on August 22, 2003

Full Review: Just when you thought Extreme Sports were getting a tad long in the toothЕ

Ever since Tony Hawk brought skateboarding games, and extreme games in general into the gaming spotlight, everyone and their mother has tried to either copy Tony's formula, or slightly emulate it. Some have been great (Dave Mirra BMX, Aggressive Inline), while others have not done so well (Kelly Slater Pro Surfer, anything MTV Sports). The latest in the extreme sports revolution is Wakeboarding Unleashed Ц and it's one to put in the Уgood jobФ category. Taking the core of the Tony Hawk games and creating a brand new way of tricking and playing the levels, Wakeboarding Unleashed is a creative entry in the genre, avoiding the copycat plague that's riddled it since THPS hit the scene. Unquestionably, Shaba Games and Activision have done well, crafting a game that bucks the trend of the trendy genre.

Naturally, for many, the question is Ц what the hell is wakeboarding? Wakeboarding is a form of water skiing Ц instead of using skis to ride behind a speedy boat, you use a wakeboard, which is a water version of a snowboard, I guess. The process is similar to water skiing, only you don't just ride around, you get to pop some tricks by riding the wake. The wake is simply the result of the boat riding; it creates a wave of water, or wake, that you can race up and pull tricks off of, as if it was a ramp in a skateboarding game. In Wakeboarding Unleashed, not only do you ride the wake, but you can play around with halfpipes, rails, and all the things you've come to know as tools of trickin' in extreme sports games.

Taking control of a dozen different pros, from star Shawn Murray to the other faceless stars of the sport, you can take on numerous different in-game challenges. Like most extreme games, you're allowed to take a free run, going around the linear course looking for spots to rack up some serious points. There's also a single run, that uses the groove meter to let you play longer Ц more on the groove in a bit. The most interesting, and cool addition though, is cooperative play. Co-op is for 2 players, and lets you ride the water in the numerous courses together. How? Easy Ц your friend (or you) can control and move the boat around, while you (or your friend) have control of the rider. It's very cool and a lot of fun for multiplayer hijinx.

The Career of Wakeboarding Unleashed is the main playmode, and it's a doozy too. Each of the courses are loaded up with objectives, split into different categories. The Groove challenges put you into a standard extreme sports scenario, given a time period to go around and pull off certain tasks, be it get a high score or help 5 guys fall out of their inner tube into the water of Lake Powell. The Groove is similar to the Juice meter in the awesome Aggressive Inline Ц you can do a run longer than just 2 minutes, and can play on if they do lots of cool tricks. However, it's not quite as lenient as AI's Juice is Ц you'll eventually run out of Groove no matter what you do. Usually, you can get around the track (it's one linear circular path unless you find the icons that switch your direction up) a few times before they finish you. From there you unlock different challenges Ц most are skill tests such as collecting numbers in one combo row (like the ones on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4), or silly stuff like a boat race. Yes, a boat race Ц you race the boat and collect gas cans to keep your fuel up and make it around the track as fast as possible. Strange, but pretty interesting. All this stuff opens up new tracks and more challenges, and even gap keys so you can actually find the placement of the gaps to fill in your gap list. It's all smartly designed.

Admittedly, Wakeboarding Unleashed does carry a unique learning curve that makes the game pretty challenging at first. Not only do you have to manage to keep executing tricks and gaining points, but you also have to keep in line with the boat that's pulling you. If you don't you get disconnected from the rope, and you have to call to get it back, wasting precious time for your groove. All the opportunities to get points can also be pretty daunting at first, but since it's pretty hard to actually flip and blow a trick unless you're landing upside down (the water will always save your ass), it becomes natural after a period of time, and you can enjoy the game. While the trick system and controls are very similar to most other games in its genre, the addition of the boat and special tricks that only this game can provide, creates a unique experience that can get wildly addictive if you get hooked in. Your level of addiction, however, can be based on how many of these games you play Ц as it's still so very similar to the other extreme games, anyone who might be tiring of Tony and his pals (with Tony Hawk 4,009 on the way, who wouldn't be?) might not find this game to stand out or be interesting. The concept is so well executed though, it might end up reversing your opinion as well. After all, who'd ever expect a wakeboarding game to be any good?

Graphically, Wakeboarding is sharp. From the nice, realistic water effects to the details around each level, the visual presentation is very well done. It's not mind-blowing (but that's just me), but it looks good and even with all the activity of people and boats and wakeboarders, it never slows down and maintains a speedy pace at all times. The riders look good and are animated realistically, making the moves look real despite the chances of the moves actually happening in real life pretty slim. In a game like this, all you can ask for is speed and animations in the graphics, and Wakeboarding Unleashed manages this just fine.

The audio is solid, if not spectacular. There's an assortment of sound effects in each level, ranging from animals to pissed off pedestrians who you're infringing on (as in, you know, grinding on their boats and knocking their fat asses into the water), to the sounds of your rider crashing. The soundtrack is loaded with some unusual tunes that actually fit in the game, making a solid soundtrack (though obviously the Xbox version, with custom soundtrack, is superior in this department). Plus it has Van Halen in the David Lee Roth era. There's something infinitely cool about a game with an old Van Halen song in it. Shaba rocks.