Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Wave Rally

Written by Chris Reiter on April 04, 2002

Full Review: All washed up...

As much as they come, as fast they go, as many as they are, racing games will always be a part of the traditional video game lineup. Eidos Interactive -- a company that's known best for its adventure and action games mostly -- has now taken the opportunity to test the waters in the racing foray by publishing a jet ski racing title that not only looks good in action, but also adds a few innovations you may have never seen before in a wet, wild, and wacky game such as this. If you're quick to the chase, and not afraid of the thrill of being wet while completing insane stunts, then get ready for some Wave Rally racing!

Like most racing games, Wave Rally starts you out with a bunch of different gameplay modes to choose from in the start menu. Amongst the playable options are Arcade, Championship, Time Trial, Freestyle, and Multiplayer. Between the Arcade and Championship mode, which are almost identical, the difference is that Arcade allows you to race against the computer AI in a certain amount of time within a certain amount of courses, whereas Championship has open to it more courses in which to race through, and is actually the primary mode for finishing the game. Time Trial will challenge you to race against the clock to the finish line, Freestyle monitors your skill to accomplish tricks based on your performance, and Multiplayer lets you against a friend compete in a head to head tournament to the finish. The number of features the game includes is great, especially for those willing to spend a number of hours practicing their ski motivated prowess.

Even with the many game features, the control of the game isn't all that special. Wave Rally has you choose between two different types of vehicles, which are either a jet ski -- a lighter, more maneuverable type, or a runabout, which is a heavier device, but is faster than the ski. You also have the option to choose from a large number of generic male or female wave riders. The control scheme in Wave Rally is awkward by how it disables any free movement when the vehicle you're using can only turn in a wide radius, instead of a loosely based one. To add to that, the AI of the game is almost impossible, with how mistakes only come fewer to them the more they usually happen to you it seems. When you're controlling your water vehicle during the game, you also have to steer it in between buoys that mark your placement during a race. If you miss one buoy, you have to turn around and drive through it again, sort of like taking a test for learning how to drive a car. With the fact that there's no overhead arrow that points you in the right direction during any race (like in Wave Race 64), it's hard to determine where you should go, and when you should go about it for a large lump of control frustrations.

Still, the game does have an upside. In Wave Rally, the tricks that you have at your disposal are nicely done, and provide at least some satisfaction to the gameplay. As such, the tricks you can pull off on your water furbished ride consist of spiraling along while mounted on your ski, as it drops down from the air high above, or even balancing your body on top of it as it streams across the water. And yet, the tricks of the game requires you to develop a lot of skill to pull them off, meaning the difficulty level can wear you down if you're not looking for a challenging feat in a racing title. Either using the jump function off of a ramp or tall wave will allow you to perform a stunt. They're great to look at, but just hard to execute.

Speaking of which, the graphics of Wave Rally are what really make the title shine. It's amazing to look at Wave Rally, with large courses in such locations as a Florida beach area and even the Venice canals that are full of lifelike water effects and will reflect anything, and shift with the change of time of day or even the weather on screen such as clouds or rain. Each object on screen, such as your jet ski, character, and in-game barriers, can just as well be seen in the liquid for an overall very nice looking use of graphics. It's also cool how the character models turn out to react accordingly to life's nature, as in one example, you can actually bump into other riders during the race, and they'll fall into the water giving you a divine sense of victory. Being that the visuals are great to look at but don't push the envelope enough, it's expected this isn't the type of game that will lend itself to the best of sense, but just enough that will please you in a sufficient dosage.

Lastly, the sound efforts are probable in that they give off a righteous pattern to make you want to race, not in the least of annoyance, and offer none but generics of quality at their best. That's to say that the music in the game does well according to its ability to produce a quick, techno rhythm throughout each race. It's not the greatest of music, but it's not that bad either. The same goes for the in-game sounds which work, with their constant flow of true engine noises and wave splashes that sound off when and how they're supposed to. Overall, the sound just does what it's supposed to, and nothing greater.