Wave Race - Blue Storm
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WAVE RACE: BLUE STORM

Back in the early days of the N64, Nintendo released a little gem of a title called WAVE RACE. The game was astounding at the time for its incredible graphics, top-notch racing and awesome water physics. Now that we're in the early days of the GameCube, Nintendo hopes to recreate that success with the release of WAVE RACE BLUE STORM.

Essentially, Nintendo has gone and given the original game a full facelift, as well as adding more of everything. Not only do you essentially have the original game, but you also have new courses, racers and weather effects. Not to mention the beautiful graphics that adorn the title.

For the uninitiated, WAVE RACE puts players on jet skis as they make three laps around a course. As you race, you must weave between buoys in order to keep the maximum speed up. New in BLUE STORM is the turbo boost that can be used after passing five buoys on the correct sides. Sounds simple, right? Toss in icebergs, mines, crates, ships and even the occasional dock, and it gets a lot harder. Now try that on a stormy night with hairpin turns and eight-foot waves? Yeah, right.

I have to admit that I was more than a little frustrated when I started playing BLUE STORM. The controls were a little tough to get used to, especially since I haven't played WAVE RACE in a long time. But after a few warm-up laps, I was right back in the thick of it, racing around just like in the N64 days.

The biggest thing that impresses me is how much more there is. A lot of stuff that was solid in WAVE RACE can be destroyed in BLUE STORM. Tricks are more important thanks to the addition of turbo. Weather effects play a pivotal role in the game; in fact, for later racing, you have to unlock each race with a certain weather effect (more hassle than its worth sometimes). There are also some very cool secrets like the area outside of Dolphin Park where giant waves abound. There are more courses, more racers and more secrets.

Also cool is the fact that you now have eight runners in a race. This makes for a lot more passing and jockeying for position. The same holds true for the multiplayer side of the game. You and three of your best friends can all race to your heart's delight. Four-player was one feature that was missed in the original, and it makes this one a lot more fun.

The water graphics are some of the best I've ever seen. Waves move super realistically and you have great atmospheric and weather effects everywhere. The surrounding environments are beautiful and the fog on some levels is well done (strange how we've gone from bashing fog to loving it).

On the sound side, there's some decent music and good sound effects. But the most annoying part of the game would have to be your crew chief. He/she's constantly annoying you as you run through the course. Turn it off!

WAVE RACE BLUE STORM is a great racer for the GameCube. Its great controls, super-realistic physics and astounding graphics will leave you searching for a towel.