Waverace
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Waverace
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As a Waverace 64 master, and being one of my all time favourite games, to say the anticipation for Waverace Blue Storm was high is the ultimate in understatement. When many gaming media rated it as ultra hard, with a steep, even vicious, learning curve, that was just sweet music to by ears. For finally able to relive the ultra challenging and satisfying magical racing experience of the original Waverace in this new souped-up version with water effects to die for, was like a dream come true. In fact, the release of this game was the single most important reason to purchase a GameCube. Sure, I would still have bought it for Star Wars Rogue Leader, but the game that really excited, and was the first that I played, was Waverace. But I just so hoped that the supposed difficulty factor of this game would prove to be true for it alone would ultimately make or break Waverace Blue Storm for this Waverace master.
At heart, the game is identical in terms of gameplay to it's predecessor: race between buoys on various courses on three separate difficulty levels in an identical style championship. The only difference in terms of gameplay is that there is now a turbo feature, which is made available each time five buoys are passed. If a buoy is missed or the turbo is used, five more buoys must be passed before a new turbo is issued. Only one turbo can be carried at a time. In practice, the turbo is more of a "get out of jail" card and only to be used on straights, easy corners or for clearing great distances over jumps. However, the time that it's really useful is just before the finish line. Provided you can afford to miss them, bypassing one or two buoys and performing a straight-lining the finish line with a turbo, precious places can be made up. The Arctic course is the prime example of this, but even on other tracks, a turbo to the line can still gain places because the CPU racers don't seem to use them. At least not at that stage of a race.
The other significant enhancement in this version is the random weather effects found during the championship. On the N64, each track always had the same weather, but that was only really reflected in wave size. There was no rainy or stormy weather to affect visibility. While wave size could be adjusted in the options, however, it had a global affect on all courses and also precluded the saving of any records.
With the weather, also comes the option to race tracks in any sequence desired. In non-championship game modes, the only weather on offer is sunny. But by winning tracks with other weather conditions means those combinations becomes available in the other modes. By checking weather forecasts and using judicious track selection, opening all the combinations is easier. However, in saying that, when the championship is won in hard or expert mode, all the weather options becomes available anyway for those modes respectively! There's really no incentive to go and win each track under each weather condition. Makes you wonder why they even bothered, especially when the game ultimately suffers in long term appeal and the track selection policy actually makes the game easier.
While many media have highlighted how hard the game is, after barely 5 hours of total play, I'd beaten it. Yes, the game is hard, but not for a Waverace master. In fact, I defeated it on Normal first time, on Hard the second time and Expert the third time. However, on Hard and Expert, those attempts were entire attempts - attempts where I'd reached the final round and not quit after one or two races or been eliminated early through not accruing enough points along the way.
When attempting Hard for the first time, the jump in difficulty on the first track is enormous. But you soon get used to the layout. Your buoy-rounding skills improve too, which helps negate the unfamiliarity with the later tracks. Stormy weather is encountered, but surprising on Southern Island, where it was encountered first, I won easily. Within the hour I'd reached the last track with enough points to win the championship regardless of race result. Which was good, because the tight and twisting La Razza Canal proved impossible.
Expert mode proved a similar tale. Thanks to manual track selection, I continually played La Razza and Lagoon until I could gain some reasonable enough points to warrant continuing the championship. Once that was achieved, I made my first real run, hoping to just see as many tracks as possible. Southern Island proved a problem but Aspen Lake and Night City, I ended up winning first attempt! Coincidentally, both had stormy weather and big waves. Reached the final track, but finished low on the table. My second full attempt saw me finished second by just one point, but if I had not turbo-ed unnecessarily into the side-wall on Night City whilst leading, that would have been a victory. Come the third attempt a couple of weeks later (thank the World Cup for that!) I made it to the final two races only needing a few points to win overall as there was a huge gap to second place. Normally there's one guy right up there, which is what happened last two time, when I actually got more points than this time. Again, I played La Razza first and restarted a few times before finally settling on a fourth placing. Then played the championship in normal sequence and won every race bar the final two. Considering my lead, I took it easy on Arctic to finish fifth, and finished last on the still unfamiliar final track through the castle.
Patently, wild weather has too much of an adverse affect on the CPU racers. Or am I just that good? Really, I can't remember one bad performance on any track affected by big waves. Also, with the rain, some courses are easier. Aspen Lake's the most notable with its menacing rocks not as exposed when it's raining. Yes, that's realistic as the lake level would rise slightly, but it makes Aspen in the rain almost a sure win as the rock area can be straight-lined. That's why I won the track first up. Though, it took me a while after subsequent attempts to realise why I was performing so much worse when the weather was better.
Virtually faultless. The GameCube controller is even better than the N64 one. Initially the controls feel over responsive, but once you get used to moving the stick only slightly, it becomes second nature. As with Waverace 64, each racer has varying attributes. While there's eight characters this time, there's only four main types, in line with Waverace 64. In Blue Storm, Ryota and Ayumi are best all-rounders, with Akari and Ricki ideal for beginners. The two other types are for experts only, which have extreme attributes in response and speed.
In feel, the jet-skis skim the surface of the water compared to Waverace 64, which was more bouncy. Initially Blue Storm felt too "solid" on the water, but given that Blue Storm is also faster than Waverace 64 (at least on the PAL version where it was not optimised for this market), the feel is actually perfectly realised. Especially with the interaction on waves, which, thanks to the supreme graphical engine on offer, easily exceeds Waverace 64.
Graphics always look hot on new gaming systems, but in comparison to the half dozen other GC titles I've seen, Waverace stands out by miles. Forget the perfectly realised water effects, waves, reflections, transparencies and glorious detail, it's the real time weather and jet-ski wash effects that truly rubber stamp the presentation as the best that's ever been seen. The game has to be seen to believed. Words don't do it justice. End of non-over-exaggerated cliches.
This disappoints, mainly though the commentary. Each racer features their own pit crew as in-race adviser, and some of the phoney accents are so laughable. Other than that, the game features surround sound and good effects. The music neither grates or appeals. Overall, satisfactory.
There's one track ported from the N64, but the buoy and object layout makes it almost new. Night City, Aspen Lake and Arctic are also reminiscent from the N64, though again, altered enough for them not to feel familiar. The main negative is that there's one less track over all, and that some objects, notably the posts on Aspen, don't take the racer out. Instead, providing there's reasonable speed, you just break through them. In fact, breaking through scenery and objects is more of a feature this time, especially in uncovering shortcuts.
So once the Expert championship is won, sadly that's all there is to the game. Sure there's the Stunt, Time Trial and Multi-Player modes, but as a racing enthusiast, those have little appeal. There's not even any reverse tracks, which the N64 had. I sought of half expected that as some of the tracks on the harder difficulties were already reversed. Still, that's no reason for the Expert versions not to be reversed again with identical buoy layouts for an N64-like Reverse Expert mode. However, that's only a minor quibble and one that could be lived with if - and this is a big if - the game had the similar options that featured in Waverace 64. I could defeat that game on Expert in my sleep, but not by increasing the number of laps from three to four and decreasing the buoy misses from five to four. Anyone that has read my F-Zero 64 review will no doubt realise that I am huge on game options, and the lack of them in this game is a critical omission that really hurts it's longevity and challenge.
Nintendo deserve yet another big smack on the backside for treating their long-term loyal and highly skilled gamers with such disdain. It is nothing short of a debacle. Especially when you compare the amazing wealth of options found in Super Smash Brothers Melee. Besides the basic game-customise options that simply every game should have, why the hell is there only one championship? How about a super championship involving all 18 track variations with even harder AI? Why not even a damn option to increased AI even to the point of impossibility? Nintendo have failed to realise that the most magical thing about Waverace is the pure satisfaction of the racing experience derived from adrenalin pumping action against the elements and opposition in the challenging quest for ultimate victory. Waverace 64 achieved that primarily due to the novelty of the gameplay, which made the game highly challenging. But for masters of that game, the novelty is gone and the emulation of that experience in Blue Storm barely been scratched. That's solely due to the lack of challenge that simple options would've overcome.
Expectation was high with this mode, especially with four-way split screen available. The game does not slow down at all and detail barely suffers. Unfortunately, I've only seen it in a maximum of three player mode and have to take the media's word for the four player performance. The only restriction according to the manual is that weather effects cannot be set in greater than two player mode. Provided all players are competitive, great racing will occur. However, with no handicap options (again, unlike the N64), without similarly skilled players, races become non-events. Waverace is a highly skilled game, and any player with a competitive edge will really show out. The mode is also in need of structured tournaments, or at least the facility to create custom tournaments, but typical of Nintendo's want, that was never going to happen. Without these basic options, multi-player mode simply fails to live up to expectations with the only praise earned being for its technical achievement.
Blue Storm sounds like a real disappointment. Whilst the criticisms are valid, in truth, they are quite harsh. In isolation, the game is a wonderful accomplishment and far superior to the N64 version. It is also very difficult with a steep learning curve. In watching friends play the single player mode, they've really struggled. Plus, there is the outstanding and addictive Stunt and Time Trial Modes that I've ignored in this review. With some game options and an extra track or two (or even reverse tracks), the game would rate as perfect. It's just that if you're a Waverace 64 expert after another exhilarating racing experience, expect to be really challenged only intermittently in the championship mode. For long-term enjoyment, the only real challenge in the game is to beat it on Expert with all eight characters. That precisely is what I'm about to do.
Peaks:
Stunning water and environmental effects
Brilliant interaction between controller and waves
Fast, challenging and unrelenting gameplay
Four-player split screen support
Troughs:
No game options (for laps and buoy misses)
Not enough championships
A few more tracks, or even reverse tracks, required
Weak commentary
Multi-player needs handicap and tournament options