Waverace: Blue Storm is the sequel to the ground breaking classic on the N64. The original game set a new standard for control and water physics in a game. The sequel has been handed to a new developer, NST. Nintendo's in house American design team. Does it measure up?
Graphically WR: BS is great, although it isn't as initially striking as its predecessor. The water is the most important visual aspect and it really is beautiful, replicating transparent, translucent and mirror-like qualities of water. The overall style of the game is somewhat generic, but what it lacks in originality is made up by the quality of the visuals.
Audio is better than expected. Excellent sound effects and voices, the surround mix really puts you in a nautical mood.. The ambient sound of gulls and waves is quite immersing. The soundtrack is also pretty good, a mix of styles and sounds, many of them
will have you humming them after play.
The gameplay is the biggest worry of any previous Waverace fan. Could NST take the landmark control from the first game and keep it intact? The answer is yes. The gameplay is as sharp as the first game truly giving you the feeling of riding a crest past a competitor. The game's central grand prix mode features a good and varies selection of tracks and the ability to choose your destiny about which order to tackle them. This addition is especially nice, allowing you to pad your progress through easier tracks. The tracks also have weather that affects the over chop and strength of the water. In addition to the solid single player modes, a split screen multiplayer mode is also included.
Waverace: Blue Storm manages to live up to the high standard it's forefather set. The game is great looking, sounds excellent and continues the brilliant control and feeling of riding on water. A solid purchase.
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Strengths: Pretty graphics, water physics, music, challenging.
Weakness: Sensitive controls, not enough courses, multiplayer modes not all that interesting.
Nintendo started a jet ski racing trend when it originally released Wave Race back in 1996. Every developer rushed to get their own jet ski game out on the market, yet none of them would come close to comparing with Wave Race. As the Gamecube launched in 2001, Nintendo decided to revisit that old classic with Blue Storm. What we find in this title is a game that's just a shadow of its' former self. While there's no doubt the game benefits from the Cube's superior hardware, the game lacks the creative innovation and tight responsive controls of the original. The courses themselves are ho hum and the controls are overly sensitive. Another huge problem is that there are just not enough courses to race in. There are only about 7 tracks so you will only tire of racing in them over and over again. The split screen mode is a nice addition but other games feature better multiplayer action. Rent this game before buying. It may or may not be your cup of tea. Better yet, find an old copy of the original Wave Race for Nintendo 64.
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Strengths: 480p progressive scan, multiple difficulties to master, 4 player split screen, 5 different modes to play
Weakness: tough learning curve makes the game pretty hard
Wave Race: Blue Storm is the sequel to Wave Race on the Nintendo 64 and it takes what made the first one good and adds to it. You can play though five different modes of play including Championship, Time Attack, Stunt, Multiplayer, Free Roam, and Tutorial. Wave Race Blue Storm has 8 different racers you can play as with different attributes that range in difficulty to control from amateur to expert. The waves are really cool because they are as realistic as ever been done on a water racing game and can be and depending on how they are during parts of the race it may affect how you should react to get though the track faster & the weather can also be different which can also affect how the waves will be while you are racing. Wave Race Blue Storm also has a 4 player split screen mode which keeps up a constant framerate even with split screen. I would highly recommend Wave Race: Blue Storm to anyone looking for a jet ski racing game as it's the best one on the GameCube and the best one on any of the 3 current system in most people's opinion.
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Strengths: Challenging and fun, good for any racing fan.
Weakness: Only seven courses, no unlockable bonuses.
Few people remember the original Wave Race, a top-down racer that was one of the last monochrome Game Boy games. There are many, however, that hold fond memories of Wave Race 64, its Nintendo 64 counterpart. Developed by Nintendo's American development group, Nintendo Software Technology, Wave Race Blue Storm for the Gamecube is more or less an upgraded WR64. But Nintendo put more than just a new coat of paint on this series, and the result is a package that any racing fan would be proud to own.
As the title suggests, Wave Race is all about racing Jet Skis. You guide your racer through one of seven courses, weaving through colored buoys. Red buoys need to be passed on the right, while yellow ones need to be passed on the left. The placement of these buoys means that while a course may look simple, you'll actually have to do a lot of turning, keeping things interesting. Passing five buoys in a row stocks you a turbo boost, but missing any five in one race disqualifies you entirely. Since you can miss four without losing the race, sometimes it can be beneficial to skip a few towards the end of the race and jet right for the goal, while your opponents have to bank and swerve to cross them all. This adds a light, welcome element of strategy to the game.
The kids today demand 3D race courses on their consoles, and you may think that with water courses, you'll be racing around a flat area. That's hardly the case. The game has weather ranging from sunny to stormy, yielding anything from tiny insignificant waves to monsters taller than any human. Deciding how to take an oncoming wave, and how to modify your turns because of it, forces you to stay on your toes and keeps things interesting.
Control is pretty much spot-on. The game recommends that you press B to duck and bring yourself close to the water, and press Z to use turbo boosts. That's well and good, but you can also accomplish those tasks with the Y and X buttons respectively, and that feels much more natural. There are also all sorts of tricks you can do, either in Stunt Mode for points or in a race to show off.
Although the game only has seven total courses, there are three difficulty levels. Tracks change depending on the level, changing routes and obstacles and maybe even the direction you're racing. Some tracks even change in between laps, with icebergs falling apart and water levels rising or falling. This can feel like you're racing in an entirely different course, but still, you can't help but wonder if the small number of courses is because this game was rushed to meet the system's launch.
If you're looking for a good challenge, here it is. Other games call their difficulty levels Easy, Medium, and Hard, but this game uses a more honest Normal, Hard, and Expert. Other racers are very aggressive, and beating even the first difficulty setting requires some real skill. Fortunately, you can get a hang of the Jet Skis in Free Roam mode, a great mode for beginners. It'll take you a while to beat Expert, and when you finally do, you're likely to boot the game up every few months for a few races.
Multiplayer is exactly what you'd expect. Since this game is so skill-based, it's not as pick-up-and-play as, say, Mario Kart, but if you and a friend or two have spent a lot of time with the game, you can have some real fun here. Online play would've helped, of course, but this was 2001, when Nintendo was still thumbing their noses at the whole online concept. There also aren't really any unlockables, other than three of the courses and the higher difficulty levels.
The game looks good, sounds good. Courses are beautiful, the water looks real, and the music is very fitting. I don't think anyone will be disappointed in the superficialities of this one, but it won't replace Resident Evil 4 as your show-off game. Still, of all the Gamecube launch games, this one may be the prettiest.
Since Wave Race is a few years old, it can be found fairly cheap new, and even cheaper used. It's not the best game ever, but any racing fan would be wise to grab it.
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Weakness: Can be difficult, trick controls seem over-complicated
Wave Race Blue Storm brings Nintendo's classic Wave Race jet ski series to the Gamecube. The game has a great arcade racing feel to it and the graphics are certainly arcade like. The water effects are pretty good, but the character models are pretty basic by todays standards. The game controls very nicely, but I think they over-complicated the controls for tricks. It takes quite a bit of analog stick maneuvering and button pressing to pull off most of the tricks and it just wasn't a fun part of the game for me.
The courses are probably the best part of the game. They have various short cuts built in to them and they actually react to weather effects in the game. The races are so short though, that if you crash, you really have no chance of regaining the lead. This can cause a lot of frustration in the later levels.
Besides racing modes, there are also trick modes and free roam modes to add some replay value to the title. Overall, it's a good game, but I think it is a little too difficult for an arcade racing game.
This is the only type of racing game that I actually like. There is something about the arcadey feel that this game give you that I cannot find in any other water racing games. The water effects are really smooth, and the stunts that you can perform look really cool during the middle of races. The only thing that can get frustrating about the game is the difficulty. If you crash once in a race, then you have usually lost. There are no room for errors on some of the later races, and the bad thing about it is that you have to go through all the courses without any type of saving or breaks. I've played Splashdown for the PS2, but just couldn't get into it like I can with Waverace: Bluestorm. It's definitely worth a try if you own a Gamecube.
This is an excellant example of the power of the Gamecube even as a launch title. The water effects are amazing and the water varies depending on the weather. For example on one course if it is calm outside, you will not have to deal with waves. On the same course durring a storm will be completly differnt because of huge waves. Overall the biggest downside is the limited tracks and riders, but it is an extremely fun game.
Strengths: great graphics, fun racer, good controls
Weakness: may be difficult
Wave Race features some of the nicest graphics on the Gamecube, especially for a game that was a launch title for the Gamecube. The way the water moves and the detail on the tracks make it a treat for people who like graphics in their games. The gameplay is great as well, similiar to the original Wave Race on the Nintendo 64. Controls are pretty good, although it might take some time to get used to them. This game is recommened to any Gamecube owner who likes racing games
Strengths: Fun multi-player jet ski game. Good graphics and game control.
Weakness: Challenging for some of the circuits, but practice makes perfect.
Gameplay – 4 out of 5
Graphics – 5 out of 5
Sound – 3 out of 5
Blue Storm is a jet ski racing game. A sequel to Wave Race 64 for the Nintendo 64, Wave Race – Blue Storm provides an update to the jet ski racing genre with all the graphical improvements that the little cube can handle. Wave Race provides several play options – racing, tricks, free ride, etc. The visuals in the game are great. The waves look real. It even has rain effects and underwater objects to enhance the experience. Multi-player runs smoothly even with four players; so invites your friends over for some competition. One of the weaknesses of the game is that some of the circuits are very challenging. One mistake and you’re back to starting the circuit again. For me, I enjoy playing Wave Race with a few friends to idle away a few hours. For that, I would recommend it.
Strengths: Great graphics, great course design, amazing water effects
Weakness: Occasional graphic hiccups, split-screen multiplayer is only so-so
Wave Race: Blue Storm is one of the best wave riding games out there.
The graphics are extremely well done, with smooth visuals, nicely done sea creatures and amazing water effects. For the most part, the graphics run smooth and clean, though there's the occasional graphical hiccup with some of the objects on-screen.
The course design is pretty good, with lots of hidden areas and objects to find. The computer opponents start out easy enough, and get harder as the game goes on, providing a good level of challenge throughout.
The multiplayer is only done in split-screen, which can make the on-screen picture a bit hard to see, and occasionally causes some on-screen slowdowns.
Overall, it's a great looking game, with some great single player action and some OK multiplayer action. There are a few flaws, though nothing to really stop someone from picking it up.
The graphics on this game are great....the water looks real. It is also a lot of fun, but will require a lot of practice to complete races. You need to learn how to navigate your jet ski to insure you can complete a race.
Testseek.com has collected 1 expert review for Wave Race: Blue Storm and the rating is 78 of 100. Click below and use Testseek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
Wave Race: Blue Storm receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.38 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #932 game of all time, #8 game of 2001 for the GameCube and #75 GameCube game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 49 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on...
The sequel to what was perhaps the best racer on the N64 has arrived for GameCube. Wave Race: Blue Storm premiers as the first racer on Nintendo's next-generation console, and is so well crafted we expect it to stay ahead of the competition for years to come. Developed by NST, Blue Storm has little trouble following in the footsteps of the N64-classic and delivers a deep, rewarding experience to...
Waverace Blue Storm
Strengths: Control, Graphics, Sound
Waverace: Blue Storm is the sequel to the ground breaking classic on the N64. The original game set a new standard for control and water physics in a game. The sequel has been handed to a new developer, NST. Nintendo's in house American design team. Does it measure up?
Graphically WR: BS is great, although it isn't as initially striking as its predecessor. The water is the most important visual aspect and it really is beautiful, replicating transparent, translucent and mirror-like qualities of water. The overall style of the game is somewhat generic, but what it lacks in originality is made up by the quality of the visuals.
Audio is better than expected. Excellent sound effects and voices, the surround mix really puts you in a nautical mood.. The ambient sound of gulls and waves is quite immersing. The soundtrack is also pretty good, a mix of styles and sounds, many of them
will have you humming them after play.
The gameplay is the biggest worry of any previous Waverace fan. Could NST take the landmark control from the first game and keep it intact? The answer is yes. The gameplay is as sharp as the first game truly giving you the feeling of riding a crest past a competitor. The game's central grand prix mode features a good and varies selection of tracks and the ability to choose your destiny about which order to tackle them. This addition is especially nice, allowing you to pad your progress through easier tracks. The tracks also have weather that affects the over chop and strength of the water. In addition to the solid single player modes, a split screen multiplayer mode is also included.
Waverace: Blue Storm manages to live up to the high standard it's forefather set. The game is great looking, sounds excellent and continues the brilliant control and feeling of riding on water. A solid purchase.
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