Wakeboarding HD Review
By - Craig H.
Wakeboarding HD is the sixth game published by Creat Studios and TikGames. In Wakeboarding HD you are pulled behind a speedboat on a wakeboard where you perform crazy tricks, collect stars, evade sharks and mines, crash through roofs, knock over sunbathers and jump over giant rubber ducks. To say that Wakeboarding HD is to be taken lightly is an understatement. The game focuses on just being a fun pick-up and play game for all ages.
Tricks are performed with the face buttons (excluding “x” which is the jump button) and spins and flips are controlled by directing the left analog stick (up is a front flip, back is a back flip and moving it left or right controls spins). The game is very forgiving when landing tricks. In some cases you could land almost sideways but the game will register it as a successful trick. Wakeboarding HDhas 20 levels each of which has a core objective needed to unlock the next level as well as secondary objectives that are used to boost your score and help unlock souvenirs. Successfully completing tricks and collecting stars adds to your action chain (i.e. multiplier) which will aid in your overall score.
The water effects are easily the most impressive part of the entire presentation. The boats, docks, rails and overall surroundings are also depicted well. However, the character models (both your character and the various characters on boats and floats) are rendering poorly and stick out on an otherwise nice looking game. The levels are selected through a map screen where you can easily navigate to the level of your choosing.
Local splitscreen is available for up to 2 players. You don’t race since the game is basically on rails, with the speedboat keeping the same pace, instead the winner is found via points. Basically you are playing the single player mode but at the same time. This feature is not needed and taking turns is just as fun. The ability to see the entire screen clearly will help boost your score above anything you could post in the splitscreen view. The game also features online leaderboards for each level.
Wakeboarding HD requires 2 installs before your initial play. You must download the game from the PSN store and install it to your hard drive then, when you launch the game, you have install the game again on your hard drive in order to play it for the first time. A minor inconvenience but while the second install is running you have thoughts of how fast the game will load…..that’s not the case. The game takes an incredible amount of time to load for a downloadable game. Each level takes over 30 seconds to load. Games that load off a disc load faster than this game.
Wakeboarding HD is exclusively available on the Playstation Network (PSN) for $15. At $15 it’s a bit pricey for a game that can be completed in a few hours though with trophy support and collectible souvenirs there is moderate replay value. The game is aimed to be a fun and accessible to all. But the developer may have made the game too simple to garner the attention of experienced gamers though it should not be overlooked.
Quick Synopsis:
Pros: High replay value with trophy support, collectible souvenirs, and secondary objects for each level. Easy pick-up and play gameplay. Online leaderboards.
Cons: Pricey at $15. Core game can be completed in just a few hours. Very long loading times for a game that installs twice. Splitscreen is poorly implemented and makes it difficult to play. Simplistic controls could turn away experienced players.
RATING: 7/10