Wakeboarding Unleashed
featuring Shaun Murray
System: X-Box
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Shaba Games
Released: June 2003
Genre: Extreme Sports
Capabilities: Memory Unit, Custom Soundtracks
Review Written: June 28, 2003
Wakeboarding Unleashed (WU) is the latest extreme sports title to come
from Activision. This isn’t your usual skateboarding or BMX offering we get from
them, but a sport far more unique than the two. Hell, I never even heard of
wakeboarding until this game was announced. But as soon as I read into WU, I was
instantly interested in this title that mixed the patented trick-scoring
elements of gameplay from the Activision sports line with this sport I was
previously unaware of. From the moment I started up WU, I knew that Activision
just struck gold again.
Wakeboarding is a unique sport, just picture water skiing, but controlling
yourself on a wakeboard that you do tricks off of waves from the boat in front
of you instead. The controls aren’t as hard to learn as you think it would be if
you’re use to playing extreme sports games. Grab and invert tricks can easily be
performed off the waves with the B and X buttons, respectively. For the invert
tricks, make sure to grab extra air off from conveniently placed ramps across
the stages so they can be landed perfectly. Grinds can be done off nearly any
surface that developer, Shaba Games, deemed necessary with a flick of the Y
button.
My favorite part of the extreme sports line of games is stringing together
combos for huge scores, and rest assured the manuals and reverts that you know
from the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games are in here to do so. If all this
still sounds too complex to you, then rest assured that a quick five minute
tutorial in the first stage of the career mode will get you adapted in no time.
I’m not familiar with any of pro wakeboarders out there, but Activision claims
to have the top seven in here, with the main star being Shaun Murray of course,
hence his name being in the title of the game. It’s too bad to see that a
create-a-character feature or trick editor wasn’t implemented into WU like in
the rest of the Activision sports titles. I would have personally enjoyed having
my own home brewed boarder tearing it up on the waves, but due to Activision
logic the developers must save the good stuff for the sequel!
The main way to play WU is the career mode. Pick any of the seven wakeboarders
and set out to knock out all the goals, challenges, and gaps in each of the
eleven stages. WU has an interesting aspect on a timer for gameplay which is
called the “groove” meter. It is a meter of how much time there is left for
play. It gradually decreases as time goes on without doing too much, but it
increases as I completed combos and other maneuvers. This is an innovative
feature that is a refresher from the time limits of old. I have only seen this
done before in this genre with the “toxin” meter from Toxic Grind on
Xbox. I had a blast with the career mode, clearing the plethora of gaps featured
across the levels was especially challenging.
There are also a few other ways to play WU. First are two versions of free play
to get a feel for all the levels in the game. One is where you control the
boarder, the other where you actually get to control the boat. Next up is the
two player modes that are a trademark upon the Activision sports games. All the
multiplayer modes we know and love from past titles such as trick attack and
h.o.r.s.e. are in here for our amusement. There is also an interesting co-op
mode of play where one player controls driving the boat, and the other controls
the boarder. My friend and I nearly knocked ourselves dead with all the crazy
stuff we were performing across the levels. Want to see a speedboat jump a ramp
with no bad consequences? Go for it!
Graphically, WU looks tremendous on the Xbox. The water looks superb and the
effect of the splashes and waves make them look a heck of a lot better. The
character models for all the boarders look quite good as well, with the plethora
of moves they execute being animated flawlessly. The 11 massive stages you play
in look astonishing, and I was surprised the developers managed to make each and
every one of them have their own unique feel. The action is always intense
without a trace of slowdown being noticed whatsoever, and loading times are
always kept to a minimum. It is a well polished area all around.
WU sounds just as good as it looks. All the audio effects for the boat motor,
splashes, and everything else is right on target and sounds as you expect them
to. The soundtrack has a total of 20 songs from a wide variety of time periods.
Aside from several songs this decade there are also a versatile selection of
classic hits to be found such as “Unchained” by Van Halen, and “Who Do You Love”
by R.L. Burnside. I didn’t have a problem with any of the songs and all of them
helped immerse me in the atmosphere for gameplay. Just like the rest of the
extreme sports titles on the Xbox, WU supports custom soundtracks so you can
always jam to your own set of tunes instead.
It will take a good while to clear all the goals, challenges, and gaps in the 11
stages in career mode, especially considering how grueling they get to be in the
later levels. The multiplayer offerings are fun for two players, and me any my
friend have already spent several hours in the co-op mode alone. However, I’m
always hoping for all the better extras such as system link or online Xbox Live
support which are nowhere to be found in WU.
RATINGS
Graphics: 9.0
Sound: 9.3
Gameplay: 8.5
Replay Value: 8.2
Overall: 8.7
WU has got to be the most innovative extreme sports game on the market yet, and
the developers at Shaba did an excellent job of putting together a solid game
all around. If you’ve been into any of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or
Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX games before, then you should definitely pick up
Wakeboarding Unleashed.