I used to love her, but I had to kill her
Why, thank you, Wave Race.
If you don’t have a fit of rage while playing Wave Race: Blue Storm (WR: BS, or more suitably, BS from now on) then you are one mellow dude. Racing through stormy weather in a tight city river trying to dodge all of the walls while speeding by the appropriate side of the floating blobs (which direct you to ride on one side of it or the other) is by far one of the most frustrating experiences you’ll ever have in a racing game.
The key flaw with BS is that it’s too hard for its own good.
This wouldn’t be a problem if you could save between races; a pathetic way to win on the easier races, yes, but practically a necessity if you aren’t hardcore into Wave Race in the harder ones. Unfortunately, the game is extremely unforgiving; the opponents will have no problem catching up to you in the heat of the race, and yet when you crash you don’t have a chance in hell getting caught up with them again. It’s flawed logic even more so than Mario Kart, which displays similar AI but at least allows you to regain position.
Part of the problem is the environments, which range from dumb to dumber. Racing in a city river stuffed with walls for whatever reason? How about in the arctic, with seals and whales? You might be able to look at the environments as sort of fun, playful ones, but it’s difficult to keep looking at them that way when you’re constantly screaming at the TV in furious rage.
BS naturally looks like it is. The waves Nintendo boasted to look awesome aren’t exactly the greatest exercises in graphical ability. The water is extremely choppy as it hits the shores and looks just ugly in that area. It’s pretty good in the thick of it, but it doesn’t feel realistic the while time. Some waters feel so flat it’s like you’re racing on road. It’s funny in a pathetic sort of way when you look at the only thing that could save this as the graphics so often talked about, and even those fail. Granted the wildlife beneath the waters are finely detailed and animated, and the characters all have personality and look slightly more realistic than the old Wave Race racers thanks mainly to better rounded bodies and shine. It takes advantage of the Gamecube’s power, kinda. Nothing to write home about.
So it isn’t foul BS, just shiny. But no matter how polished, crap is still crap. BS is no exception to this rule.
This is proved with the foul odor that BS gives off. Oh wait, that’s my puke from how kiddy this game sounds.
Let me ask a simple question: if this game is so playful and kiddy with characters that are morning-cartoon worthy, why is it so freaking difficult!?. BS doesn’t make any sense, and doesn’t even bother trying to. It throws a bunch of things down that don’t go together well at all and burns it to a Gamecube disk. I’m in awe and can’t understand it.
Thankfully for BS, however, there are some redeeming qualities. Take, for example, the rather fun stunt mode. Here, you perform tricks on your jet-ski thing. It’s extremely simple, and the trick system sucks, but pulling tricks is fun no matter what, so you can still have a good time here. It’s no Tony Hawk but it isn’t supposed to be. Ironically, this game would’ve probably been much better if tricks were the main focus as opposed to racing.
Another redeeming quality is the multiplayer modes. As weird as it sounds, getting frustrated at the game with a friend is good fun. If you pick an easy level, you can even have a real race with him and get a glimpse of what the game could’ve been. With up to four players splitscreen, BS at least offers the multiplayer goods.
Really, BS should never be played. It’s too difficult to be recommended to anyone but the hardcore, and it isn’t much like its N64 predecessor which is so much better than this. The sound of the waves crashing are admittedly nice; soothing the ears, it just makes you want to close your eyes. Close your eyes and wish this game were something more than a difficult kid’s game with a deeper trick system and not nearly as difficult levels. It’s a frustrating romp you’re best to just leave alone and pretend it never happened. A shame on Nintendo’s part, but what can you do. Now, back to Wave Race 64…