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IT'S LIKE
SKATEBOARDING ... IN WATER!
KELLY
SLATER'S PRO SURFER
Written By Shaun McCracken
When
you look at all the extreme sport releases so far, you kind of wonder
what they haven't done yet. We have skateboarding, snowboarding,
motocross, BMX, and even surfing. There have also bee many games done
by different companies for each genre, and each with their own end
result. The surfing genre is probably the one genre that has never had
a critically successful game. I think the best surfing game up to the
point of KSPS was the surfing game in California Games for the Lynx.
And that's pretty old. Transworld Surf made a moderately successful
surfing game, except I heard it had problems with the design of it's
camera. So, what better time than for Activision to do a surfing game.
They did skateboarding, BMX and snowboarding, so this seems like a
natural move. Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer may be the best video
representation of the sport to date, but when you look at the other
"extreme sport" games, this one seems a little behind. Perhaps it's due
to the nature of the design, since surfing is a little more restrictive
than land sports.
KSPS
is pretty much THPS in the water, minus the ability to do rail tricks
and other things you can do on land. Plus, Activision claims "you never
ride the same wave twice", so your "terrain" changes from time to time.
It was like comparing Wave Race to a street racer, the dynamics on your
racing surface are two different worlds, and provide two different
experiences. Same goes for here. It takes a little more thought and
quick thinking to execute your tricks in the ocean, and makes for
something new to get in to. The trick system is designed kind of like
it is in the Tony Hawk series, although it's fitted for surfing. You
can still link tricks and fill a meter for a special move, but you
really can't connect everything with manuals or rail slides. It's great
that the developer knew this, and didn't try to cram a trick system
that doesn't work in a different environment like the developer's of
Shaun Palmer's Pro Boarder did.
In
terms of stage design, it's thought out rather well. You have a main
goal that needs to be accomplished, and sub-goals to accomplish for
extra items. Your goals can range from achieving a certain score, to
photo ops, to knocking people over. Some things, such as jumping over
the pier, are a bit tough to do. Most of the goals seem fair, and
doable. While the whole game seems similar stage by stage, since really
you're always in water, each stage has different wave heights and
direction. Some stages you will not be able to do tube tricks, while
others may have large wave heights. Then you have the different objects
and varying weather conditions. Before you start a new stage, you have
a video (horribly compressed) which shows the real-life location, and
Kelly Slater rambling and reminiscing about that location. Seemed kind
of odd to me, and we could have done without it, quite frankly.
Graphics
in KSPS are not stellar, but they get the job done. The water texturing
looks great in most stages (although Wave Race Blue Storm still has the
smoothest and best moving water and waves). It's pretty much all you
see, with the exception of some objects in the stage. The player models
are decent and have smooth animations, but for some reason in many of
the Activision sports games I've played, the models look pretty beaten
up. Maybe it's the colors in the texturing, I don't know. There is some
slow down, mostly when you go near the area where the water sprays from
the wave. Why the game can't handle this is a mystery, seeing how
Burnout 2 manages to churn out some complicated particles and still
keep the frame rate stable. The splash effects when a player bails is
not so pretty. It's a pixelated effect, much like what we were treated
to in the GCN version of SpyHunter. At least here, it only occurs in
that effect.
A
note to Activision, and any other company that uses Bink Video. Stop
using it! It horribly compresses video and sound. I've seen some pretty
sharp video in GCN games, such as MK Deadly Alliance, NHL Hitz 2003,
F-Zero GX and Bloodrayne. The audio doesn't suffer in those said
titles, either. But companies who use Bink Video end up with tinny
sound and awfully compressed graphics. I've seen this in THPS 4,
Smuggler's Run Warzones, and the tinny sound heard in Robotech
Battlecry, as well as pretty bad video and sound quality here too. The
company would be better off doing the video themselves without the
middleware.
The
sound in KSPS, with the exception of the video, is clear and not too
bad. Good ocean sounds and effects, but the effects do not change that
often. The music is ok, but really laid back. It's kind of the opposite
of what you would hear in other extreme sport games. And once again,
it's a soundtrack with music I've never heard of.
KSPS
is not a bad game, but not a perfect one. It's a different offering in
the extreme sports genre, and it's a welcome one at that. While I have
yet to try Transworld Surf Next Wave, I think it may be safe to say
that this is the better surfing game, just because of a tighter camera
and a good trick system. But compared to games such as THPS 4, SSX
Tricky, and Aggressive Inline, Kelly Slater just doesn't have the same
compelling gameplay or design those said games have. Also, there's the
lack of a custom surfer and a park editor mode (of course, how would
that work here?), which kind of pushes back the appeal somewhat. But,
it is easy to get into, much easier than I thought. It's an intuituve
and good handling game with a decent design, and I think those who
enjoy the genre may appreciate this game. Like I said, it's a different
offering, much like Aggressive Inline was.
.
.
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Published
By :
ACTIVISION
Developed
By:
TREYARCH
Year Published :
2002
Players :
1-2
ESRB Rating:
TEEN
OVERALL
SCORE
8.0
VISUALS |
8.0 |
AUDIO |
7.8 |
GAMEPLAY |
8.0 |
REPLAY
VALUE |
8.0 |
INNOVATION |
8.0 |
KSPS fills in an absent genre with a solid effort, but it lacks the
mainstream appeal that the THPS games have.
Surfing
H30
As
far as surfing games go, this is probably the best one. Now if compared
to other extreme sports titles, well, the THPS games stand better, as
well as SSX Tricky.
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