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| On November 15, 2001 Microsoft launched the Xbox Video Game System in North America. Many dismissed the system as the next 3DO, but they could not have been more wrong. The Xbox has taken the world by storm, offering game experiences that often blur the line between fantasy and reality. The true successor to the DreamCast is finally here. And it is the Xbox. |
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| Splashdown |
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| Review by: |
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| SUMMARY:
Become one of 8 rebellious riders as you throttle a Sea-Doo over water that looks so real you�ll need a wetsuit! Just throw Splashdown into your Xbox video game system and you�ll instantly start blasting through the waters of Bali, tearing over the Great Barrier Reef, or stirring up the Venice Canals. Catch massive air as you jump wakes and launch off of ramps. Then battle your way to the finish line through 18 incredibly detailed environments from all around the globe! For the wildest, most authentic water racing on the planet, Splashdown is your game. |
| REVIEW: Water is one of those things that we all take for granted. Think about it: without water, we're dead. But, instead of preserving our limited and highly important natural resource, we just **** around with it, dumping crap into it and killing everything in it with our motor boats, garbage and other things that human beings do. But in this age of hippies and eco-friendly yuppies, such activities as dumping toxic waste into the water and riding personal watercraft are so last millennium, and rules and regulations stand in your way of enjoying the water. Rainbow Studios however, being the digital extreme sports masters that they are, decided that the hippies can't yell at them for letting you pollute digital water, so hop on your Seadoo and prepare to pollute in Splashdown! Waverace 64 and its successor Waverace: Blue Storm set a precedent among extreme sports games, being fast and realistic but at the same time fun and exciting. It also proved to be Nintendo's best selling line of sports video games (not much competition there), so Rainbow Studios decided that it was time to take some of that proverbial ''fat cash'' from Nintendo's palms by creating a watercraft racing game that was better than Nintendo's juggernaut. In a huge shock to this reviewer, they actually came fairly close to taking Nintendo's crown, but they ultimately didn't. Splashdown begins like most extreme sports games; you're an amateur trying to assemble a team of highly skilled Seadoo riders to take on the best in the business. You start off by |
| selecting one of 4 characters, all with slightly different stats controlled by the watercraft they are riding. Select a difficulty level and then you start your first of a series of 12 different races. Before you start the race, you are treated to a qualifying run that doubles as a practice mode.
The race areas are pretty fun, though a bit bland. There aren't many short cuts or anything because you have to pass through gates or your Seadoo stalls out. The tracks take place in a variety of locations around the world, from France to Scotland to the USA, and even in arenas. The arena races are special challenge races that you have to complete to get people to join |
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| Good, but WaveRace 64 is still king |
| you, and they remind me of the water park at my local Six Flags. There are all sorts of jumps and tight turns. Unfortunately, not all the tracks are as exciting. The tracks tend to be fairly linear with few reasons for exploration besides unlocking different colored wet suits for Arcade Mode.
Races are won either two ways: the first time you try it or the fiftieth time you try it. The games difficulty is set that once you get into first place you don't lose it, and once you get into last place you never really get any higher in the ranks. Splashdown has a lot of weird quirks like this actually. One thing that is different than pretty much every extreme sports game is the total lack of statistic increases, meaning that throughout the entire game you have the same stats as when you started. There also isn't a heavy emphasis on doing tricks, and they have no effect what so ever on your score. The only thing tricks are good for at all is increasing the performance of your Seadoo for the remainder of the race, making it have a faster top speed and better handling, at least that's what I got out of it. Fortunately, the control is pretty good, though none of the default configurations allow you to accelerate with the triggers. Splashdown could have definitely been more forgiving when it comes to turning and going through tight areas though. Often I overshot the turns or slightly grazed a corner, causing me to lose position and fall off respectively. The tricks are fairly easy to perform, just push one of the triggers and move the analog stick and something happens. The water is spectacular, as it should be. Not only does it look very good, the waves work against you as they should. Turning into waves is a difficult task and throws your Seadoo all around. The game in general looks pretty good, but it's definitely obvious that this is a PS2 port through and through. The Xbox has had better looking water, better looking waves, better looking character models and better looking vehicles before, but that's not to imply that the game is ugly or anything. Quite the contrary, the game looks pretty good, with some nice water effects and some good animations; it's just not quite pushing the Xbox's skills. The games soundtrack is a mix of annoying punk rock and more annoying punk rock. Fortunately you can get rid of the wussy music and listen to your own custom soundtracks, which is a great thing. Seriously, I'm sick of every punk band with youthful exuberance wasting my hearing by making me listen to songs about their angst. Grow up. The sound effects are pretty good, but nothing really special outside of engine roars and some annoying voice-overs. Overall, Splashdown is a port of one of the better games on the PS2, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be one of the better games on the Xbox. I really did get my time out of the game though, and the low price that I got it for made the purchase all the better. If you can deal with a few annoyances, you're left with a pretty decent game that makes quite the splash in the Xbox water. |
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| Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Rainbow Studios Genre: Extreme Water Sports Players: 1-2 U.S. Release: 6/25/02 |
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| Would you like to become a reviewer for Diehard Xbox? If so, send an email to diehardxbox@ yahoo.com with the name of the game you would like to review stated in the subject. |
| - Matt Wadleigh (4/4/03) |
| Screenshot courtesy of GameSpot (c) |
| Copyright 2000-2003 Diehard Xbox. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other logos, brands, etc... are registered trademarks of their owners. Blank |
| Questions? Comments? Concerns? E-mail Josh, the Diehard Xbox site founder and maintainer, at: [email protected] |
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