Wave Race: Blue Storm Review (Nintendo Gamecube, 2001)

Wave Race 64 was one of the first big Nintendo 64 games to make some serious waves (get it?) on the console. This was a fully 3D polygonal jet ski racing game. It was truly impressive in its time. Not only was I not interested in a jet ski video game, or racers in general, but even I wanted tithe launch of the Nintendo Gamecube saw the next iteration of this series with it. Wave Race: Blue Storm was released to fantastic reviews. I was too busy with other titles at the time and skipped out on it. It was only in the past few years that I snagged a copy to find out what I was missing out on. As it turns out Wave Race: Blue Storm is a worthy sequel and deserves the hype. Let’s check it out.

Wave Race: Blue Storm is very similar to its predecessor. It’s a jet ski racing game wherein you compete in a few different modes, but the basic objective remains the same. Your goal is to reach the finish line at the end of the third lap on each course in as high placement as possible. During each race you’re dealing with obstacles in the course, battling to maintain momentum through waves, and occasionally fighting against inclement weather. Despite the colorful graphics the developers went with the most realistic gameplay approach possible. The physics engine is extremely good. Characters respond with stunning realism when cruising over waves and with each change in momentum. Wave Race: Blue Storm feels amazing to play because of this. I thought this was one of the most immersive racing games because of how realistic it feels in action.

There’s a little more to racing than simply coming in first place however. Littered around each course are two different colors of buoys. Red ones must be passed on the right, while you must go to the left on the yellow. These serve two purposes. First of all if you pass five of these on the wrong side you’re automatically disqualified from the race. You get no points in the championship mode, and if you don’t already have enough of these to progress to the next track then it’s game over. The second function of buoys is that they fill your turbo meter. Each successful pass on these moves it up one notch. When you reach the maximum you get a turbo boost (activated with the Z button). Missing one of these resets the meter. You also have smaller buoys that mark the edge of the course.

Course designs are seriously on point. For the most part at least. There are eight different themed areas in Blue Storm. Some of these are exclusive to specific difficulty modes. Others have alternate routes through them that can vary significantly. These tracks are generally pretty short except on the hardest difficulty setting. Zipping around these courses is a pure joy. There are also plenty of shortcuts with my favorite ones being those that require you to go airborne so you’re briefly underwater upon descent. This allows you to go under some obstacles which is really neat. What’s also really neat is that the courses change slightly as time passes. You might find new obstacles have fallen into the water in each subsequent lap, and in other instances the weather might take a turn for the worse. This adds dynamic elements to the already really well designed courses.

There are a lot of different options that allow you customize how you play. We’ll start with the characters. You are given eight different racers to choose from. Three are returning from Wave Race 64, two are new, and the remaining guys are from 1080 Degree Snowboarding on the Nintendo 64. Not only do they vary in appearance but the way they handle during a race is different as well. Each is rated in five separate categories like top speed, acceleration, maneuvering, stunt skill, and strength. The differences are not subtle. It can be so significant that some courses feel like an entirely new beast depending on who you choose to play as. Experimenting with them to figure out what works best for you is surprisingly fun. I love how different some of the racers are from one another.

The main mode of play is championship. Here you can compete in either a simple exhibition match or challenge yourself in a tournament mode with three different difficulties. Here you are competing for points, and earn more of these depending on how you place in each race. You need a specific amount of these points to move on to the next race, but generally it’s pretty forgiving. As long as you get third or fourth place each time you’re usually safe from a game over. What’s interesting is the fact that you can move on even when disqualified from a race. Again, you just have to meet the threshold of points required for the next course. This means it’s not an instant game over if you’re disqualified. I really like this feature in the game.

One of the most interesting aspects of Wave Race: Blue Storm is that the course conditions change between races. Sometimes a course will suffer various inclement weather which would make racing more difficult. The game displays the current condition visually via video footage that plays of it from the select screen as well as informing you how big the wave swells currently are. You can circumvent these hazards sometimes because you’re allowed to choose the order of courses in championship mode. This adds a layer of strategy because the more difficult areas can be far too difficult with inclement weather. There are no guarantees that conditions will improve and where they will get better in between races. This is a unique feature that I wish made its way into more racing games.

On top of the championship mode you also have time attack. This is pretty standard and I didn’t spend a lot of time here. Honestly I’m not the biggest fan of features like this in racing games, but it’s nice that it’s there. Then we have stunt mode. Here you race the tracks trying to get the highest score from traveling through rings, and of course, performing stunts. In the main game these are used to gain turbos faster using directional inputs. Here you’re just trying to get points. It’s okay, but again, not really my cup of tea. Multiplayer on the other hand is amazing. Up to four players can compete in the championship and stunt modes. It’s very well done, and the game runs decently even with so much going on at once. Finally we have free roam. There’s no racing here; just leisurely exploration. The game modes help make this one of the best Gamecube games of all time.

Wave Race: Blue Storm has quite a bit of content for a launch game. All of the game modes will keep you busy (especially if you have friends to play with). Besides that the difficulty will ensure you can’t just run through each championship mode. Because it’s gameplay is so heavily based on physics there’s quite a learning curve. This does not simply play like a traditional racer on water. Additionally the varying conditions and wave height have huge effects on the gameplay. Furthermore this game is tough. Even when you get the mechanics down pat it’s still challenging. Some areas, such as Aspen Lake, are a bit more relaxed but bad weather conditions can change that in an instant. With that said it’s a fun game to learn. Even when failing miserably I was still having a blast with Blue Storm.

This was an early Gamecube game, but man is it pretty. Character models are a little underwhelming but are serviceable. Despite realistic proportions they have a vague cartoon inspired art style, and wear colorful clothing. It’s the scenery that really impresses. I’m talking about the water specifically. The effects used here were truly some of the best of its generation. It looks very realistic, and downright welcoming. The way the waves react to physical objects is truly impressive. The framerate is also very steady though less so when playing multiplayer. That’s to be expected though. The soundtrack is okay but nothing special. I liked the energetic tunes but the announcer nitpicking every thing you do wrong can get a little old over time. It’s not enough to ruin the experience though.