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GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 08/10/2007
- Released on: 08/06/2007
- Originally published on GameSpot: Wave Race 64 (Wii) Review
Various companies have produced Jet Ski racing games over the years, but few of those games have made as big of an impact as Nintendo's Wave Race 64. Ever since the game was originally published for the fledgling Nintendo 64 in the fall of 1996, person after person has been captivated by its blazing sense of speed, gorgeous wave modeling, and realistic "bouncy" physics. Now, you can download this wet wonder from the Wii's Virtual Console shop for 1,000 Wii points, which is a reasonable cost considering that time has done little to tarnish the game's beauty or fun.
Just as the title implies, you race Jet Skis on turbulent waters surrounding tropical islands.
The nuts and bolts of Wave Race 64 aren't much different from any other arcade-style racing game. In the championship mode, you race Jet Skis around circuits on a variety of water courses. Staying within the buoys will give you a speed boost and keep you from being disqualified, you can use jump ramps to leap over obstacles and to discover secret shortcuts, and the controls make it easy to glide through a turn or spin 180 on a dime with a simple yank on the analog stick. You can also perform a small selection of tricks, which are mainly useful for setting high scores in the stunt mode. Other play modes include the standard time-trial mode, as well as a two-player mode that splits the screen in half and lets you compete against another human opponent.
What makes the game so much fun, and the main reason why it still holds up today, is that it conveys the exhilaration of being out there on the water in a manner that's both visceral and accessible. Sharp turns and experienced CPU opponents keep you on your toes, ramps will send you flying through the air, and, because you're racing on water, you're constantly bouncing around. Waves rise and fall like they do in the real world, and that motion causes floating obstacles to shift, occasionally exposing sunken posts and shipwrecks that were safely underwater on previous laps. All the while, the controls make it easy to steer, perform sharp turns, lean forward and backward, and execute tricks, usually just by yanking or twirling the analog stick. The physics and wave modeling are very realistic, to the extent that you'll soon find yourself instinctively tilting the analog stick to land quicker and hit waves at a good angle.
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