Wave Race: Blue Storm

Basically the same as its N64 predecessor Wave Racer, Blue Storm is one of the GameCubes 1st releases, and a stonker it is. It has some of the best water effects ever seen, and along with smooth controls and fast competitive gameplay it really shows off the 'Cube's potential.

Firstly you pick a mode, ranging from tutorials, championship, and an excellent stunt mode. Then you choose from 8 different characters each with their own individual stats (top speed, acceleration, maneuvering, stunt skill and strength). Each of these characters has a coach who helps you and cheers you on on the beginner championship (five easier courses) and they can all perform the fairly large number of stunts the game has to offer.

The unique thing about the championship mode, which is the main game mode, is the unpredictable weather, which can effect the racing conditions by making the sea almost dead calm to raging and stormy. The 1st championship is an exibition with a single track (Dolphin park) which is exclusive to this championship mode. The second is the Normal stage of 5 courses, the next mode with 6 and the one after that with 7. Over each stage you compete with the computer caracters (this mode is 1 player only) to get points and make it to the final course, which determines your final rank. The courses expand over 7 places, which are Lost Temple Lagoon, Southern Island, Aspen Lake, Ocean City Harbour, Arctic Bay, La Razza Canal and Strongwater Keep.

The racing mainly consists of weaving in and out of coloured bouys on their correct sides. Passing 5 of them correctly earns you a turbo boost, but missing 5 causes you to be disqualified and stops you from getting any points on that course, which usually causes you to loose since you need a certain amount of points to move on to the next stage. This makes winning a hard thing to do, and you dont get rewarded very heavily for doing so. This is the main downside to it but other than that this a near flawless racing game which is a load of fun and extremely addictive-I got it in the christmas of '02 and it's still one of my most widely used games. So, if you like racing games or extreme sports games or both I highly advisable getting this.