Surf's Up
Score: 85% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Sports (Extreme)
Graphics & Sound: Notoriously, game adaptations of movies are horrible. When asked to think of one successful exception to this rule, the only names of recent that will come up are King Kong, or maybe The Chronicles of Riddick. Mostly because places like Spike TV, and Maxim pushed them onto people like drug dealers. The games were truly "OK" which once again brings us to the fact that movies do not usually make good games. I have to tell you that Surf's Up is the most fun that I have ever had with a movie adaptation. It may have a lot to do with the fact that it is on the Wii which automatically screams for a surfing game, but that aside, it is a well done, simple tie-in. The Wii came out of the gates saying it wasn't even attempting to go head to head with the other consoles for graphical power, and that does show up a little in the gameplay as the graphics have some issues. All of the important factors are there in the fact that you can tell your characters apart. Occasionally, the fact that they are wearing some form of extra adornment like a mask or bracelet is seen. You have a little bit of a hard time telling your competitors apart, but it really doesn't matter when you are making them eat your wake. I was surprised at the large amount of modern and popular music. I assume they are all from Paramount labels and the movie. As is to be expected, there are many one-liner voiceovers for wipeouts and crashes, as well as achievements and successes. They will eventually get dull, but the actual fun of the game negates the repetition felt in other movie adaptations.
Gameplay: Surf's Up is like... totally all about the surfin' man! You get all like, stoked and just rip it out, man. Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. For those of us who speak English, allow me to translate; Surf's Up is all about riding waves. Initially you choose from four of the movie's main characters. Choose from Cody, Lani, Chicken Joe and Rory, but you have the ability to unlock others as you progress through the game. Each of the characters have different attributes that will affect how they ride the wave. You can customize your character for that personal touch, as well as your board. Each of the boards have their own set of attributes just like the characters and are customizable with different patterns and colors. There are three main modes, then the Options and an Extras section. Start off in the Championship Mode with a nice training session that shows you each one of the tricks and gives you plenty of room to practice them and try things out. Once you have your webbed feet underneath you, take on each stage one at a time and work your way up to the championship. Next take on challengers in the Multiplayer Mode. If you think that surfing got your blood pumping, then check out Leaf-Sliding Mode and luge headfirst through a volcano. Awesome man!.. Sorry, relapse. The Extras section is full of unlockable art and video material from the movie. All pretty standard fare. There is also a section for you to enter cheat codes, if you're that type of person that is; you know who you are. Each one of the areas in the Championship Mode consists of three main goals. Get at least a preset amount of points. You get these points by doing tricks. Complete the number of gates you are asked to go through. Lastly, there is another points challenge to get to. On top of these three main goals, there is the last goal of collecting penguin icons. All of these goals will unlock new music, boards, patterns, art, and movie clips.
Difficulty: Surf's Up is not terribly difficult to learn or to pull off some of the tricks, but it gets plenty frustrating. The courses get far more tricky to handle. The goals get harder to achieve and penguin icons get harder to find. Each one of the tricks that they show you will be necessary to master in order to succeed later in the game. If you don't have the skill of floating down, which is basically grinding in skateboarding terms, you will have a lot of trouble later on. Much like the Tony Hawk of old, you use your thumb stick to stay balanced on the edge of the wave. This gets more difficult and more necessary later on. Things begin to stack up on you quickly if you don't keep ahead of the wave, so make sure to pay attention to where you are on the wave, as well as what tricks you are doing.
Game Mechanics: All of the mechanics are easily found in many of the skateboarding games. My only true complaint is that as you progress to the higher levels, it becomes more about grinding and obstacles than it does about surfing and pulling tricks. Total bummer man! This one small insignificant point aside, the controls work effortlessly. You do not use the wand directly for control, you control your surfer with the thumb stick, and pull off tricks with buttons and the triggers. The wand does activate your speed boost, so in fits of frustration at a missed trick, you may find yourself in the midst of a speed burst. There is a sweet mode that can be activated when your Stoke meter fills. The Stoke Mode allows you pull off some really cool aerobatic tricks landing you tons of points. The controls are smooth and responsive. Made me wish they could have pulled this off back in the day of T&C Surf Design. Surf's Up has everything I wanted to see in a movie game, or any game for that matter. Easy to learn. Simple control schemes allow anyone to pull off cool moves. And, it has a rewarding gameplay. I find myself actually wanting to go back to make sure I have beaten every goal and collected every penguin icon. Usually if I can get by without it, I will just let it pass by. Anyway, man, totally hook yourself up with this one and ride.
-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd
Surf's Up Pet Alien