It's been a while since we've last seen Wave Race, Nintendo's very own jet-ski racing game series. Sequel to Wave Race 64, Wave Race: Blue Storm is no less than a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube, and not a bad one at that.
The name of the game is obviously jet-ski racing, and you get to try your hand at this in Blue Storm's five different game modes: Championship, Time Attack, Stunt, Multi-Player, Free Roam, and Tutorial. Beginning players can get their feet wet (pun intended) and accustom themselves with the basic controls and stunt commands (fourteen stunts in all) in the Tutorial mode. The GCN controller makes executing these easy, but performing some the trickier stunts will still require a bit of practice. Time Attack pits you in a race against time to complete laps on available courses, and Stunt mode will have you racing through rings and executing stunts to get the best scores. The number of courses you'll get to race on in each mode except Championship and Tutorial are limited at first, but you'll earn more as you play through the Championship mode. There are a number of weather conditions available for each course as well, but once again you'll have to earn the right to race in them through Championship mode.
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As you can see, you'll want to go through the Championship to get the most out of the other modes. Depending on the difficulty level you choose to race in, you'll have to compete in 5, 6, or 7 courses in all as one of eight different jet-ski racers. Each racer will have ratings in five different attributes that help determine what kind of race they put up. Naturally you'll want to choose a racer that suits your style and level of play. You can customize your racer to a degree (racing gear color, acceleration/top speed and slip/grip), but it's nothing in-depth or game-breaking. Then it's time to race! Choose locales while taking in account the weather conditions for each day of the race (you won't get to do this in the final course). Put your skills to the test and earn points based on your finishing position. You'll need to earn a requisite number to advance, otherwise it's back to day one!
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