Wave Race 64
Reviewed by Scott McCall
As a game filled with an odd and mysterious history, Wave Race 64
has blast on to the 64-bit scene. Although this is not a very well
known fact, Wave Race originally appeared on the Game Boy in
1992. That game also featured most of the same gameplay
mechanics as its 64-bit cousin -- minus the spectacular wave
effects, of course. The game had a top-down overhead view with
four racers on jet skis racing around the track. It also featured
a championship mode and a stunt mode.
The eccentricities didn't stop there. The 64-bit sequel originally
debuted on video tape at the annual 1995 Shoshinkai show held
every November in Japan. Oddly enough, the version shown at the
show featured boats, not jet skis! The boat had retractable
"wings" in addition to the incredibly realistic water movement
and huge jumps in the game.
Although the game looked extremely hot, almost like F-Zero
on water, Nintendo had a surprise for everyone at the E3 show
in May 1996. The game no longer featured boats, but the game now
had jet skis in it like the old Game Boy version! This caused quite
a stir among the gaming population. Most of the gamers thought
the game looked like crap with the jet skis. In just four short months
there has been a miraculous turn around. Welcome to the new Wave Race 64.
With all that background information out of the way, we can
now say that Wave Race 64 is a 3-D racing game featuring
jet skis. The action takes place with a behind the jet ski
view. The game features random wave effects, which
are calculated in real-time. Surprisingly, the waves actually
affect the gameplay rather than just serving as eye-candy.
This makes for an extremely interesting gameplay experience.
From the moment you turn on the game, you will be wowed
by the game's incredible water effects. Even with an
abundance of jet ski games either out now or on the horizon,
none of those other games can touch the visual prowess of
Wave Race 64. Besides being mesmerized by the game's incredible
graphics, you also be amazed at the amount of speech in the
game, and you'll probably also have a little trouble getting
used to the analog control at first.
The title screen presents the gamer with many different
modes of play. The Championship Mode is a race for one-player,
which pits them against three other computer players (four in
total) who are all fairly intelligent. The Time Attack mode
puts the player on the track without any other drivers to get
the best time possible. The Score Attack mode dares the player
to get the best score possible by trying to make it through all
the rings and by doing as many flips, jumps and hot dog moves
as possible. There is also a two-player VS Mode so you and your
buddy can race against each other, one-on-one, on any track you wish.
Unlike most other Nintendo-made games, Wave Race 64 actually
presents a multitude of options to the player. Fortunately,
Wave Race 64 not only supports the Controller Pak but also
has a built-in EEPROM chip like Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64.
Here's a brief tour of some of the options: Name Change (you
can give the jet skiers new names), View Records (check out
your best times and best stunt scores), Race Settings (change
the Type of Wave between Normal, Calm, Strong & Random;
change the Number of Missed Buoys; and change Number of Laps),
Sound (choose between Stereo, Mono and Headphones; turn the
Music on or off; and listen to the different music tracks), Reset
Records (reset time and/or stunt records on a particular track),
and Memory Management (deals with the Controller Pak).
The options don't stop there. You also have your choice of four
different riders. Each one has different attributes that can also
be adjusted and saved to your Controller Pak. You can then take
your Controller Pak over to your friend's house and use your own
personal jet ski on their game.
Interestingly enough, Wave Race 64 has one of the most simplistic
control schemes in recent memory. Control consists of gas and
movement -- that's it. You can hold down either the A or Z button
to accelerate and let off the button to slow down. You then use
your analog Control Stick to maneuver on the course.
The analog Control Stick is also used to perform the stunts
in the game. Unlike, say, in Uniracers, stunts serve no real
purpose in the actual Championship or Versus modes other
than to show off. As a matter of fact, it can actually harm you
if you land a stunt wrong. For those willing to do a little hot
dogging, you can do turns, flips, twists, and combinations of
those to pull off some sweet moves.
Camera control is fairly limited in Wave Race 64 -- and
rightfully so. Unlike the more mobile cameras in Mario 64
and Pilotwings 64, you can only basically zoom in and out on
your rider. Most gamers will find that the default median angle
is more than sufficient.
So what does the gameplay consist of in the Championship
and Versus modes? For the most part, it consists of you riding
for three laps (or more if you increase the number of laps the
options screen) around a race track. The object is to pass the
buoy on the correct side. Yellow buoys (signified by a yellow buoy
with a yellow arrow above it pointing to the left) must be passed
on the left side. Red buoys (signified by a red buoy with a red
arrow above it pointing to the right) must be passed on the right
side. The game throws a mixture of these on a race track. As you
get onto the higher levels, you'll notice the buoys sometimes get
closer together and sometimes you must go a little bit out of
your way to pass one of them.
What happens if you don't pass a buoy on the correct side?
You'll lose all your power. Your power meter at the bottom
of the screen is very important; it consists of five arrows
that light up one at a time for each buoy you pass. So if you
pass five buoys in a row, then you'll be at maximum power.
Maximum power enables your jet ski to go its top speed. But
if you should happen to miss one buoy, then you lose all your
power. So no matter if you have two arrows, three arrows or
maximum power, if you miss a buoy, then you lose all of
whatever power you had. You'll have to pass buoys consecutively
to build it back up.
You can miss up to four buoys on a track (this can also be
changed in the option mode). If you miss a buoy a fifth time,
then you are automatically disqualified and get zero points. A
winner of the entire circuit is determined by the total number
of points they have at the end of the final round. You get 7 points
for first place, 4 points for second place, 2 points for third place
and 1 point for fourth place. Then depending on the difficulty
level, the game sets a minimum point total you have to have after
EACH course. So on Hard, maybe you'll need 1 point total after the
first race and 3 points total after the second race that you need
to achieve to be able to move on. You are required to get a first
place at the end of the circuit to move on to the next difficulty level.
The Championship mode contains four different difficulty
levels: Normal, Hard, Expert and Reverse. Each new difficulty
level opens up a new track to play. In total, there are nine
tracks to race on, including the practice Dolphin Park board,
though it cannot be raced on as a regular course; it's just
there for practice.
The tracks in Wave Race 64 provide an incredible mixture
of different wave patterns and different locales. From the
lavish orange water and sun reflections of Sunset Bay to
the misty environment of Milky Lake to the huge waves of
Southern Island, Wave Race 64 takes the gamer on an
incredible aesthetic journey, with some great gameplay,
through nature's most abundant resource.
Although early versions of Wave Race 64 took place on an
open ocean, the courses in the final version are now much
more lively, detailed and confined. Players may experience
a little initial trouble navigating the courses the first few
times, but they will quickly memorize the pattern and course
layout within a short period of time.
Artificial intelligence of the computer-controlled racers
in Wave Race 64 is actually pretty good. With the exception
of a few loopholes (noticeably on Sunset Bay on Expert level),
the computer will almost always give you a good race being
only seconds behind -- that is, if you're not behind them. Unlike
other games, the computer doesn't cheat, either. They
sometimes fall off their jet skis and you can knock them off,
too. They actually race very similar to how a human opponent
would on the respective difficulty level.
As with any racing game, the majority of the replay value
comes courtesy of the two-player mode. Wave Race 64 does
have an awesome one-player mode, but the split-screen, two-player
simultaneous mode is quite good, too. The Versus mode, which
is the two-player mode in the game, pits you and your friend
on the track by yourselves. You each pick the driver of choice
(fortunately, you can both pick the same driver), and then pick
the board of choice. All boards that you got to in the one-player
mode are accessible in the two-player mode. Amazingly, the
one-on-one race is quite fun even though you can't race with
the computer, something that other racing games I lambasted
cannot say.
Depending on the board, you also can pick between the different
difficulty levels to race on. For example, playing on Normal
difficulty means the shortcuts of a few boards will not be open.
If you move it up to Hard difficulty, the shortcuts will then be
accessible. You also have the opportunity to put a handicap on
your opponent if one player is far better than the other. Another
interesting spin to put on the two-player mode is to go into the
Options mode and set the Type of Wave.
Wave Race 64 appears to follow the lines of F-Zero and
Super Mario Kart in the way of replay value. Like F-Zero,
Wave Race 64 has a great Time Attack mode which will
hound you to constantly beat your best times. There's also
a Score Attack mode to try to pull off some great stunts.
Even the one-player mode can provide a challenge. And like
Super Mario Kart, the game includes a great two-player mode.
While maybe not as fun as Mario Kart, Wave Race 64 has one
of the best two-player modes so far in this new generation
of video games.
A game can truly be called revolutionary when the gameplay
is actually enhanced thanks to its eye-candy. Wave Race 64
is one of the very, very few games to combine incredible
visuals, great gameplay because of the visuals, and originality
because of its visuals. As much as a step as we thought Mario
64 and Pilotwings 64 were above other games, Wave Race 64
is great a step beyond those two games. To put it simply, you
won't find more realistic looking water anywhere else.
The graphics in Wave Race 64 don't look spectacular because
the game is "on rails." The game is actually fully 3-D like Mario
64 and Pilotwings 64 because you can turn around at any time, go
backwards if you want, and just plain go anywhere you want,
although that may not be wise in an important race.
Besides the amazing wave effects, which are perpetually
calculated in real-time for random results, Wave Race 64 also
includes a host of other amazing graphical effects, including
real-time lens flares, fogging and reflections. The second
course, Sunset Bay, includes sunspots that almost "blind"
you as you go around a certain bend. The third course, Milky
Lake, includes thick morning fog, which burns off towards
the end of the second lap. Once the fog burns off, you're treated
to incredible reflections on the water.
On the downside, most of the aforementioned special effects
are not in the two-player mode. In order to keep the game at
a good speed in the two-player mode, they had to get rid of those
special effects. On the upside, you'll find that the two-player
is not letterboxed as much as the one-player. Quite honestly,
though, you probably won't even notice the letterboxing in either
the one- or two-player modes.
Possibly one of the most impressive effects you're treated
to is in the screen where you enter your initials for getting
a high score. Incredibly realistic water and rippling effects
as the letters "come out" of the ocean. It's almost impossible
to describe and must be seen to be believed.
Another equally impressive facet of the graphics is the
actual game engine. Although this is obviously a much more
easier environment to deal with, Wave Race 64 contains pretty
much no pop-up, almost no clipping, distant horizons, and no
pixelation -- all in addition to the incredible wave effects.
Quite a turnaround from Mario 64. You'll also find that the game
is smooth as can be. While I can't judge how many frames per
second the game is (nor do I care to), you can be sure that there's
no choppiness here.
The sound in Wave Race 64 is equally amazing in its own right.
The music is actually pretty good. Better than I thought it would
be -- that is, when you can actually hear it. Unfortunately, there
is no way to adjust the sound level for the sound effects or
background music. This would be very helpful since the sounds
of the waves crashing dominate all other sounds in the two-player
mode.
The shining star of the sound has to be the incredible voice
and sound effects, though. The sound effects of the jet skis,
waves, seagulls, etc., in the environment are amazingly
realistic. And the announcer's voice is just utterly mind-blowing.
(Apparently, he's the same guy who did the voice for Rock 'n' Roll
Racing on the 16-bit systems.) Although he may get a little
repetitive, he never really gets to the point of being annoying.
How they fit all of this voice in a 64 megabit cart is beyond me.
Wave Race 64 is an extremely polished package and doesn't
feel rushed at all. You can't really say anything negative about
the graphics. The control is simple and exacting. The sound is very
impressive, though I'm sure even more speech would help
enhance the game. There are plenty of options, and you can
save your total and individual lap times for each track to the
EEPROM chip. I guess if you had to suggest some improvements
to this game, then it would have to be more tracks. Although eight
tracks is actually a lot by 32-bit standards, the game just leaves
you wanting more.
What can you say about Wave Race 64? It's an incredible racing
game that not only shows off the power of the Nintendo 64 but
also enhances the gameplay thanks to the technology. Some
gamers may even find themselves liking it more than Mario 64,
though I wouldn't go as far as to say that. There is just hardly
anything wrong with this game at all. It comes highly recommended
to all Nintendo 64 owners. Expect it to be right along the side of
F-Zero and Super Mario Kart as a classic racing game.
Graphics: 4.8 out of 5
Sound: 4.1 out of 5
Control: 4.5 out of 5
Gameplay: 4.7 out of 5
Lastability: 4.5 out of 5
Overall: 4.7 out of 5