Reviewed: July 10, 2002
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Atari

Developer
Rainbow Studios

Released: June 25, 2002
Genre: Racing
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone

7
9
9
7
7.9

Supported Features

  • Analog Control
  • Vibration
  • Memory Card

    		•
    Splashdown joins the ranks of the many games that are making the port to the Microsoft Xbox system. While some games are simply being ported over in their existing form, many titles are being enhanced and expanded upon in the transition adding new features like extra levels, bonus characters and enhanced sound and video.

    I played the original Splashdown on the PS2 last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have been an avid fan of water racing since the early days of Wave Race and Hydro Thunder, and Splashdown offered just the right amount of arcade racing action combined with a respectable trick system and intuitive control.

    The Xbox version takes the core goodness of the original game and adds two new levels; Ruminer Pt., Maine and the Florida Keys, and takes the graphics level to all new heights. I can say without a doubt that this is the best water you have ever seen in a video game. The wave dynamics, transparency, and surface foam and spray are totally photo-realistic and far surpass the effects in other water-based games like Bloodwake.

    Splashdown offers a good mix of watercraft, zany characters, and exotic racing locations. There is an intuitive trick system that is easy to learn, and you will be pulling off crazy stunts and catching major air on your first lap of your first race. Splashdown isn’t about earning points. The trick system is used to enhance your engine performance giving you that extra boost you need to win races.

    Splashdown consists of the typical game modes you would expect from a racing game. You can do a single race on any unlocked courses or play the lengthy career mode to compete for points and hopefully unlock all sorts of extra goodies.

    You start by picking a rider and Sea-Doo craft from an eclectic source of personalities. Several of the more skilled riders are locked in the beginning and you will have to unlock them in one-on-one challenges that pop-up during your career. Once you have your character you can choose the color of your craft and wetsuit then hit the water.

    There are 18 gorgeous water tracks from all over the world. Each track offers its own unique challenges and comes complete with hidden paths, shortcuts, and secrets like new wetsuits. Some of these secrets are off the beaten path and you won’t have time to find them during a typical race. You can go back and play these courses in a Free Ride mode that essentially loses the timer giving you the freedom to explore every inch of these large environments.

    Gameplay is your typical race to the finish and collect points based on your finishing position. Control is perfectly implemented on the Xbox control pad with the analog stick being used to turn your craft or shift your weight to dip the nose into the water for sharper turns or pull back to hydroplane and get that extra burst of speed. You can also “submarine” your craft by diving down into the water enabling you to pass under obstacles and locate hidden shortcuts.

    Scattered about the tracks are an assortment of ramps you can use to perform over 30 wild and crazy stunts. Stunts are simple to do provided you have the airtime to pull them off. There is no mashing of combos – only a push of a button or trigger along with a direction on the stick to execute the trick. Your biggest challenge is to make sure you are back behind the handlebars before you hit the water.

    Tricks are performed to increase the performance meter of your craft. Your meter also goes up each time you pass a buoy on the designated side or goes down when you miss a buoy. When you max the meter you will achieve maximum performance and zip past the competition.

    Gameplay is not as deep as many of you may like or expect from a stunt/racing game. Even though each character has stats, they never change, so winning races only gets you more tracks and a pretty cool character-specific movie at the end of the season. You can’t upgrade your Sea-Doo and the bonus items are basically limited to a handful of wetsuits that you can find hidden on the courses.

    Splashdown is still loads of fun and the races get longer as you progress through the season. The challenges are great fun and let you unlock new characters by racing them one-on-one in a stadium environment with an elevated track that looks like one of those log flume rides at Six Flags. The high banked turns and crazy jumps make these levels some of the most challenging in the game.

    Ever since the birth of the next-gen console, water effects seem to be the benchmark or determining factor of how powerful a system is. Every system has their own unique visual style when it comes to water, and while the PS2 version of Splashdown did a very respectable job of creating some realistic waves, the Xbox version just obliterates it and all other water-based games.

    The waves are dynamically generated based on weather and the other racers. There is nothing more frustrating than preparing to skim past a buoy only to have another racer zip past creating a wake that thrusts you outside your buoy. Racing with the waves is almost like skiing the moguls and you must figure out the right speed and balance so the waves don’t work against you.

    Once you get past staring at the gorgeous water you can start to appreciate the exotic locales you are racing in. Florida, Bali, Italy, and Germany are just a few of the places you will find yourself racing. The scenery is all very nice with well-populated levels and dynamic weather that affects visibility and surface conditions of the “track”.

    The animation is fluid and never skips a beat as you race along leaning into turns and manhandling your Sea-Doo. The stunts all look great (and dangerous) as you flip around and do handstands or ride on your handlebars. The camera angle is perfectly suited to racing and there is a nice selection of TV-style cameras to view the action during the replays.

    The music in Splashdown features the same great selection it had on the PS2 including these excellent (but aging) tracks:
    • "Allstar" - Smashmouth
    • "Rhythms" - Sum 41
    • "All She's Got" - Sum 41
    • "Right Now" - SR-71
    • "Mouthful of Exhaust" - Man or Astroman
    • "The Rock Show" - Blink 182
    • "Chupacabra" - Groovie Ghoulies
    • "Graceland" - Groovie Ghoulies
    • "You've Got A Crush On Me" - The Donnas
    • "Son Of a Gun" - KMFDM
    • "Hold Your Breath" - Otis
    • "Rock the Juice" - The Dude
    • "Hit Or Miss" - New Found Glory
    If you don’t like the built-in selection or have simply heard these songs so much you want to rip your ears off then you will be thankful that the designers make use of the Xbox’s ability to play MP3’s, allowing you to create your own hot soundtrack for this game.

    Aside from the music, you are left with a small sampling (or splash) of effects such as engine noises, subtle water sounds, and the occasional shout from another racer. This game was clearly designed around the rocking soundtrack.

    I took two characters completely through the career mode before writing this review. This took me a total of 4-5 hours on the Easy mode. You will ultimately need to compete in Normal and Hard modes to play the extended seasons and unlock the longer tracks near the end of the series. Plan on 15-20 hours to do this with a single character.

    While the ending movies for each character are very good, they probably aren’t enough incentive for most to replay the game over for each and every character – at least not in succession. You may return at a later date and tackle this game again.

    The Free Ride mode lets you explore any unlocked tracks to locate those shortcuts and plan the best racing routes for future competition. You can also locate and snag those hidden icons to get the elusive alternate wetsuits for each of the characters.

    The multiplayer modes consist of your typical split-screen head-to-head racing action and a fun Copycat game that follows the basic rules of HORSE. One character performs a stunt and the other player must do that same stunt or get a letter. The first person to spell S-P-L-A-S-H loses.

    Splashdown manages to blend a perfect mix of control, arcade-style gameplay, and sim-like qualities to create a great racing experience. The tracks are creative and the gameplay challenging. I would have liked to see the trick system explored in greater detail, but this game is focused more on racing than stunts.

    The pick-up-and-play game design will get you hooked, and the sheer vastness of this title will keep you occupied (but never bored) for many happy hours of wet and wild racing.