Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Splashdown

Written by Adam Woolcott on April 05, 2002

Full Review: You may have to splashdown your face with water to keep awake at first.

One of the very few mediums that escapes the Уyou don't get a second chance to make a first impressionФ saying is video games. Plenty of times, a game carries a learning curve that may turn off an impatient gamer at the outset, yet rewards the patient gamer in the long run once the controls/difficulty/crap story are learned (if they can be, that is). Splashdown is such a game. The first time I popped it into my PlayStation 2, the game bored me completely with a seeming lack of any kind of thrill while racing. It kind of felt like SSX (a game I don't particularly care for) on Jet Ski's instead of a snowboard, only lacking any emphasis on a trick system. Thus my opinion on it wasn't much more than a glorified showing of pretty water effects while the guise of a racing game was presented.

Then I played it some more and once you get past some of the nagging things (lack of speed, early tracks are somewhat lacking character and design), Splashdown is actually a pretty decent game that will at least entertain people who like water racing games Ц but those wanting pure high speed racing will be very, very disappointed. There's certainly a lot of technical merit here, but behind it is a game that can be a decent time for anyone patient enough to respect it.

Splashdown is rather short on a feature set Ц there's a training mode to learn what you're supposed to be doing, an arcade mode that has a handful of mini-games to keep you occupied, and a career mode that spans a whole 12 races and that's that. Along the way you can unlock tracks and new characters (as well as outfits for each racer, sounds like Barbie, no?), which adds to replay for a select few, as well as 3 separate difficulty levels for the career mode, but for the most part this game is the kind of game you can beat in a couple days if you're not careful and play non-stop. There's a few multiplayer modes also, but even that can't last forever when there are better head to head racers on PlayStation 2.

But that might not be possible due to how difficult it is to get into this game. The initial set of tracks are rather boring, and the racing part has a feeling of boredom because of it. A racing game must have that thrill of making sure you don't mess up and lose your lead, or the thrill of coming from behind to take a race at the last second (as they say in Fast And The Furious, Уit doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winningФ). And at the beginning, Splashdown doesn't really have that feeling, thus it drags the level of enjoyment down. The early tracks are really straightforward without a lot of hazards or unusual curves and bad jumps. The later tracks pick up with some clever design that Rainbow Studios is known for, but it's a chore to make it that far.

There's also the sense of speed problem Ц any game that has you racing at a lower speed than most speed limits won't exactly feel like you're blazing by everyone. The speed isn't as fast because water is a slightly different substance than pavement or dirt, but since this game carries such an arcade feel, it's a shame they didn't over-exaggerate and make the game a lot faster, or even include turbos.

Splashdown does carry a trick system, but it's really not emphasized, and from my playtime, it's almost better to avoid using them, because if you screw one up, you risk losing a lead or getting buried in the races. And unlike a game such as SSX, there's no turbo meter that builds up the more tricks you perform Ц something like this would have made the tricks as important as the race, and basically required in order to win. But if you look at Splashdown as a straight up water racer in the vein of Wave Race, you probably won't mind.

It doesn't help that actually executing these tricks is a chore in itself. The game uses the R and L triggers on the Dual Shock 2 for tricks (except L1 is the look-behind button), but when you press one, it seems that the tricks never get executed unless you smack down on the button constantly, and hope for the best. Unless I'm doing something wrong, this kind of control makes it even easier to completely ignore the existence of the small variety of tricks included.

The rest of the controls are solid however, and very responsive. However, I've found that you only need 2 buttons to play the game Ц the left analog stick to drive your craft, and the X button to accelerate. Not once did I push the brake button, even around tough curves. Of course this is an arcade-style racer, and not a simulation game, so that's expected, but the ease of controls is a plus for people who don't like to learn how to play a racing game with proper use of the gas and brake (such as the select few who can't stand Gran Turismo 3).

On the graphical end, Splashdown isn't too bad. Nothing that can compare with the other major games of last fall (Tony Hawk 3, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2), but still dependable and nothing that can be considered poor. The much hyped water effects & physics are well done, with some nicely rendered water that has all the little tricks like reflecting off the sun and when you race through and kick up the water. The waves are nice too. While I think it's extremely lame to compare a water racer simply by how good the water looks, Splashdown does have pretty nice water effects, perhaps the best on the PS2.

The rest of the visuals are nice Ц the characters aren't extremely detailed compared to other games, but there's enough to make them stand out. Their craft has all the little details, such as the manufacturer or sponsors. Also the non-vital effects like backgrounds and the like such as trees, buildings, and whatever else is stuffed in the levels are pretty nice and create a realistic feel. Lack of a draw-distance/popup problem is also important, but considering the lack of speed (again), that shouldn't be that much of a challenge to deal with.

The sounds of Splashdown lay in the hands of the strong soundtrack Ц the poppy-punk such as Blink 182, Sum 41, even Smashmouth, along with a handful of lesser-known names such as The Donnas. Since this is a so-called УextremeФ game, the soundtrack is similar to what you'd find on THPS, Dave Mirra BMX, and other games of that ilk. If you'd prefer a different sound, well that's not going to happen - you might want to wait for the Xbox conversion which most likely will carry the custom soundtrack feature if you can't stand the music. Or just mute it and listen to your own.

The rest of the sound effects are carried in the voices of each character. They all have different (if not really stereotypical) voices that match their personality, and while most of the phrases they say are extremely lame, they are pretty well done (and quite funny when the big muscleman sounding guy messes up a trick nearby and you hear him screaming). They're a nice touch and give the game a bit more personality instead of drones that never speak.