Splashdown
Splashdown makes excellent use of the Xbox features available, from the excellent
water effects and graphics to your customizable soundtrack. Plenty of levels to
play and tricks to master. It’s one of those games where you can just jump in
and start having fun. It’s another racing game with a twist, you race on a Sea-Doo
through several locations, placing in the race to advance through the career mode.
Albeit somewhat redundant at times, it’s a lot of fun to play.
The
water effects will be the first thing you notice. Rainbow Studios has done an
excellent job on this aspect of the game. It’s hard to find a game that does this
effect well, but you’ll get it in Splashdown. The Sea-Doos bop up and down through
the water like they where really there, it actually reminded me of a vacation
I took one time. The characters are well done and their movement on the water-craft
is realistic.
This
is a racing game all the way. Don’t be fooled by the little tricks they tell you
to do while in the game. I’ve noticed they only slow you down, while making your
water-craft just a bit more powerful in the end. Choose from 8 character with
unique personalities and witty statements. The main point of the game – Win the
race!
Splashdown offers three modes of gameplay, Career, Versus, and Arcade, so there
is plenty to keep you occupied. They all use the same basic controls, and you’ll
need to master the art of hydroplaning to get you vehicle to go even faster. Over
40 tracks to compete on, and usually a couple splits and shortcuts in each. You
may want to take those shortcuts too, not to win the race, but rather to catch
a change of scenery, as each race is relatively mundane. Not to say that the game
isn’t fun, just a bit repetitive at times.
The Xbox version of the game also feature two courses not seen on other versions
of the game, Ruminer Point, Maine and The Keys, Florida., making the Xbox version
of Splashdown the gamer’s choice if your an avid fan of racing the waves.
The controls where quite logical, and extremely easy to get used to, with just
a few minutes through the game’s brief tutorial.
The audio
in Splashdown is excellent, offering a descent lineup from names like Smashmouth,
and Blink-182. Also taking advantage of the Xbox console’s music storage system,
allowing you to listen to your own tracks while jetting through the waters. Every
game should offer this feature, sometimes you get tired of listening to the same
old music, over and over. Splashdown actually did this a bit better than most
games utilizing this feature by having to tracks stop at the end of the race,
and start back up at the next race, allowing for less repetition in your ears!
While this game is definitely a lot of fun, it simply gets too repetitive. The
environments seem too similar from race to race, and the tricks are out the window
since they slow you down. Multi-player mode allows for only two racers, a bit
of a disappointment since the multi-player races are extremely fun, four players
would have been nice.
Overall Score: 8 out of 10 (not an average)
This is a jump right in and play kind of game. Nice to have around
when you’re not looking to get into anything serious and don’t want to think to
much. It offers excellent graphics and sound, and is a nice change of pace from
all of the car racers available.
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