Kelly Slaters Pro Surfer
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Review of Kelly Slaters Pro Surfer
I was impressed with the game’s opening displaying live footage of some awesome shots of the PROs battling the waves. It really set the mood. Much to my surprise Kelly Slater is a dude. Who the hell would name their boy Kelly? He must have taken a beating when he was a kid.
Kelly narrates thru the game and is a real mellow guy. After listening to him talk for a few minutes I started to mellow out myself. Since this is his game, I thought I would include a quick bio. He is 30 years old and has been a pro for 13 years and a six time World Champion. There are many other PROs as well like Lisa Anderson, Tom Curren, and Tom Carroll.
I did learn a few things about surfing while playing, like the Pros don’t have to paddle out to the surf, they take a boat out. I guess they earned that right. So it makes sense that the games front end interface takes place in the boat cabin. Here you find the menus to pick the modes, surfers, beaches, boards, etc. Some of the beaches are very similar; there is surf, clouds, and the horizon. The surf did vary though, like the JAWS beach had awesome size waves so the player could catch some big air, but no sharks…bummer. I was hoping to see a shark pick off a surfer or two, that is one way of getting rid of the competition. On the flip side, you can knock a surfer off their board if they get in your way, which I did appreciate. I also hit a pier with spectators on it, cool stuff!! I also wanted to mention a nifty capability that there is an extras option where you can input codes to unlock goodies if you don’t have the patience or skill to do it on your own. The codes are added using a Nokia phone and once you add them it labels what the code unlocks. Tony Hawk and some freaky guy are among some of the surfers to unlock. Oops…. I spilled the beans!
The first time I navigated thru the menu’s I jumped right into the Freeride mode so I could take a quick ride. The surfer starts out on his or her tummy, once you get enough speed you attempt to stand up right before the curl. I couldn’t get up on the board immediately. It took me a few tries but once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. Of course, getting the tricks and moves down and racking up the points is the real challenge. That is why it is really important to do the tutorial before jumping into the Career mode. There are tons of tricks and grabs to accomplish not to mention riding the barrel. It was helpful that the controls were relatively smooth and receptive. To accomplish the moves, the player just needs to combine a directional button with the square or O button to do grabs like the stalefish, melon, or the nose grab. There are also plenty of tricks to do in the air as well as in the barrel. The barrel is very tricky, it is hard to stay centered and once you hit the surf wall you take a bad tumble. I found this to be the most challenging of the game and took many tumbles. I did like the little fishies swimming by while under water though.
The graphics are truly attractive. I was pleasantly surprised. Treyarch and Activision utilize a proprietary wave engine to produce great graphics and motion. This paid off….everything is colorful, appealing, and sharp, even the distant horizon in the background. There is a course in Antarctica with glaciers in the background that looked eerily realistic. The surfer needed to wear a wet suit of course because it is freaking cold I am sure. Riding the barrel is also a rush as the water is crashing around you. All the surfers look and move like they do in the real world (right down to the chest hairs) and the waves looking as genuine as possible. No one wave the same!
The sound is pretty decent...you can essentially feel as if you are on the beach with the birds chirping, the waves crashing, etc. The soundtrack itself is a mellow mix of tunes but very BEACHY! The game also has surround capability, crank it up and get mellow.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Kelly Slaters Pro Surfer' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Loretta Mattie © Absolute PlayStation
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