Product Description

You'll need a wet suit for this one. Zooming through gorgeous lagoons and brutal storms, your personal watercraft racer gleams with stunning water and lighting effects. Stunning waterscapes are just one of the highlights in this follow-up to the best-selling Wave Race 64. Intense water-soaked actions will keep you coming back for more over-the-top aquatic action. Wave Race Blue Storm is about heart-pounding thrills that never let up. Jump in!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14000 in Video Games
• Brand: NST
• Released on: 2001-11-18
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Number of discs: 1
• Platform: GameCube
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: German
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .32 pounds

Features

• Platform: Nintendo GameCube
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Genre: Action/Adventure

Amazon.com Product Description
Wave Race: Blue Storm is set on eight aquatic courses in exotic locales, such as at a Venetian canal and an Arctic bay. Each rider is rated for acceleration, top speed, maneuvering, stunt skill, and strength. The game has natural effects such as sun glare, moonlight, and fog, as well as interactive environments with obstacles that can be destroyed by your speeding watercraft. Game modes include championship, free roam, stunt, time trial, and multiplayer, where up to four can compete at the same time.

Amazon.co.uk
Only one of two GameCube launch titles published by Nintendo itself--the other was Luigi's Mansion--Wave Race: Blue Storm is a follow-up to the extremely impressive N64 racer, which, until this sequel, still featured the most realistic simulation of moving water ever. Blue Storm, naturally, looks even more impressive, with huge rolling waves, water splashing on the camera screen, and beautiful reflections everywhere. This is the game that'll impress your non-GameCube-owning friends--unless you think they'll be excited by a ghost-themed vacuum-cleaning simulator.

Although the graphics have certainly improved, some of the other changes in Blue Storm are more controversial. The biggest problem is the extremely heavy handling of the jet skis. It's no doubt more realistic, but, to the average player, it initially seems like you're driving a water-borne milk truck, such is your craft's total inability to take corners at speed. Things improve with practice, but it does severely limit the game's initial appeal. The cheaty, Mario Kart 64-style AI doesn't help matters, either. All this isn't enough to ruin the party, however, and this is still a topnotch and, most unusually of all, original racer. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

Unraveling the Wave Race mystery...
For some strange reason Wave Race: Blue Storm has been plagued with many conflicting reviews all over the internet. Some very respectable sites have given it high ratings, like ign.com - 9.2 out of 10. But elsewhere you'll see many average-joe reviewers (like here on Amazon.com) who vent about the hard controls, or how it's too much like the first Wave Race, etc (many of them give incredibly low scores of 0 or 1). So before I ever played the game I had strange ideas about what it would be like.

Eventually I gave in and purchased it used, I really liked the first one and had to play the new one. Upon playing Wave Race: Blue Storm for the first time i was really shocked, this game is so great. The graphics are fantastic and will catch your eye immediately, the water especially (with fish, dolphins, whales, sharks, penguins, etc) is so awesome. But the controls are really good as well, I was shocked that so many people could complain about it. I was able to jump into the game pretty easily and I didn't find the controls too hard at all. Of course it gets more challenging as you play harder cicuits and when the weather gets worse, but that's to be expected and just adds to the depth of the gameplay. The sound is incredibly improved over the first Wave Race, it even has some pretty cool music. I really like this game alot, I think the only problem is it's going to be hard for people who don't own it. A newbie will find it challenging to hang in there with a seasoned Wave Race veteran, especially since there's no handicap option in multiplayer. But besides that this game is very solid, and if you can get some other Wave Race lovin' buddies together you're in for a real good time. There's really no question that this game is worthy of 5 stars.

Zelda Gaming Online gives 3 Thumbs up
The best import release I've ever played.
This is the game I really couldn't wait to have. I played this game first (and last) at E3 and Spaceworld. I actually picked up the N64 rumble version of Wave Race this year in Japan since it was never released here. For a lot of people, Golden Eye and Mario Kart are institutions, and personally I like those games too, but Wave Race is my true bread and butter. For anyone who liked the original, Wave Race: Blue Storm will definitely not disappoint. I've logged in around 12 hours with the game so far, and it's really hard to pull me from playing more.

Wave Race 64 was actually a tech demo that led to a game. WRBS was the same way. It's a great game that can show what the GameCube can do. The water effects are truly breathtaking. WRBS took the water physics from the N64 version and improved on them considerably. The waves that I've seen so far have just utterly blown me away, as well as chewed me up and spit me out. Chop is nothing. Ripping around massive waves is something you'll now have to master. And it's not easy.

All of the track layouts and environments are excellent. Sure, there are throwbacks to the original, but there are so many things added that it's like a new course altogether. There are some really cool short cuts, like blasting through an ice covered wall to making jumps over walls and rocks, and diving under piers. I haven't finished the game, but according to my boy Ravi Hiranand (yes, ex-N64HQ), there are 8 environments to race in, with 19 tracks total, not including stunt tracks.

Here is the line up and amount of tracks per environment. Dolphin Park (1) + Ethnic (3) + Southern Island (3) + Aspen Lake (3) + City Harbor (3) + Cool Ocean (3) + Aqua Maze (2) + Victory Gate (1) = 19.

On clear days you can see everything that is going on under the water. Depending on which course you're racing, you'll see fish, dolphins, and even whales. If it's under water, NST put it in the game. Water is not the only thing that is beautiful in this game. The surrounding environments are also richly detailed. Too bad you really won't notice until you watch the replays.

Racing with 7 other racers on the course makes the game a lot more fun, but a little more difficult because there are that many more racers you'll have to take on. They will get in your way, knock you around, and make you miss buoys. It gets a little crowded sometimes, not that that takes anything away from the fun. The AI is challenging, but decent. You will see other racers wipe out or run into things just like you will. I would almost say that the AI cheats ala' Mario Kart, but I can't really tell. It might be the fact that I'm still trying to get better.

There is a learning curve in this game. I would have to say it's on par with its predecessor. It takes a while to get used to handling the "personal watercraft" (they aren't Jet Ski's anymore). Even though I would consider myself an expert in the original, I still had to re-learn everything for this new game. Picking the right racer is the most important thing to success. I was getting my butt kicked all over the place until I began racing with Nigel Carver. His handling suits my racing style the best, even though he's a little slower than average.

The turbo is an excellent addition to Wave Race. It can help or hurt you. Depending on who you race with, you may not want to use the turbo because it lessens their top speed so badly, even if you use it you'll eventually slow down enough to get passed again. I think it all depends where it's used. I usually turbo where I can blast by enough buoys to regain my top speed. The turbo is also great in the stunt mode. Airtime baby! Word.

Speaking of which, the stunt mode is back, and with more tricks than you'll believe. I haven't counted them yet, but I think there are at least 20. I barely played this mode, but I will say this, the triple flip has already been accomplished and I'm going for four. I'm not really big on the stunt mode yet because I'm more into the racing, but it's there, and fun. I love the new look of the rings.

I don't know what more I can say about this game. This is my THIRD set of impressions for Wave Race Blue Storm. My only complaint is that I wish there were more tracks. Sure, with difficulty you'll get different variations of the same track, but I wanted more new tracks -- and the old ones added for flavor. 8 environments is sort of weak. Unfortunately, there are no secret levels like...and I had been dreaming about. At least, they haven't been found yet. Sorry ... no lava level yet. It's also not online compatible, which was another dream of mine. SEQUEL! Other than that, I can't complain. Wave Race Blue Storm is an absolutely phenomenal game. It takes what made Wave Race 64 great, and improved on it. If you liked Wave Race 64, get ready. This game will make you laugh, cry, and of course, fill them depends. Even with some minor complaints, Wave Race Blue Storm completely and totally rocks.

SO I GIVE THIS GAME 3 Thumbs up.

Don't listen to these fools, this game is nearly perfect!
This is the first GameCube game I rented (a week later I bought it). Right at the outset I was proud to own a GameCube. The graphics are breathtaking; when you're first riding through the training courses you can almost feel the water and wind rushing past you.

This is the kind of game that pulls you in because of its exhilarating graphics and realistic locales, but then once you master the controls that's when the real fun starts. This game provides a VERY rewarding gaming experience. People are complaining that the jet skis are too hard to turn. DID YOU NOT DO THE TUTORIALS? There are 2 ways to tight turn. Sure, a tight turn takes time to master, but it is very possible. Tricks are EASY to do. It just takes practice. If you're a quitter, you won't like this game. This is still the best GameCube game I've played. You'll put a lot of hours into this game.

What really makes this fun game is the ability to choose the weather in Time Attack mode and Multiplayer mode after completing the courses (along with a certain type of weather) in Championship Circuit mode. The more exotic courses (Arctic Bay, for example, is gorgeous) make the game even more fun. There are about 5 or so types of weather... everything from sunny to stormy, and each type of weather really changes the look and feel of every level. You'll want to beat every level in every type of weather so you can have access to them in Multiplayer and Time Attack mode.

The Free Roam mode is awesome, but you are only allowed to play it in sunny weather, which is a bit of a disappointment. But I see why they chose to do that (I would never play Time Attack mode if I could always play Free Roam mode).

I haven't really got into all the stunts. I know a lot of the basic ones and I use them on straight-a-ways in races to boost up my power level (to get turbos, which really help you out). But I plan to eventually delve into the more advanced ones and master the stunt courses as well, which look like a lot of fun.

All in all, if you own a GameCube, don't listen to these idiots who've played the game 5 minutes. They're looking for instant gratification, and that's not the kind of experience this game provides. There's nothing wrong with the AI, the AI makes mistakes too. They're not too hard. I've found the difficulty levels to be near perfect.

I for one cannot wait for Wave Race 2. But I doubt Nintendo will make it since this one probably won't do so well thanks to the morons like the people on this page.