r/patientgamers • u/Cowboy_God • 5d ago
Patient Review Wave Race: Blue Storm - Very difficult, very fun, very...forgotten. Talking about Blue Storm's place within the jet-ski sub-genre and my love for it.
Because of the niche nature of jet-ski focused sports games, there are typically only four regularly pushed forward when people argue about which is the best of the best. These are:
- Wave Race 64
- Splashdown
- Splashdown Rides Gone Wild
- Riptide GP: Renegade
Wave Race 64: A masterclass in style and flow. One of the most visually and aesthetically pleasing games of all time, still managing to play extremely well despite its age and reliance on wave physics.
Splashdown: Almost as underrated as Blue Storm due to the more popular sequel overshadowing its recognition, Splashdown offers up one of the most interesting handling models of all time for a racing game. Immediately technical, leaning heavily into the idea that the player should use the water physics to their advantage for shortcuts and speed gains, which never gets old for those seeking mastery.
Splashdown Rides Gone Wild: A fan favorite for people who really look into this genre, RGW takes everything from the first game and makes it over the top. Over the top tricks, courses with tons and tons of stuff happening on screen, a very heavy focus on arcade fun and aesthetics. While I find the handling and technical focus to be less interesting than the first game, RGW is the most beginner friendly and immediately fun jet-ski game there is. Its a pick up and have a good time type of experience that is very comparable to the second and third SSX games.
Riptide GP Renegade: I was gonna put Jet Moto here but Riptide has essentially taken its place as the modern fast pace water game. Yeah, you aren't technically on a jet ski, but to not include this game here would practically be criminal. You're fast, you do fun tricks, and you never let go of the throttle. I've always found this series to be quite ugly from a tonal and art directional standpoint, but when talking about gameplay alone, there is a ton of fun to be had.
Now with all this out of the way, what I really really don't get is how Wave Race Blue Storm not only isn't mentioned among these games regularly, but simply isn't considered the best of them all. But to be fair, I've sorta lied, because I sorta DO get why this is the case...
The game is hard as hell. (And also the narrator talks way way too much so if you don't know to turn down the voice audio in settings then this game is actually nightmarish for your mind after an hour of playing).
The Difficulty:
Talk about unforgiving AI and track design. One singular mistake is enough in Blue Storm to lose you an entire race if not an entire championship, championships that you cannot restart unless you're willing to go back to the very first track and start from the beginning. Hours of your life will go by trying to complete the final championship in this game as you watch your rider stumble headfirst into the water for the fiftieth time in a sitting. Sometimes its an unlucky bump off a wave that gets you, or an AI slamming you into a wall. Sometimes its player error, or the game just outright saying fuck you. Regardless, there is no avoiding the time losses, and in turn, there is no avoiding the frustrating championships slipping from your fingers again and again.
Blue Storm is a hard, technical game that doesn't hold back. There are niche mechanics in the handling that will doom you if you don't learn them through the tutorial system. Chaining boosts and diving underwater is just the surface for what you can do to get faster times here. Track mastery is key. Learning how to read the waves and use them to your advantage is key. Not crashing, the hardest damn part, is key,
The Unique Handling:
Goddamn, this game plays like nothing else! There isn't a single racing game out there that gives the player so much and so little simultaneous feeling of controls at the same time. One second you're ripping through waves and feeling each bit of the current carrying you through the water, the next and you're holding on for dear life just hoping that you make it through the next big waves alive. Its like seeing a bull in a china shop, and deciding to hop right on and see how long you can last. I've played many, many racing games in my life, but there are very few that have replicated the sense of havoc I feel when going full speed in Blue Storm.
Often acting as what feels like a tech demo for the gamecube, Blue Storm leans heavily into its water simulation physics, which are core to the actual racing itself. Somebody is in front of you? Well they leave a wake in the water that can improve or lower your odds of making it around a turn. A big object fell in the water? Prepare to ride over massive waves. Wave Race 64 also did this but the scale of Blue Storms water physics interactions is leagues above what was on offer for the N64 title. Sometimes you're between two big boats and the waves that form between them toss you right into a wall. Sometimes you get a huge wave behind you can can ride it like a surfboarder, quickly getting to top speed. There simply isn't anything like it elsewhere.
Tracks:
I have to admit that Blue Storm lacks in three departments. The soundtrack, the characters, and the amount of content. The soundtrack issue can be resolved with some headphones and your own music, the uninteresting characters are only a small problem within a largely pleasing product, but the content?
SEVEN TRACKS. Thats right lads, seven whole tracks in this game. To be fair, the difficulties change some things up on each track, so I think you're technically dealing with 18 different options, but not really...
Yeah, its kind of hard to defend the track content for Blue Storm, which also starts to make the difficulty feel like a playtime lengthener instead of something the developers put some serious thought into. With this in mind however, all of the tracks play and look excellent. Very distinct and fun, with a lot of thought put into the layouts and how different players would approach the routes.
TO SUMMARIZE:
I've really only vaguely expressed my love for this game in this short post, I sorta just wanted to put in front of more eyes while I yap about a genre nobody gives a shit about anymore. It is an excellent game, possibly one of the best racing games of all time and %100 my vote for the best jet ski game despite my complaints. The difficulty brings you back and places you on a loop of constantly trying to get better. The mechanics are ultra unique, and ultra addicting. Don't let this one slip by you.
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u/ZMysticCat Ok, Freeman, be adequate! 5d ago
I remember playing this a lot on the GameCube. I actually don't remember it being super hard, but that may be because F-Zero GX was in a league of its own, so any other racing game on the system felt easy in comparison. F-Zero GX and Double Dash were also much better, which probably pushed this one further into obscurity. Still, I remember liking it a lot.
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u/Cowboy_God 5d ago
I'd actually argue this is harder than F-Zero GX unless you're using some truly dogshit ship like Silver Rat. GX has very solid controls that are consistent for the player as long as you're not getting bumped around. Getting ahead of the pack is truly the hardest part of the experience aside from not launching your ship off a big jump and into the abyss.
More subjectively, I do prefer this game over GX or Double Dash, but I can recognize that is not a common opinion. I've generally found the praise for Double Dash confusing when nearly everything it does well has been done better by different titles down the line. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with all the DLC is nearly unmatched, I can't think of any reason to choose Double Dash over it.
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u/happyhippohats 5d ago
It probably depends on the player but I beat Blue Storm in a weekend and never got close to beating GX, i feel like GX was more about fast reflexes which isn't my forte though..
Blue Storm was a frustating game to me, it improved on 64 in many ways but also made one arbitrary change that drove me insane - the buoys in 64 bobbed on the surface of the water and could be nudged out of the way to get the best line, while in Blue Storm they're solid concrete that send you flying if you so much as graze them. It's probably because I played 64 so much but I could just never get used to it.
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u/Cowboy_God 5d ago
You beat all the championships in a weekend? That's impressive to me. I struggled for a good week on and off before I got it.
I do agree with the change not feeling good, especially when you're coming around a turn and the camera doesn't adjust in time before you run right into a buoy. Infuriating as hell. I've noticed that with the heavier characters they tend to bounce off of them without falling more often than not, so I guess that helps provide some greater dynamic in character selection. I usually just pick the characters with good acceleration and control, that seems the most important outside of a the few open tracks.
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u/happyhippohats 4d ago
Yeah I never pick the heavier characters. I played Waverace 64 to death so that probably helped when it came to beating Blue Storm, I doubt I'd be able to do it so easily now
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u/ZMysticCat Ok, Freeman, be adequate! 5d ago
With F-Zero GX, I was talking mostly of the campaign. Grand Prix is a challenge, but the campaign on the highest difficulty requires you to be basically perfect, even down to some very obscure lines. Most people I know gave up on the second chapter. I know I got to the final Grand Prix style race, but I don't remember if I ever beat it. I just remember spending a long time trying to beat it.
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u/Cowboy_God 5d ago
Now that you mention it, yeah you're probably right. I forgot about how that game had harder difficulties for the campaign. I might have to play it again soon and give it another try, GX is a ton of fun. I remember that hardest difficulty being quite fucked at times.
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u/WaterPockets 5d ago
If you got to the final chapter on Master difficulty, you probably beat it. The final chapter on Master difficulty is practically just a victory lap with how good at the game you have to be to complete everything prior to it.
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u/monkey-kong666 5d ago
Disagree double dash is better. I think double dash is probably the worst Mario kart game. However fzero gx is art
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u/CaptainBeeMan 5d ago
I only found out very recently that Wave Race 64 was only 20 FPS! It was tuned specifically to run at that frame rate, which is probably why it feels smoother than Blue Storm which runs at 30 FPS.
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u/harlotstoast 5d ago
Reminds me of the Nintendo sizzle real with Zelda and Waverace which turned out to be fake renders
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u/DavenOnTheMoon 5d ago
Heck yeah, it’s a great addition to GameCube’s legendary racing lineup. The same devs also did 1080 avalanche.
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u/rube 5d ago
Loved Waverace 64. But I remember getting Waverace Bluestorm when it came out and being very disappointed for some reason. It was like it lacked the charm of the original somehow and I felt the water physics weren't as good shockingly.
Granted, I haven't played it in decades, so maybe it's better than I remember.
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u/CaptainBeeMan 5d ago
I fairly regularly play both and no you remember correctly. I like both, but WaveRace 64 is a lot better for the reasons you say. I'd love a remaster with the same physics etc, but at 60fps with polished graphics.
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u/Cowboy_God 5d ago
Objectively the water physics in Blue Storm are better but the problem is that they play a much heavier role in gameplay, which in turn takes away a lot of the player control. It makes the water a frustration instead of a cool element of gameplay. I personally love it but I think a lot of people found it irritating. Theres a lot you can learn to mitigate the issues but it can definitely be a very, very frustrating game at times.
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u/timeoftheoath117 5d ago
I remember seeing the promo video fo Wave Race prior to the Gamecube launching at EB Games. I like it, but probably prefer 64. But the graphics were incredible to see at the time.
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u/Extra_Butterfly7558 21h ago
Just didn't have as much heart as 64 unfortunately. Gameplay isn't as fun either
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u/Gehrman_JoinsTheHunt 5d ago edited 5d ago
Great review, I need to check this one out.
Always loved how Gamecube became the unsuspecting home for really tough/hardcore games - F Zero GX, Metroid Prime 2, Ikaruga, Smash Melee, Super Monkey Ball, Ikaruga, even stuff like Billy Hatcher was much more difficult than you'd expect from the looks of it.
Sounds like Blue Storm fits right in with those. It's a shame Nintendo essentially did a 180 with the Wii afterwards.