Aqua Moto Racing Utopia

TLTR
It's easy to dismiss Aqua Moto Racing Utopia as generic based on the bad first impressions the controls can give, especially because we all expect it to control just like Wave Race 64. 
But that would be a mistake; even if it doesn't control as well as Wave Race 64, if you give it a chance and learn how to make sharper turns, you'll find a worthy spiritual sequel with great visuals and lots of content to keep you busy for quite a while.
 
 
Full review with tubular PRO TIPS from confirmed experts
 
If you landed on this game's Steam page, chances are you've been looking since 1996 for something that controls, even remotely, as good as Wave Race 64. This one comes close, but close may not be enough for some, so let's dive deeper (pun intended).
 
The game has a lot of watercrafts, divided into runabouts and skis divisions. You'll race in 6 championships for each division and buy new crafts with money you acquire by winning races. These championships are short, consisting of up to 5 or 6 races, and require you to place in the top 3 to unlock the next one.
 
All races require you to navigate through buoys on the correct side, slalom style, and just like wave race, if you miss too many, you'll be disqualified. There's a boost meter that fills slowly over time and can be filled faster by performing stunts.
 
There's also a stunt mode with 3 championships, and after all that, it unlocks an extra challenge mode, which consists of a harder championship. 
The tracks all look great and have a good variety of locations and weather, from calm and clear waters in a beautiful sunny beach to stormy, dangerous waters with huge waves near oil rigs. 
Then there's the single events, which consist of 10 freestyle events and a free mode, where you can explore all the game's areas and look for hidden Wilson Balls straight from the Cast Away movie. This mode is better than it sounds, since exploring the huge locations can be quite fun.
 
And then there's the time trial event. If you happen to like time trials, this will be the best part of the game for you. There are 50 tracks to master and get gold medals. This was by far the part of the game that I enjoyed the most; you really need to perfect your lap, and it feels really satisfying when you find the perfect route or shortcut to improve your time and get the gold medals. But be warned, if you care about having 100% achievements in your games, this one will give you some sweat; the achievement for getting gold in all 50 time trials is extremely hard; some tracks have insane time requirements, so much so that I thought the game was broken at first, but after dozens of tries, they are doable, just very, very difficult.
 
 
Controls
Ok, lots of fun events, beautiful and interesting places to race, time trials to master, but that's all worthless if the game doesn't control very well, and how does it compare to Wave Race? 
Good news is, for the most part, it controls great; at first you'll feel something is off and probably get angry at the game while trying to make sharper turns, but here are some PRO TIPS: 
Release the throttle slightly before a sharp turn; in Wave Race, you could make even sharper turns without slowing down, but that won't work here. 
This is very important: hold RT when making sharper turns. This seems useless at first, but you need to get used to this, and the game will be much more enjoyable. 

 
 
Stupid Physics
In Wave Race you could maneuver while airborne a little bit to correct your direction and angle; it's amazing how this little detail makes that game so much better than all the games that came after and didn't quite manage to get this right. 
In Aqua Moto Racing Utopia, you can only ROTATE your craft in the horizontal axis while airborne, but your craft will keep going in a straight line following the direction it was facing when a wave/ramp launched it airborne. You need to adjust for this and slow down right before the peak of big waves on harder tracks like oil rigs; otherwise, you'll be projected in a straight line so far off the track that it might be impossible to catch up to other racers... or the clock.
You will need friends.
Weekly challenges and leaderboards are offline. Online PvP seems to be working; however, there's never anyone playing. It's a shame, because it would be a lot of fun if this game had more players.

I've been a Wave Race 64 speedrun since the 90s. I'm always looking for new games to scratch that itch. I've had this game on my wishlist for years hoping to snag a deal, but no luck. One weekend, I decided to bite the bullet. It was like riding a bike. After trying the tutorial for 30 seconds with keyboard, I plugged in an xbox controller and never looked back. Just by the menus and feel, this is the natural way to play the game. Use the default vehicles, I swept all the championships first try in way less than 2 hours. Except for the last championship I got second, then upgraded my vehicle and swept that one as well. I wouldn't say it's challenging, but from Wave Race 64 some things can be a bit unsettling. The collision system for one I think needs a little tweaking. The rigid buoys compared to the elastic buoys of Wace Race 64 I don't know is a welcome addition. There is one specific opponent maneuver that is overpowered. If they draft behind you with more speed than you and push you from behind, it basically overpowers your steering and you're a long for the ride until you get shoved out of the way. It's basically the "pit" maneuver cops use in chases. This is something I would say needs to be turned down in the code. In one of the courses there is a ship with a curved hull that looks like you can drive right next to it. Nope! imaginary wall. That was frustrating. There were also a few times (maybe like 4) during the entire championship run I was in open water and the ski would get jolted for no apparent reason. The worst was some of the times in the skybox have collision. In a course with high waves I got through way into the air passing the finish line and I'm like "no give deal right". Wrong, collision physics on the finish line banner. Also, I did get pushed into some "cracks" in the course boundaries that really should have been closed and made a barrier. Speaking of this, the restart allowance is too liberal, in a championship you can restart a run and not have it kill the championship. So basically infinite do-overs? No stakes. In championships would like no do-overs and make your past performance haunt you to the podium. The last items I would fix is the buoy "miss". Each buoy has a sphere of influence. If you're in the sphere of influence, but wrong side, it will correctly count as a miss and let you move on. But if you are out of the sphere of influence, but on the wrong side, the next buoy won't get queued so the race is wrecked. I get this mechanism avoids large course skips, but there are a few courses and buoys that need a patch as it's not "intuitive" coming into the course for the first times. Sure on the 2-3 time you remember, but I can see how a new player would get frustrated. I really liked this and will continue to play, but my first impressions are quite good. I've never been a tricks person, so I don't think I will be making much use of that. If there was a custom course builder, this game might be perfect! Maybe one can hope, but almost 10 years after initial release, I think that's a pipe dream.

I absolutely love this game. The controls are hard, but it simulates how an actual ski handles for the most part. The graphics are beautiful, the maps are very diverse and you get both sit down and stand up pwcs in one game. Ive pretty much beat the game and would love to see it continued, even with a purchasable dlc. Its well worth the money and is a ton of fun!

I've played this game couple of years ago, and liked it then. Received a discount notice, bought it today, when I launched it it still has my old account's records and everything! Too bad games like this one doesn't get a bigger shine, it's a good quality game overall.

This is smooth and nice. And the waves are very tall and it feels nice and well to play

If you're looking for a more recent take on Wave Race, this is pretty much your best option.
While there are definitely flaws and things I would change, it's still enjoyable overall. If you can get it on a discount I don't think you will regret it.

Very good!