Aqua Moto Racing Utopia

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 loved it then. Received a discount notice, bought it today, when I launched it still has my old account's records and everything! Too bad games like these didn't get a bigger shine, it's a good quality game overall, but the stats say this game has 0 player online nowadays, much like all the good old games, nobody's playing them anymore but it's still a pretty good game.

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!