Surfing is for Everyone
Now, if you're anything like me, you know very little about surfing. The whole idea of getting on a board and swimming out into the middle of the ocean to ride around on large, life endangering water lumps doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun. To be quite honest, I scared of any extreme sport. Call me a wuss and a sissy, but you'll never catch me on a skateboard, BMX bike, or surfboard. However, what I like about videogames is they give me the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what these sports are like, and the culture that surrounds them.

Enter O2, Activision's widely popular extreme sports department. They've produced videogame hits such as the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, the Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX series, and now, O2 moved into the surfing with Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer (KSPS). Now, some of you may be thinking, "Well, Kelly Slater is a great surfer, but Kelly Slater is just a name. Does this game really hold up against O2's other hits?" Well, let's find out.

Initial Impressions
My initial impression of the game came with a bit of skepticism. The interface is built around Kelly and his group of surf buddies riding around on a big boat, going from beach to beach, and trying to catch the perfect wave. In the boat, you'll find ways to get to the various modes of play, such as Free Surf, Multiplayer, and Career modes. Like the other O2 games, career mode is the real core of the game.

When you start a new career, you can select from nine surfers, including Kelly Slater himself. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed that there was only one female surfer to choose from. I guess there isn't a big female following for surfing.

Once you've selected your character, you'll have to go through a tutorial. The tutorial is split up into three sections, beginner, intermediate and advanced. I found the tutorials really easy to get through, and that they helped only minimally. Also, the varying levels gave poor instruction, especially on the advanced level. At one point, you're supposed to do special tricks from the trickbook, but neither Slater's narration, nor text on screen tells you which of the tricks are special. I finally guessed by looking at the trick book, and finding ones that were highlighted in green. Also, once I started playing on real beaches, I felt a bit under prepared.

In the tutorial modes, you'll learn a bit about the different game components, such as the "special meter" which fills up as you do more tricks. Once the meter is full, you'll be able to perform more tricks. Also, you'll learn all the different surf terminology, which took me a while to get used to. For example, the "face" of the wave, is the flat part that hasn't rolled over or "broke" yet. The part that is rolled over is the "tube," which you can get into and do tricks on most levels. To get in the tube, you "stall" the wave by pressing down while on the face, and let the wave catch up to you. Once inside, you'll need to keep balance using the balance meter, similar to the Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman games. Then, you can perform tricks, while trying to keep balance. It's pretty hard to do, but well worth the points.

Never the Same Wave Twice

When I started getting into this game, I wasn't sure if there was going to be much variation. I mean, water all pretty much looks the same, and there aren't many tricks to do. At least, that was my thought. I'm glad I was proven wrong. KSPS offers quite a bit of variety, which really keeps the game interesting. There are many tricks that surfers can perform, and each surfer has some of his/her own unique tricks. Also, there are various zones on the wave where tricks can be performed. I mentioned a bit about tube tricks, but there is also a series of face tricks and aerial tricks that can be done. Also, there are some tricks to do in between various zones, such as doing "floaters" on the crest of the wave, or getting points by riding out over the top of the tube, or you can whip the board around, and crash through the tube to score some points. The more varied your tricks are, the more points you'll earn, especially if you can tie them together.

The various beach levels of KSPS look really good. The water is some of the best I've seen of any game, and rightly so in a game that takes place entirely in water. The textures look phenomenal, and the way the water swirls and a move is highly realistic. I think the game physics fall somewhere between reality and fantasy, but it makes for a fun game and good game play. My only graphical complaint across the three systems was the way the ocean floor seems to keep stationary as the player moves through the water. This is really noticeable on the tutorial level, or when trying to jump the pier on the Sebastian level, but hopefully, you won't spend a lot of time on either of those.

Our Playstation 2 version of KSPS has some of the best looking graphics of any of the platforms. While the X Boxes graphics might be slightly better, it's hardly noticeable. In fact, unless you have a Playstation 2 and an X box running side by side, it'd be nearly impossible to tell the difference. To be honest, this game looks great no matter which platform you run it on. You could argue that the Playstation 2 version had the worst graphics of all the platforms, but that difference is so insignificant, it doesn't really matter. Outside of the graphics however, the games are exactly the same. We get all the same feel of the game, the same game modes, like free-surf, multiplayer and career.

Generally, career mode works similar to the other O2 games; you must score so many points, perform certain tricks, and so on. In KSPS, many beaches are based on hitting objects as they come up on a wave. For example, the Sebastian level requires that you splash three guys that are riding over waves on an inner tube. The Antarctica level requires you to hit three ice chunks. Most levels require you to max out your special meter for a set amount of time, usually in five-second chunks. There isn't a whole lot in the way the level goals are different, although the photo shoot was fun, albeit somewhat frustrating to get the hang of. With the photo shoot, the camera takes pictures as you surf, but only three times per run. A little timer goes off that you'll see in the corner, and when it gets to the end, you'd better be doing some cool tricks, or else you get no points.

Another way KSPS is mixed up is though the various locations of the beaches. You'll be surfing beaches all over the world, from Hawaii to Antarctica. There are 15 beaches in all with each beach containing 2 levels, for a total of 30 different levels. The surf varies at each site, varying in the height of the wave, if you can surf the tube or not, the color of the water, and the surrounding environment. One thing I was watching for was if the surfer changed their suit depending on their location. For example, I would expect surfers to wear wet suits in colder waters, which they did in the game. I felt this was a nice touch and added to the realism.

Sounds of the Sea
The sounds in KSPS are what you might expect to hear in a surf game. The roar of the breakers, the splashes you hear when landing a trick (or eating a wave), the occasional call of a seagull. However, the great audio comes from all the music tracks included in the game. You'll have the pleasure of hearing 24 different songs throughout the KSPS. The music is generally pretty mellow, and I was expecting something a little more hardcore and upbeat, but I'm guessing that's not what the whole surfing thing is all about? Also, it seemed like the same songs were played over and over, and I wasn't really sure if certain songs got played more on particular levels.

World Champion Surfing at it's Finest

In all, this game seems to come together really well. The story is weaved into the career mode almost seamlessly, showing video clips at the beginning of each new stage to give you a sense of actually following a career. The graphics are great, no matter what system you play it on. The sound and music fit the game perfectly. The game play is great and varied enough to keep it interesting and long lasting. All in all, KSPS is a solid game, and another great addition to your extreme sports gaming library. O2, you have another convert.

Fun factor: 8 – This game is perfect for surf fanatics, but may not appeal non-sport gamers.
Game play: 7 – The typical controls for the O2 games might bump this up, but there were a few times when the camera angles made the game hard to play
Graphics: 8 – Beautiful graphics. The waves look stunning, but that's all there is.
Sound: 7 – Good sound effects over all, but the music wore thin too fast for my liking.
Value: 7 – The game should last a while, but once you've done all the tricks and completed all the levels, there isn't much else.

Related Links:

Activision (Publisher)
Treyarch (Developer)