[Gamers' Day 2007] We Hang Six
Penguins? Surfing? Well crap, must be a hands-on preview of Surf's Up, eh?
Published: May 17, 2007
We've already commented a couple times on the fact that even the almighty PS3 with its strictly not-for-kids price tag is still not immune to the march of the licensed children's game movie tie-in extravaganza. But we'll admit that we had to check out Surf's Up, not only because it actually kinda looked good (no surprise there, Ubisoft is kinda good at making games look pretty), but because we're still itchin' to see how the next generational leap in hardware has benefitted our glorious surfing game. Remember how popular they all were around the time the PS2 first hit? Remember how good they were? Yeah, exactly.
Well, we should probably get this description out of the way now: at least from what we played, Surf's Up isn't a traditional surfing game. In fact, it's almost like Tony Hawk Goes Surfing, because the levels are really quite linear. Over the course of your adventures at the Pen Gu Island Invitational, you'll take one of 10 different surfers (most of them of the penguin variety, since, hey, they make up the majority of the cast of the movie too), all with varying attributes that affect handling, tricks, freestyle abilities (more on that in a second) and turbo.
These abilities are augmented with new boards as you make your way through the game, but there was actually quite a bit of emphasis on customization right out of the gate. You're able to slap things on your character's head, back, and arms, and most unlockables you'll gain as you progress through the competition can be tweaked a little if you don't find the colors pretty enough. We, however, though we were pretty just as we were, so we dove into things.
After a few tutorials that went over the basics of riding the waves (including using the SIXAXIS if you're into the gimmicky route, but we never could get it to feel right), learning to grab air and use the right analog stick to mix up spins/flips, and work tricks into your run. See, each of the face buttons does something different, but as the tricks get fancier, they also take longer to pull off, so you have to balance timing with height, all while avoiding the natural obstacles that come as part of courses. Oh, and just because it's an interesting take on things, once you get to the lip of a wave, you can basically "grind" it while keeping your balance.
Since it's not a straight surfing game but more of an on-rails action diversion, Ubisoft threw in a handful of different challenges per level. They're the usual stuff like item collection or gate races, but then this is a game aimed at kids. Even still, we were promised that later levels in the game (we just played the first two) would get more complex than just riding one wave all the way through, and apparently it's actually possible to get tubed at some point too. Given that it's one of the focuses of the movie (or the "message" of it anyway), we're curious to see how it all looks.
Color us surprised. While Surf's Up wasn’t the only licensed game at the show, for something aimed at kids, we found ourselves having a pretty good time with it. The game is slated for release right alongside the movie at the end of the month, so hopefully we'll have a proper review in a couple weeks.
Well, we should probably get this description out of the way now: at least from what we played, Surf's Up isn't a traditional surfing game. In fact, it's almost like Tony Hawk Goes Surfing, because the levels are really quite linear. Over the course of your adventures at the Pen Gu Island Invitational, you'll take one of 10 different surfers (most of them of the penguin variety, since, hey, they make up the majority of the cast of the movie too), all with varying attributes that affect handling, tricks, freestyle abilities (more on that in a second) and turbo.
These abilities are augmented with new boards as you make your way through the game, but there was actually quite a bit of emphasis on customization right out of the gate. You're able to slap things on your character's head, back, and arms, and most unlockables you'll gain as you progress through the competition can be tweaked a little if you don't find the colors pretty enough. We, however, though we were pretty just as we were, so we dove into things.
After a few tutorials that went over the basics of riding the waves (including using the SIXAXIS if you're into the gimmicky route, but we never could get it to feel right), learning to grab air and use the right analog stick to mix up spins/flips, and work tricks into your run. See, each of the face buttons does something different, but as the tricks get fancier, they also take longer to pull off, so you have to balance timing with height, all while avoiding the natural obstacles that come as part of courses. Oh, and just because it's an interesting take on things, once you get to the lip of a wave, you can basically "grind" it while keeping your balance.
Since it's not a straight surfing game but more of an on-rails action diversion, Ubisoft threw in a handful of different challenges per level. They're the usual stuff like item collection or gate races, but then this is a game aimed at kids. Even still, we were promised that later levels in the game (we just played the first two) would get more complex than just riding one wave all the way through, and apparently it's actually possible to get tubed at some point too. Given that it's one of the focuses of the movie (or the "message" of it anyway), we're curious to see how it all looks.
Color us surprised. While Surf's Up wasn’t the only licensed game at the show, for something aimed at kids, we found ourselves having a pretty good time with it. The game is slated for release right alongside the movie at the end of the month, so hopefully we'll have a proper review in a couple weeks.