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Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray Go to Official site Review By: Nate and Nick I finally put the controller down to write the review for Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray. This game is the most addicting game I have played for awhile. You are a wakeboarder, if you are one of those people that dont know what wakeboarding is, think of snowboarding on water. Shaun Murray isn't the only guy there is to rip up the waves with. You got: Cobe Mikacich, Dallas Friday, Collin Wright, Darin Shapiro, Tara Hamilton, and of course Parks Bonifay.

The gameplay modes The main mode is Career; in career you can pass objectives and challenges you earn as you progress through the levels. Also in career you can get upgrades for the challenges and objectives you complete. For example you can upgrade your stats to your liking. You also can find a lot of gaps in each level resulting in new levels or stat points. The attack sheet in the options menu allows you to pick a challenge or to see how much challenges/objectives or gaps you have completed.

There are other gamplay modes such as free ride and free drive. In free ride you get to pick a boarder and just rip without having to do any groove objectives. In free drive you can drive a boat wherever you want without doing any objectives of course. You can drive where you want to but there is still an out of bounds. You basically go to free drive just to screw around, well that's what I do anyway. If you feel a little rusty then go to free ride to improve your wakeboarding skills. There is also a two player modes, which include the following: Tug a war, Trick attack, H.O.R.S.E, and Co-op mode. In tug a war mode there is a meter in-between both sides of the screen. Each rider has a set length of rope but as you pull off tricks the opponents rope gets shorter until he runs out of rope.

Check out the realistic water!

Ever played basketball H.O.R.S.E? If so you will understand what I'm talking about. In the game you have to score a really big combo and your opponent will have to beat that trick combo without crashing. If he doesn't beat the score then he will have an H and it keeps going like that until someone wins.

Co-op mode is a very nice mode I think, because someone gets to drive a boat and the other person can ride and do tricks while the other person drives the boat for them. This is a pick up and play type of game, you don't have to know and study the controllers like your doing homework. Just pick up the controller and learn tricks as you go.

The levels Once you pick the border that is to your liking, you then start the career mode. In this mode there are 9 different levels, which are: Lake Powell, The Bayou, Spring field, Florida, Hong Kong, Belize, Venice, Delta, The Boneyard. The first level, Lake Powell, is a relatively lively lake with many vacationers. In fact one of the objects is to knock 4 tubers in the water.

The 2nd level you will encounter might take some skills. The bayou has a lot to offer, Spanish moss, gators, shrimp and quite a few buildings to grind and catch some gigantic air, which make for big combos. But be careful to not get stuck in little corners. If you do, your groove meter goes down and then your time will end. There's no time just your groove meter, as long as it's filled up you keep going.

The 3rd level is Spring field. This level I found my self-playing quite a bit. I loved the look of the level. The town is flooded with water so you know what that means, big air, and big combos. This level will also have to save animals that got stranded by the level 5 storm.

Level 4 is Florida; this is where you can showcase your skills. So strap on your board and show Wakeboarding Magazine what you got. There are eight completely different challenges to muster with to get you by this level.

Hong Kong is level 5. This level gives you goose bumps. Having this level so overly populated was a good idea. The day is Night and the water is cool, makes for perfect riding in Hong Kong.

The Belize is a tropical paradise. The exotic landscape is the perfect for thrilling yourself. You can even find some ancient ruins or simply find some recreational boats to grind, the choice is yours.

Venice Italy is know for its city being called "city of lovers" well in that case make sure you show the city anything but love. Wakeboarding is about ripping up the waves having a good time with your buds. So show Venice what you're made of.

Level 8 is the Delta, which is a nice place to show Wakeboarding magazine a session. So in each level you have to complete the levels objects, which could be anything really, such as what I aforementioned above knocking old guys on tubes floating lazily in the water. There are also challenges in each level. Finding a secret grinding place or hitting some targets while doing a trick for example. But that's not all; there is also a gap list for each level, which makes it even more thrilling.

Got air?
Gameplay First of all the controllers were not a problem at all especially if you have played in games from the Tony Hawk series. After a few minutes I found my self catching some huge air and grinding on anything and everything that's grindable. The thing I like a lot was that you could let go of the rope and go off a ramp then catch the rope back. Its amazing all the stuff you can do without holding on to the boat rope. Letting go of the rope I found being an essential part of this game that makes it fun to go grind a boat or ledge of a building then without losing speed catch the rope with ease and rip some more waves, it makes the game very unique and special in my mind. The games very fluent as well as very smooth. After seeing the tricks in some other games not being complete finished or smooth. But in this game you can tell the difference between switching from an Indy to a Tweak move it's so smooth.

Graphics First of all not talking about how real the water looks would be a mistake. The water is a crucial part of a water sport game. But by far this is the best, most realistic water in a game I have ever laid my eyes upon. When the boat ripples the water its hard to tell the difference between real water and fake water. And even when the water is still and not moving its looks real, although it does look a little more fake but you can see the reflection of the surroundings which makes for a fairly realistic appearance. Also when the water splashes it looks very clear, crisp. The character models look relatively good; they're decent, smooth, and overall good. The Graphics are definitely a plus in this game.

Wow, how high can you go!
Sound The sound effects are nicely done. You can tell the difference when your boarder goes from the water to the ramps or to a rail. You can even hear the thunk of your head hitting a rock, and the splash of a messed up trick. It would be cool to have people on the yachts make comments about how your wakeboarding. Having the sound effects so good makes for even a more real appearance when the sound effects are top notch. The songs I didn't care for, but the ability to put my own music in pleased me; which makes up for the songs I didn't care for.

Overall If you are a wakeboarding fan this game is definitely for you, do not pass it up. Even if your not a wakeboarding fan like me, pick yourself up a copy, trust me you will be glad you did. Nice control, pretty good graphics, nice sound effects you cant go wrong with this game. Every level is nicely constructed and is identical to the real life areas. Shaba did an awesome job with this one, get yourself a copy today. Rated: 8.8/10

Please note: The final rating is not an average.

Presentation Presented very well, the name tells us exactly what the games all about.	8.4
Graphics Outstanding water effects, looks very realistic. Nice character models as well. Surroundings are fair.	8.2
Gameplay Loads of tricks, check, major hang time, check, nice control, check. What more do you want?	8.6
Overall The game looks pretty good and the control is superb, very well done game.	8.8