Game #1007: Splashdown

  This game should've made more waves.

 Mandatory not a racing game or sports game fan intro. With that out of the way, I like going outside my comfort zone every now and then, so here we are with Splashdown, a Jet-ski racing game that I'm sure deserved more recognition than it got. It also features Smashmouth's 'Allstar', so there's that.

 The game offers three different modes: Arcade, in which you can race against the CPU, Career, which is a more organized Arcade mode with a few bells and whistles, a decent Training Mode and a VS Player mode. In Arcade mode you get the following options: Typical lap-based racing, Free Race just for fun, Countdown, which has you collecting balloons before time runs out and can only be played in a select few stages and, lastly, Time Trial. There are 21 courses all in all, which isn't half bad!

 Racing is super easy, just hold X to accelerate and have fun. But if you really want to master the game you'll have to learn to tip the nose of your jetski. Hold down back to accelerate beyond your max speed or hold down Up to perform the submarine maneuver in order to dodge a few obstacles. You can then turn the Submarine into a bunny hop by holding down back as you reach the surface of the water. You'll also want to perform tricks, by holding down different directions alongside R1, R2 or L2 in order to increase your performance meter, which in turn increases your top speed and acceleration. Everything works pretty well and racing is super fun.

 The soundtrack is just my kind of music, featuring tons of rock and punk, like Blink-182 and Sum 41... however, the algorithm that picks music is a bit weird, as there were a few songs, like Blink's, I only heard ones, while others would get repeated way more often. What's more, songs are edited down to 1-2 minutes in length, which is rather lame as some songs just stop and the next one plays. I thought my copy might be faulty, but nope, that's how music works in this game.

 Lastly, I want to mention how GOOD the water looks, it gives PS4 games a run for their money. Seriously, the water is top-notch. Track design isn't that far behind, featuring some pleasing vistas to race alongside to.

 Splashdown is a very enjoyable game. A few design choices with the music are a bit questionable, but a solid core gameplay and a great presentation help it keep... afloat. I'll have to save some puns for the sequel.

 8.0