Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray

Spin-offs of Tony Hawk gameplay are getting too numerous for their own good, and Wakeboarding Unleashed is undeniably part of that scene.

In many respects, Wakeboarding?s gameplay seems like skating on water?but so does the real sport?and the dynamics of being towed by a boat, working the wake, and manipulating the rope give Wakeboarding its own fresh, exciting feel and challenges. Of course, Tony pros will adapt to these nuances in a heartbeat or three, so the fun comes from mastering the game.

Thankfully, the game provides plenty of depth to explore. The comfortable, responsive controls are torn from the Tony Hawk manual and tweaked in little ways to suit wakeboarding. Once you?ve got your groove on, you?ll start finding cool wakeboarding-only moves and tricks to bust, like grabbing big air off the wake. The 11 courses are smartly designed, and the strong two-player game mixes standards like Horse with an awesome co-op mode where one player drives the boat while the other boards.

Visually, the Xbox version smokes its PS2 counterpart, but it won?t blow your doors off. The levels, tricks, and waterways look good but not great, and the Xbox is definitely capable of better. A quirky but awesome soundtrack gives the game its own vibe, but beyond the cool tunes, the game seems kinda quiet.

If you?re tired of Tony, Shaun?s got the goods to get you back into the game. But you don?t have to be a skate junkie to have a good ride?Wakeboarding makes a great rental for gamers of all stripes.

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