E3 Impressions: SplashDown

from http://www.sonyweb.com


Is this title a looming threat to the Wave Race crown? Or is it just another racing game. We\'ve played it, we have an opinion.

 Is this title a looming threat to the Wave Race crown? Or is it just another racing game. We\'ve played it, we have an opinion.


 Is this title a looming threat to the Wave Race crown? Or is it just another racing game. We\'ve played it, we have an opinion.

This game was a nice surprise at E3, sporting some of the most gorgeous Water I\'ve seen yet in a game, Ecco the Dolphin is the other game with beautifully gorgeous water properties. Both the water and the environments of SplashDown are textured superbly well.

From the E3 build, the framerate wasn\'t completely perfectly smooth as it seemed a tiny bit choppy at times and the game had an ok draw distance disguised by some background fog. It seems GameCube\'s WaveRace has some competition on its hands.

Splash Down has some decent water splashing animations as you zip through the courses and ride against the waves, cutting right through to get to the calmer areas of the water. There were also some pretty cool high jumps via ramps serving as Short cuts launching you over portions of the small island.

SplashDown\'s strongest point was its beautifully transparent water, which had some beautiful close-ups where you could see the sandy floor near the shallow areas. Both the water Jet and the rider were modeled nicely and detailed to boot.

SplashDown vs. Wave Race?

Here\'s a short comparison of the two games:


Wave Race has better water splashes and watery sound Effects, actually sounds like you\'re Jetting out there on the water.
Wave Race had much better Water Physics.
SplashDown had better looking water in terms of textures and transparencies.
SplashDown had better-looking characters and vehicles.
SplashDown had better-looking islands/environments.
Wave Race had better water animations with bigger, more frequent, and more convincing waves.
Both games didn\'t seem to have much in terms of long draw distances and seemed to have slightly foggy backgrounds.
In the end, SplashDown looks great but is no WaveRace in terms of physics. But then again, what is?







That water doesnt  look at all bad to me,shame about the backgrounds.

Is that the new screenshots of the game?  That water is sweet!!  

yea this game defintely has my interest peeked and i am sure they will take some of the people\'s advice and fix the problems listed

looks good, but games with water can be a pain, cos of the effect the water fom another boat give off etc. some times it done wrong and can ruin the whole game. the water looks good, shame about the land, vencice looks okish, but the last pic, the island really need work.

Wave Race is Wave Race and original. But Splashdown is a great game, too. I hope there will be crazy tracks with ice, sand and more.

I\'m confident this will be a good game.  These are the guys that made ATV offroad fury nad some other great racing games.  They may not do realistic physics but I sure  that will be at the expense of fun physics.  Wave race will be awesone to though.

One question, are these games actually gonna have big waves or just jumps. I liked the waves in the first wave race.

Very nice water effects

I think it looks pretty good..
Might get this game.. (Im getting alot of games... anyone want to gimme some money??)

Dont forget to watch the movie!

http://ps2movies.ign.com/media/previews/video/splash/splash_2b.mov

WARNING for 56.6 users like me, the video is 11MB.. Quicktime format.

Those watereffects do really look nice!
Nice tricks and animation also.

Is this gonna have all the ramps and stuff to do tricks off, and jump over things?

propably.

just downloaded the movie.. it\'s great..

but i agree, as wonderfull and realistic the water is , the backgrounds could be better they are just average... hope they improve this a bit later... but still looks like good fun ,...

I have a feeling this is going to be atv off road fury on water and that is just fine and dandy with me. I am also sure this game is going to be looking alot better over the next few monthes as they probably just wanted to show off their fancy water effects.

This game has about 5 months left in development..

I think we\'ll see some improvments

Notice how the water splashes up towards the camera in the second pic from top. That is exactly like atv. I can guarentee you right now that this game will take the crown over anyreleased. I just know it ! Of course I wouldn\'t mind seeing anothyer jet moto title either. The first one was awesoe but they fizzled after that.
Not that I am on it I think I may start an online warhawk 2 petition