Developer: East Point Software Publisher: Take 2 Release: 01/26/01 Genre: Racing
I have never ridden a jet ski. Perhaps that is why I like Wave Race 64 so much. Beyond the graphics and gameplay Wave Race still to this day has some of the best physics of any water based racing game. Aside from Wave Race: Blue Storm I am still chasing the high I felt when playing Nintendo’s classic. Aqua GT certainly has the look of a contender. But its slow drip feed of content and lackluster controls mars what is an otherwise decent racing game.
Aqua GT has three modes: Championship, Arcade, and two-player versus. Championship mode is the meat of the game and where all of its content will unlock. This mode has four leagues that unlock more content as you progress. Points are awarded based on position and you must come in at third to advance to the next league. It’s a tight requirement as there are only six competitors in each match. Each successive league has more racers giving you more chances to rise in the standings. But that is also part of the game’s downfall. But more on that later.
If you are a fan of speed boats Aqua GT is a wet fan’s dream. There are twenty total that all unlock with each new league. Boats have ratings in three categories: handling, acceleration, and top speed. They look pretty cool all things considered but controlling them is another matter. Even though I eventually managed to get a grip on the game’s handling I still do not like it overall. No matter the vehicle turn cycles are slow and sluggish. You have to slow down and begin cornering well in advance and even that feels like a crap shoot. When I reached the point where it started to feel somewhat normal it was not satisfying; it felt like I put in more work for less reward.
Beyond the game’s divisive control the pacing of its championship mode is also an issue. Aqua GT doles out its content slowly and it is annoying. Each league becomes progressively longer and adds new courses towards the end of its league. Prepare to race the game’s first two tracks at least nine or ten times before the game finally unlocks another. You perform a solo run before each race to determine your starting position which makes it even worse. I can see why: there are only seven tracks. The game tries to vary it up by changing the time of day and tide but that is not enough in my opinion. They try to make a lot with very little but in this case it does not work. Dealing with the game’s aggressive rubberbanding makes this mode a chore and unfortunately it spills over to the rest of the game.
Arcade mode is for those that want a reprieve from the brutal championship. In this mode it is a race against the clock as much as it is your fellow opponents. It sounds simple but there are number of factors that hold this mode back. You are limited to the boats and tracks you have unlocked in the game’s championship. That means at the start you only have two tracks and five boats. Championship mode is a slog so it sucks that you must tolerate it almost completely to play all of the game’s content freely. The clock in each race is also tuned way too high. You have the bare minimum to complete each race and if you make even two mistakes it is a wash. That makes this mode frustrating more than a relaxing alternative to the boring championship. It is amazing they screwed this up.
The one area that the game is pretty good is in its presentation. Compared to the PlayStation version it almost looks like a completely different title. The Dreamcast version of Aqua GT has a cleaner look due to its higher resolution and runs at a consistent framerate. The boats are more detailed and have a sheen that makes them shine and look wet adding to the atmosphere. The night time races look cool as well with their added lighting effects. Embarrassingly even with these advancements the water still does not look as good as in Wave Race 64. There are barely any waves and the water looks like translucent jelly with no reflections whatsoever. Like the track design the game’s inconsistent graphics are probably the result of the change in focus during development. I expected more however.
In Closing
Aqua GT is decent all things considered. But with so many better alternatives why settle for less? Water based racing games are still rare but that does not mean you should play an average game. Aqua GT was only released in Europe and we did not miss out on a lost classic.
