Wave Race: Blue Storm

Lay wake to your opponents in the perilous waters of this fierce competition.

JP release: 14th September 2001
NA release: 18th November 2001
EU release: 3rd May 2002
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 91%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Wave Race 64 showed how water physics could work in 3D, and how the movement in the water can affect controlling a Jet Ski. Blue Storm, on the other hand, focuses more on just how stunning water can look, being a wonderful technical showcase of what the water can do. There’s so much detail not just in the water itself, but under the water and the surrounding area as well, such as an immense amount of different wildlife. It all looks absolutely stunning in motion.

The major feature added to this is the weather, with different strengths of rain up to a thunderous storm. These don’t just change how the courses look, but also alter the waves on them as well. So you’ll not only have to deal with the course’s natural waves, but how the weather and other racers affect them as well. This does make the game extra challenging, though, and the CPU racers don’t tend to have the same issues you do.

One issue, though, is that there doesn’t seem like there is much new to the game at all. There are only seven course and while only one is a complete remake of a Wave Race 64 course, some of the others use the same kind of style: Ocean City Harbour is a lot like Twilight City, Arctic Bay is like Glacier Coast and Aspen Lake is a lot like Drake Lake. While the tracks are different, the close theming to the original make Blue Storm feel a lot smaller. Aspen Lake comes across as the worst, too, with the original Drake Lake having an ethereal beauty to it with a fog that slowly lists, which is lost with the new weather system.

One thing that’s a bit harder to quantify is the “style” of the game. Something just feels a little bit less exciting than Wave Race 64. The announcers don’t seem very enthusiastic and there’s just a muted feeling all around instead of what should be high-octane energy. Parts of the reel oddly calm, such as the lovely, soothing loading screens where you can mess with riddles in the water. It’s rather jarring.

Blue Storm is a really well made racer, but it lacks the impact of Wave Race 64.

Great

For as long as the one-player mode lasts, it’s almost a perfect racing game – it always was, which is why the US-based development team wisely chose not to mess around with it in any kind of fundamental way. That’s not to say there aren’t one or two things we wish they hadn’t touched. The announcers (a different one for each of the eight riders) are very irritating. Miss a buoy and they’ll explain the rules of the game in a very patronising manner, even if you’re in first place on the last race of Expert mode. And they pronounce ‘buoy’ as ‘boo-ee’, which is just about the most annoying thing anyone can say in an American accent. The volume control is tucked away in the options menu.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #67

Remake or remaster?

I think we’re due a new game.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play Wave Race: Blue Storm.