“Hey”, I thought to myself, “this looks pretty fun,” and of course it’s brought to you by the folks who made Tony Hawk possible so I knew I was in for some good times.

The best way to describe Wakeboarding Unleashed is to think of Tony Hawk in the water. Now if you’re a fan of good old Tony (which I am), then I can guarantee that you’ll be a fan of Wakeboarding Unleashed. The controls, movements, and attitude of Tony Hawk have been injected into W.U. So if it’s so much like Tony Hawk, why bother to even play? I mean, no one likes a repeat right? Well my friends read on to find out (you knew that was coming).

I really didn’t think I would have so much fun playing W.U., but I keep going back more and more, trying to stack that high score higher, pull off more insane moves, and just have fun. As I said before it plays a lot like Tony Hawk and that’s a good thing. The moves are easy to pick up, there is a very little learning curve when playing but an extreme mountain to climb in order to master. Sure you can do the same tricks over and over again, but what’s the fun in that? W.U. is all about hitting the tip of the wake (top of the wave) right at the perfect time and pulling off some insane looking moves.

Just like in Tony Hawk you’re given a plethora of locations to ride but you have to complete enough of the previous levels to advance. For those not familiar with Tony Hawk (how dare you!) allow me to summarize what each level encompasses. Most of your objectives require you to score a certain amount of points, grind on certain areas, and complete weird objectives (grind on a helicopter, knock people into the water). As you complete these tasks you’re given more objectives and challenges to complete. The challenges require you to accomplish one specific goal (score 150,000 points in 60 seconds). The game offers a monstrous amount of goals to complete and at times they can be very difficult. But that’s part of the fun of W.U. Even though some goals are difficult it doesn’t stop you from advancing to another level. That means that only the die-hard gamers will go on and complete every goal in the game to unlock special characters, videos, and more.

Probably the only problem I had with W.U. was that they don’t have a create-a-player option. It would have been nice and personally I expect options like this for any sort of sports game (even extreme sports). With that problem out of the way, you are given 7 boarders to choose from (both male and female) and each has his/her own strengths and weaknesses from the start. * Begin Rant * Okay, now I know each boarder is different in his/her own way, but the one thing that irks me, and this is with every single Tony Hawk game made, is that when you complete one boarder (or skater in the case of Hawk) you have to go and complete every other boarder/skater. The problem is that it’s the same damn objectives. Nothing is different and it can get boring doing the same levels over and over again. As I said before completing the game 100% will take some time, and I’m sure only the die-hard gamers will do it. * End Rant * Okay I feel better now.

A slight twist from Tony Hawk, W.U. actually allows its players to ride for as long as they like. Withstanding certain objectives, players are allowed to ride around as long as they can keep a good “groove” going. You’re groove meter slowly diminishes each time you crash or if you can’t keep shelling out the cool moves. So as long as you can keep the points coming in, you’re free to ride around. A few other things that W.U. adds to the scene are a slow-mo feature and the ability to let go of your rope. The slow-mo feature is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in awhile. When you’ve done enough tricks your slow-mo meter fills up and begins to flash. Pushing down the right trigger will slow everything down and allow you to pull off a move or two. Watching my character flip up in the air in slow-mo then land down into the water is something I can watch over and over again. This is one feature I would like to see added in Tony Hawk Underground. Letting go of your rope is also another thing that adds to the fun in W.U. Doing tricks in the air, letting go of the rope, landing a back flip, and then grabbing the rope again, doesn’t that sound fun! It might not be something huge, but it can really make your tricks look all the better, and that’s what W.U. is all about.

It would have been cool to see a bunch of boarders and their riders in one big lake pulling off tricks, but unfortunately X-box Live wasn’t enabled. I suppose I can always dream. Fortunately there are a few multiplayer options that will offer tons of fun; my favorite being the co-op mode. In this mode one player is the boarder while another is the driver, and just as in single player, you must work together to complete the specific challenges to unlock more stages. Tug-O-War is another fun game that gives each rider a length of rope to hang on to. As you pull of tricks your opponents rope gets shorter until they run out (would have been fun on LIVE).

Regardless if the game does have LIVE support or not, it still kicks ass. I’m actually thinking of taking a few wakeboarding lessons and praying that I don’t break something in the process. W.U. is addictive, fun, and most of all easy to learn. Whether you’re playing by yourself trying to top your last high score, or hanging out with a few friends, you’re not going to want to put this one down.

The locations in W.U. are extremely attractive and design just as well. Each level is beautiful to look at and even more fun to ride through. Whether it’s the water reflections from a sunset sky in Venice, or the waterfalls from Belize, you’ll find something to your liking. Although some of the levels might not be as massive as others (two levels are actually small tournaments) they are designed in such a way that you can pull of monstrous jumps, spectacular board slides, and colossal tricks. While the water effects might not be the best out there, it still manages to impress me with the reflections and waves. With a total of 11 stages to race across, you’re eyes will be very happy indeed.

The animations of the characters are also something to mention. I can never get tired of pulling off the moves and watch as my character does the corresponding movements. Even though some tricks might seem impossible (back flipping five times off an Indy grind), they still look as if you could do them in real life. Just as in Tony Hawk, the moves are as cool as they can be and it’s a toss up on whether I’d rather watch someone do them, or do them myself.

W.U. features some very memorable music from a plethora of different bands: Van Halen, The Flaming Lips, Blackfoot and much more. With twenty songs in W.U. to bust tricks to, there’s something for everybody. It even gets better. If you’re not a fan of the tunes that Activision has selected, then feel free to rip your own CD and add it to the play list. I’m thinking maybe some Beach Boys would get me in the mood.

Now some would say that the sound in W.U. was lacking, I mean there isn’t really much sound to implement in a game like this. You have your motor boat sound, your ambient sounds, and water sounds. That’s about it. Maybe there could have been some more noticeable ambient sounds, but I’m nit picking now. What’s featured in W.U. is on par. Most of the times I had the in-game music blasting anyway so I could barely hear anything else.

With both Dolby Surround Sound and a custom soundtrack option, you can listen to everything in the game, even your own music, with 5.1 compatibility. On a sad note, I would have liked to seen the crystal clear water of Timber Lake in 480 progressive scan, but it was not included.

Just as it should be, the in-game interface is free of any sorts of clutter. The top left has your groove meter and the top right has your special meter and your score. That’s about it, and that’s how it should be.

It’s easy to say that if you’re not a fan of the Tony Hawk series (what in the world is wrong with you!) you should probably stay away from this title. On the other hand Wakeboarding Unleashed is yet another addictive title from Activsion O2 that I’ll be playing for months to come. Is it worth the buy? Hell yes, and especially now while the weather is hot and wakeboarding season is at full blast. While I can’t wait to see what next season has to offer, I’m hoping a few changes (create-a-player) will be implemented and Wakeboarding Unleashed will get even better.