Splash, Turn, Twist and Flip in Wakeboarding Unleashed

by Louis Bedigian

The king of extreme sports games has unleashed an all-new entry into the genre: Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray.  GameZone Online speaks with the game’s producer, Jeff Poffenbarger. 

Becoming the world skateboarding champion wasn’t easy.  Between the broken legs, the shattered elbows and my deformed nose (which has been smashed five times now), I was beginning to wonder if the glory was worth all this pain.  Thankfully I still had my thumbs.  As long as those existed, I knew I could go on.

Spending my days and nights in the GameZone Online recovery room, I honed my skills as a Tony Hawk Pro Skater and began to work my way up the polygonal ladder.  My goals were cut short though when a new Tony Hawk spin-off arrived: Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray.  Wakeboarding Unleashed was so fresh, so new, and extremely exciting.  I couldn’t put it down.

When the doctors told me I would soon be able to walk again (and thus have to leave the recovery room), I quickly hopped my skateboard and threw myself into a wall, acquiring an additional five weeks of recovery time.  Nothing was going to keep me from playing Wakeboarding Unleashed.  Nothing!

GameZone Online reviewer Natalie Romano felt the same way, saying, “Wakeboarding Unleashed follows in the very footsteps of the Tony Hawk series and delivers a game that’s both fresh and addictive.”  Regarding the gameplay, Natalie says that you’ll “be hooked the second you start launching off a wake” and that you’ll “love every second of it.”  You can read the rest of her comments in her full review of the Xbox version.

With help from a few fellow staffers, I lifted myself into a wheelchair and met with Wakeboarding Unleashed’s producer, Jeff Poffenbarger.  In our interview, Jeff talks about the sport, how it was turned into an extreme sports game, its amazing water effects and much, much more. 

Skateboarding and snowboarding have become mainstream sports, but a lot of people don't know what wakeboarding is.  Could you describe it for us?

Jeff Poffenbarger: Wakeboarding is a little bit of a lot of sports.  Basically it's like snowboarding, but you are riding behind a boat in the water (as opposed to on the land or in the air).  The boat creates a wake that the rider does tricks off of, imagine a constant set of quarter-pipes.  There are also elements of skateboarding in the form of rail-slides and other similar tricks.

How does the sport translate into an extreme sports game?

JP: The sport translates quite well.  First and foremost, as I mentioned previously, you have a constant set of quarter-pipes in the wake.  Second, you have this boat, going at speeds up to 30MPH pulling you through the water.  Last, you have the rope that you hold onto.  For a game, these three things create an interesting relationship unique to an extreme sport's game.  Couple that with the ability to let go of and re-grab the rope and you have a pretty fantastic gaming experience.

Boardersliding is a great way to double, triple, quadruple [etc.!] your score.

What are the player's objectives in Wakeboarding Unleashed?

JP: There are different objectives depending on which level you are playing.  Included are objectives that are recognizable to someone that has played action sports games (extreme sports).  Those include high score objectives, manual distance objectives, and trick objectives.  There is another layer of goals that we dubbed "challenges".  The challenges take place outside of the objective environment and are tailored to the level you are riding in.  For example, in the Ocean World level there is a challenge where you free a killer whale by doing tricks to keep it's interest.  That challenge is unique to that level.  As a note, I personally verified that this challenge was realistic.  One a hot summer's day in 2002, myself and key Shaba personnel, scaled the fences at a popular water park, started the boat up and raced away from the killer whale attraction.  We lost one that day.  Bobby, if you can hear this, we miss ya buddy. (Disclaimer: Jeff Poffenbarger is quite the kidder.)

How do you perform tricks and stunts?

JP: On the surface the trick system is similar to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.  However, we have elements that are unique to Wakeboarding Unleashed.

Does Wakeboarding Unleashed share any of the same game modes as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater?

JP: The game is similar to Pro Skater in that we have a career system, single session, and free ride.  In multiplayer we have HORSE and Trick Attack, both of which can be found in the Pro Skater series.  On top of that, in single player, we have a Free Drive element that allows the user to drive the boat around unlocked levels.  In multiplayer we have a Tug of War mode that pits player versus player in a battle for rope length and Co-op mode.  In co-op mode the players work together, one riding and one driving, to complete a mini-career system.

As Jim Carrey would say, the water effects are B-E-A-U-tiful!

Activision's extreme sports games are known for having excellent stages from a variety of locations.  What are some of the locales we'll see in Wakeboarding Unleashed?

JP: We mostly used realistic locations including Hong Kong Harbor, Lake Powell, Venice, Italy, and Belize.  While these locations actually exist in the real world they all have a definite Shaba twist to them.  There are a total of eleven locations.

How are the spectacular water effects being produced?  Was a specific engine created just for them? 

JP: The water effects have their own dedicated pipeline and microcode.

The main features of the water engine are:

• real-time environment map generation.

• reflection goes through a custom filter to simulate the streaky look you get on real water

• Fresnel simulation so that water opacity and reflection varies with the viewing angle.

• multiple animated texture layers.

• continuous local deformation of the water based on the boat's speed and direction.

Does Wakeboarding Unleashed feature any graphic techniques that haven't been seen before?  

JP: Apart from the water, we have developed several techniques that allow us to have more polygons and a lot more high-quality textures than is usual in a PS2 game.

Wakeboarding Unleashed is headed to both Xbox and PlayStation 2, but I have yet to hear of any other versions.  Will the game be coming to any other platforms?

JP: Right now the plan is for Xbox and PS2.

Up for a little multiplayer action?

How extensive are the multiplayer features?

JP: As I mentioned earlier, there are two multiplayer game types that the action/sports gamer will be accustomed to.  We also have two multiplayer game types that are unique to the game.  The first, Tug of War, pits the players versus one another.  Each much complete trick combos in order to cause the other players rope to shorten.  The player with the longest rope at the end wins.   Another mode, the co-op mode, has two players working together to complete a mini-career mode.  Instead of players battling one another, one has to drive the boat and the other rides behind it.  This is something that we are very proud of and a definite first in action sport's games.

Thank you for your time.

For more information on Wakeboarding Unleash, read GameZone Online’s full reviews:

  PlayStation 2 Review          

  Xbox Review