More than just Tony Hawk in water.

Ever since the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released, the extreme sports genre has exploded in popularity. Wakeboarding Unleashed follows in those footsteps with a sport you might not be all too familiar with. For those unfamiliar with wakeboarding, you can imagine it as a cross between jet-skiing, surfing, and snowboarding.

Since it is published by Activision, it's safe to assume that the game plays and feels like the Tony Hawk series. In fact, the control and trick system is exactly like Tony Hawk. However, the game differs in a few aspects which offers a unique twist to the genre that keeps it fresh rather than simply being Tony Hawk on water. The most obvious difference is that you are tethered to the boat by a rope which pulls you around the course. However, this isn't as linear as it may sound as you can let go of the rope at anytime. Doing so will allow you to explore hidden areas that the boat doesn't normally travel to. If done right, you should be able to use your momentum to traverse the hidden area to a point where you will meet up with the boat again so that the rope can be thrown back to you.

So how does the game work? Jumping is performed by holding down the jump button and then releasing it at the moment you want to jump. However, here, you'll want to utilize the wakes created from your boat. Jumping high off the wakes will let you attempt tricks as well as reach certain areas and rails. Depending if you cut across normally or sharply will also determine how much air you can grab. The rest of the gameplay is similar to what you can already expect such as comboing tricks together by doing manuals or reverts in between to link them together.

Each of the eleven courses has three types of objectives. There are the normal goals that give specific tasks that can be accomplished at anytime during a normal run of the course such as high scores or knocking down five fishermen. The second objective is to find all the hidden gaps which are quite abundant in each course. Some of the gaps can be extremely difficult to clear. Finally, the third objective is a challenge mode that offers more difficult tasks that are performed immediately. Some of these are fun such as the long rail slides while others can be pretty bad such as the video performance. Video performance is bad since you are supposed to score a certain amount of points doing tricks in front of the camera, but the view is from that of the camera making the control almost unplayable.

Another new feature is the two player co-op mode in which one player controls the wakeboarder while the other drives the boat. Specially designed levels have been created for this mode in which both of you will have to work together to complete the challenges. Not to worry though, Trick Attack and H.O.R.S.E. are still available in versus play along with a new mode called Tug-O-War. This mode is based around doing tricks to shorten the other person's rope. Whoever runs out of rope first, loses.

Unfortunately, while the core game is the same, there seems to be some key features missing such as creating your own character and even to a lesser extent, designing your own course. The lack of a course designer is somewhat understandable given the nature of the courses and needing to plot out the course of your boat, but I cannot fathom why there wasn't an ability to create your own character when it has been a pretty standard feature in their other extreme sports games.

If you're a multi-platform owner, both versions are virtually identical even right down to the graphics. The Xbox version looks slightly cleaner but the differences are negligible. If there is any difference at all, it will come to two aspects; music and control. On the music front, the Xbox allows you to take advantage of the Xbox's custom soundtrack feature. This works great if you are not into the alternative rock tracks included already. However, when it comes to control, the PlayStation 2 controller is more suitable for the layout. When performing tricks in the air, you can speed up your twist by using the L1 and R1 buttons. These buttons are unfortunately mapped to the black and white buttons on the Xbox controller which isn't in the best placement on the Type S version. Other than these two key differences, you can't go wrong with either version.

Wakeboarding Unleashed may not bring much new to the table for the genre, but the new additions offer enough of a twist to keep the game interesting. If you're a fan of the Tony Hawk series or style of gameplay, look no further as this will probably fit your bill. If you were never really into the trick based gameplay or extreme style sports, it's unlikely that there is anything in Wakeboarding Unleashed will change your mind. Overall, Wakeboarding Unleashed is a solid game with great gameplay and enough tasks and challenges that should keep you busy for quite some time.