gameplay: 7/10

while there is a very steep learning curve involved, once the player becomes familiar with the button layout maneuvers will become very fluid and natural. there are plenty of face turns to learn, and they're by far the best animations gamers have seen in a surfing game yet (the ability to turn the display off is a huge plus as well). the lengthily airtime can be a bit too much for those who lean towards the sim side of the boat, but it is on par with what has been released thus far. while there is no tour to complete or world championships to be had, treyarch did touch base on the professional side of the sport with sponsorships' various demands for photo shoots and entrances to a few contests. other goals like beat the grom and local do at least have some connection to surfing, it's the spray three jet skis, or jump the pier that seem rehashed and out of place. thankfully these challenges are kept to a minimum, but this is the one aspect of the 'extreme' videogame that i could have lived without. however, once the player has unlocked all the goodies and feels the game is beat, all the extras and free surf mode are more than enough to keep you coming back for more. my main complaints are, and i'm a little harder on ksps than the other surfing games; no pro tour, no realistic contest structure, endless waves, lame paddling and positioning, and the absence of dual breaking waves. but to be fair, no surfing game has done any of these things well yet.    

graphics: 8/10

all the early previews would mention the waves, and now we know why. they're simply outstanding. waves like kirra, j-bay, and bells all have different speeds, color, texture, and truly never do seem to break the same way twice. the surfer models all look great, and the beach environments are as accurate as you can ask for (outside of the florida break). as mentioned before the animation for most of the moves looks spot on; turns, floaters, airs, manuvers inside the barrel, no complaints. but it would have been nice had the surfboards resembled their size a little more, guns and fish/flyers don't seem that much different than regular boards. and since you can't sit up on the board and take a breather, it's hard to take in all of the great environments the game has to offer.

presentation: 9/10

the intro movie alone is worth a high score. instead of giving the gamer the usual high powered, pumped up everyday surf movie, ksps's intro feels more like the opening to a film. and literary the intro is just the beginning. from the mellow music, to slater's narration, all the extra video, the pipeline special which is 30 minuets long, to even the cursive writing, all these little details sort of add up to give the game a more complete and classic feel. everything just seems well thought out and genuine in all aspects of the presentation. 

surfers: 7/10

any surfing game with slater, curren and machado in the lineup is an above average title in terms of the pros. however as much as i love this game and despise transworld, i have to give transowrld the nod in the pro surfer department. transworld just set the bar that much  higher in terms of quality and quantity of pro surfers. hopefully the ksps team will correct this injustice for the sequel. the game includes kelly slater, tom curren, robb machado, bruce irons, kalani robb, donavon franenreiter, nathan fletcher, tom carrroll, and lisa anderson. while transworld did sign a lot of the well known surf pros, there are still a few out there that could dwarf the likes of andy irons or taj burrow (occhilupo and fanning would be a good start). 

locations: 8/10

not only did ksps include all the world famous breaks one could ask for, they also varied them tremendously in terms of appearance, physics and overall gameplay. kirra, j-bay, and bells beach are simply outstanding, sebastian is the fun small rippable wave you'd expect, and cortez banks, mavericks, and jaws give the game the much needed big wave presence. the other breaks that round out this great collection of beaches include pipeline, teahupoo, mundaka, trestles, g-land, curren's point, anartica, and a few other fantasy breaks. again, i'm a bit harsher on this surfing game then others, but for ksps to earn a perfect score the beach breaks would have to be rights and lefts. another minor complaint i have is the lack of a ending for each wave, they just seem to go on forever. the last gripe about the locations is the non existing paddling out experience. to me, this is a huge factor of the surfing experience treyarch desided to ignore. and to throw one more jab in there, i can't forgive treyarch for the surf through a solid pier at sebastian.

music: 8/10

while music is completely subjective, one can't argue the fact that the ksps soundtrack took a lot of thought and effort. again, along with the wave physics this was one aspect of the game that was receiving a lot of pre-release attention, and for good measure. a bit more mellow than other action sport games, the music sets the tone early and the diversity in the selections truly add to the gameplay. this might be the one videogame soundtrack that i'd think of buying. 

lasting appeal: 9/10

i can definitely say without a doubt, this is the best surfing game ever made for any system. this is a game most will play right up until the sequel, and maybe beyond. treyarch has proven with this masterpiece that they're going to take the sport of surfing seriously and hopefully they'll feel the need to progress as far for the sequel from the original, as they have from their completion in this first effort.

overall: 8/10

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