gameplay: 7/10
what makes or breaks most games, and the same is true here. almost the only thing this game has going for it is it has great gameplay. you can do many variation of tailslides (x) by holding or releasing x quickly, you can do snap turns at critical parts of the wave (square), you can grad the rail of the surfboard at any time (L1 and R1), and you can perform an air at any time at any speed and height all dependant on the player (o). the game even allows you to pose in the barrel by pressing triangle. the waves are average, and paddling and dropping in are done fairly well. the one sore spot in the gameplay is floaters (triangle at top of wave). they don't look realistic, and at times your surfer simply sits at the top of the wave while the screen implies "floater".
graphics: 5/10
very poor graphics. it seems ubi soft simply imported the championship surfer dreamcast engine on to the ps2 with minor improvements and called it a next generation videogame. the surfer animation looks good, but the water textures are average at best.
presentation: 2/10
an intro movie, that's it. no surfer bios, no break information, very simple. the menus are very plain and not a lot of graphics or information is included with them. but who buys games for the pretty menus?
surfers: 4/10
below average. if it wasn't for the surfers' surfer mr. garcia, it would have been a terrible pro surfer cast. the line up includes; sunny garcia, cory lopez, shane beschen, shea lopez, jason collins, tim reyes, nathan carroll, and rochelle ballard.
locations: 1/10
by far the weakest part of the game. all the breaks are fantasy locations. names like snapper break, fiddlesticks, etc. how hard would it have been to include a few land sites, particular weather patterns and real world location names? apparently hard, becuase ubi soft decided against it.
music: 3/10
another punk inspired 'extreme sports' soundtrack. bands like spung monkey, and mxpx. nothing worth mentioning. although i'll give them credit for choosing songs featured in current surf movies, i'll move just as quick to take that back for lack of effort and thought.
lasting appeal: 7/10
although the game has no real world surf locations, no innovative music selection, and a below average surfer lineup, i still find myself playing this game months after the release. the gameplay and sim style approach is just that good. if your a surfer, or appreciate the sport on any level, you should check this game out.
overall: 6/10
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