Mac game publisher Aspyr Media has announced its latest conversion project: The company is working on the Mac and PC conversions of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer. Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer puts players.
Players guide World Professional Surfing Champion Kelly Slater across some of the best waves that the beaches of the world have to offer in this release for the PlayStation 2 console. Slater is joined by Lisa Andersen, Tom Carroll, Donavon Frankenreiter, and several other professional surfers of international renown in this never-ending quest for the perfect ride on the perfect wave.
Kelly Slater Surf Game Machine
In terms of gameplay and style, this title falls in line with similarly themed Activision releases like Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX and the category-founding Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, featuring real-world brand names, an intuitive interface, a suitably alternative soundtrack, and a large catalog of unbelievable tricks and combos. Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer was developed by the Interactive Republic Corporation and uses a new proprietary engine to create realistic, dynamic virtual waves for the pro boarders.
.jpg "Surfer")
Adding to the list of sports in Activision O2's portfolio of extreme sports made into games is surfing. Again following the release of their console equivalents is this, the PC version of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer. Like Matt Hoffman and Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater is apparently a god when it comes to surfing, although I really wouldn't know. Not to worry though if you don't know anything about surfing either as Pro Surfer is a really accessible game that I would even go so far as to say educates the gamer about surfing.
Right after booting the game up, the gamer will be treated to quite a long video introducing you to Kelly Slater and the world of surfing. At the beginning of each location that you surf, you will be shown a video of the history of the location in the surfing world, and the impact and contribution that that location has made. This gives the game a nice feel of peeking into the world of surfers and learning more about the lifestyle and the locations in the game. This is definitely very interesting for surfers and non surfers alike.
The gameplay mechanics are quite similar to the other O2 extreme sports games: Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, and of course the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series. There is one button to jump off the top of the wave, another button to slide your board, a grab button, and a carve button. Each of these buttons also has a secondary function in different given situations. Using each of these buttons in different combinations, the player is able to perform various tricks on the face of the wave, and in the air when doing aerial tricks.
For those of you familiar with the other O2 games, you will immediately recognize the style of the game as there is the ability to link tricks and maximize your special meter which will allow you to perform more complicated, cooler tricks. Most gamers will probably want to take a quick run through the tutorial which explains everything as this game has a few nuances and is not just Tony Hawk on water.
One problem that the gameplay suffers from is the simplicity of the moves. Most moves can simply be executed by double tapping one of the buttons or by holding a button. By quickly mashing on the buttons, it is very easy to max out your special meter. At this point it is possible to perform a special move. The only problem is that the special moves are also very easy to perform. Overall, this leaves a fairly simple and unchallenging level of gameplay. Also, many of the moves appear very similar and the excitement garnered by mixing many different looking tricks is not there.
The greatest challenge is in landing the aerial tricks as the greatest points are awarded for landing a perfect trick. The direction of landing is what is critical here as landing a perfect trick requires the player to land at a perfect 180 degrees to their angle of takeoff. The only problem is that the angle of takeoff is very difficult to determine, and after a few spins in the air, which also adds points to the trick, it is very difficult to determine what angle at which to land in order not to fall, let alone land a perfect trick. This is primarily due to the water graphics. As good as the water effects are there are no markers so that you can tell in which direction the momentum of your character is traveling. This appears to be more of a design flaw than a viable challenge as it makes landing a decent trick very difficult not through the mechanics of the game but through a problem that will likely be experienced by most gamers.
One cool thing that can be done in the game is the ability to ride tubes. This means that as a surfer, you can ride within the crest of the wave. At this point a balance meter is displayed on screen and to maintain your position in the tube you must balance the joypad from left to right much like a grind in the Tony Hawk games. Apart from this little part of the game, there isn't a whole lot of variation in the types of things that you can do.
The layout of the game is very similar to the other O2 titles. There is a two player mode, a career mode, and single player challenge and practice mode. All the extra videos of locations and surfers that you have unlocked appear in an extras section that you can view at any time. The career mode is the real meat of the game and this is where the extra surfboards, improvement on surfer's skills and the more surf videos can be unlocked. The upgrades to your surfer's skills can not be chosen, but happen automatically when clearing a certain number of career objectives. The different surf boards that you affect your surfer's ability to perform in different ways. Some will be more built for speed while others will afford you a better carving ability.
The graphics here are really top notch with the water effects looking especially crisp. At the higher resolutions, the game is a true beauty to behold. As an added bonus as well, the system requirements really aren't that steep and even top systems from a few months ago should be fine at the higher resolutions. One piece of hardware to ensure that you have sprouting from your USB port is a gamepad as this will improve your level of enjoyment as it will afford you so much more control.
While in no way a serious contender of taking the crown of extreme sports games away from the Tony Hawk series, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer offers an interesting look into the world of surfing. The gameplay is fairly solid, if a little elementary and repetitive, but does offer enough of a challenge in its specific career goals as to offer most gamers at least a little diversion from some of the more deserving holiday titles.
People who downloaded Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer have also downloaded:
Championship Surfer, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Links 2003, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, KartingRace, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, International Cue Club
|
| Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer December 22, 2003 | D.G. Chichester |
|
Kelly Slater News
Click to enlarge |
Extreme sports games arguably came into their own with the Tony Hawk skateboarding series, and by that defining style all other titles (so far) have to suffer at least comparison (and at worst, degradation). For those never exposed to Mr. Hawk in digital form, a brief intro: in a third-person perspective, the player navigates a virtual skateboarder through real or impromptu skateparks, pulling off high flying trick moves while hitting goals and avoiding obstacles.
Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer wisely uses that model as a foundation. Like Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater is an icon of his sport. The youngest surfer to ever win a world title, he’s gone on to become a six time world champ. But rather than simply lending his name to a game that swapped “skate” for “surf” (and switched sidewalks for sea foam), he and the game makers have taken the time to infuse this title with a distinct quality: a palpable “spirit” of surfing. The result is a unique and challenging game that both surfers and non-surfers should enjoy. (And I speak with some authority regarding the latter camp.)
They say, “Getting there is half the fun,” but in this case I’ll beg to differ. Although there’s entertainment a’plenty once you’ve got Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer (henceforth, KSPS) running properly, there are critical hurdles to overcome and considerations to take into account. (Bear with this next section — it gets the grief out of the way so you can get on to the good stuff.)First, check your out of the box version number. If you’re at 1.0, download the (at least) 1.01 patch from Aspyr. This fixes a nasty bug that causes textures to appear pure white, making it as if you’re wandering through a ghost world, rendering the game basically unplayable. Next, test out the video resolution settings on the initial set up screen. Resolutions start at 640 x 480 and go up to 1280 x 1024, with options for anti aliasing and high quality shadows. Although I was running the game on an “above specs” machine (an 867 MHz G4, with a Radeon 8500 graphics card) I still found the default and higher settings resulted in jerky game play and animation. More than once, the “incorrect” settings caused the game to freeze up just as I arrived at a particular beach, forcing a complete reboot. (A rare occurrence under OS X.)
Kelly Slater Surf Game Mac And Grill
But these are caveats. The game finally came into its own at a resolution of 800 x 600, with no anti aliasing or shadows — but arriving at this mix proved a grind, as you can’t change graphic (or control) options once you’re in the game. You have to quit out of the whole game (in itself a needlessly lengthy process) and restart to try out a new mix of settings.
Once you’ve got the settings to your satisfaction, keep your contentment level high by adding a game controller. Although there are plenty of customizable keyboard commands available to run KSPS, it’s an awkward fit and distracts from the play. The fact remains the game has roots in console gaming and you will quickly find its control mechanism better suited to a game pad than a keyboard. Fortunately, the initial set up screen recognized my controller right off, and again provides complete customization for mapping any buttons to the in game controls.
Mac racing game 2017 free. Torment is filled with compelling writing and unique gameplay scenarios, in which you’ll need to outthink enemies at times instead of just fighting.
With that out of the way, you’re in for a treat. Waves rise up smoothly behind your surfer, building with a real sense of majesty and often force. The effect actually lives up to the KSPS tagline, “Never the same wave twice.” Guiding your character over, atop and under the waves is a very smooth, appropriately sinuous, experience. Frame rates move at a good clip. There’s a tangible sense of physics at work as you play off the water, sliding through it when you’re in the groove, struggling against it as you’re caught in a cross current or about to be smashed under a sudden rush. The mechanics respond very quickly to the button mashing (or, if you insist, keyboard punching) required to pull off the great range of tricks at each surfer’s command.
Kelly Slater Surf Game Machines
| Pages: | 1 | 2 | 3 | Gallery |