Background Info

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Named after the popular magazine of the same name, TransWorld Surf (TWS) is the first surfing game for the Xbox and the first title in the newly established TransWorld line of games. (TransWorld Snowboarding for the Xbox is forthcoming, followed by a PS2 port of this very game.) This is not the first action-sports game to receive support from a major magazine. Thrasher: Skate and Destroy, released in 1999 for the Sony PlayStation, was backed by--you guessed it--Thrasher magazine.

TWS's accomplished developer, Angel Studios, is best known for Midnight Club: Street Racing and the two Smuggler's Run games for the PS2. In fact, Angel Studios has never developed an action-sports title, making TWS its first foray into this crowded sub-genre of sports gaming. Does the developer succeed in delivering an enjoyable surfing experience? Read on to find out.

Presentation/Graphics : 85
The breathtaking water in TWS will have you checking your Xbox for leaks, and it is easily the most impressive and realistic visual aspect of the game. Everything about the ocean, from the rippling water to the breaking waves, is modeled to near perfection. Different times of day cast different light on the ocean, with each location featuring a unique hue of water. Massive barrels engulf you, spraying individual water drops and stirring up thick foam. Beneath the water, you will find rock formations, sharks, and bubbles. Of course, the only times you will be underneath the water are during wipeouts, duck-dives, and shark attacks. Wave type and size varies among the nine beautiful real-life locations, based closely on actual surf spots around the world. Some of the locations include Australia, France, San Francisco, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and Tahiti. Most of the backgrounds are eye catching, but a few of them fail to impress.

You are not the only one among the waves in TWS, as locals, chicks on Jet Skis (a.k.a. "Reef Girls"), and other surfers populate each surf spot. In addition, various creatures of the sea--including realistic-looking and smoothly animated sharks, dolphins, and sea turtles--swim about while you surf. Even annoying seagulls fly overhead...without dropping their garbage, luckily. Sharks attack violently when given the chance, though there is no bloodletting involved. (Come on, the game is rated T, so at least give us a few drops, à la Tony Hawk's Pro Skater!) A variety of objects, such as buoys and boats, float in the water, adding additional liveliness to each ocean.

Thirteen professional surfers grace TWS, with only one female surfer in the male-dominated lineup. Thankfully, the lovely Reef Girls, who ride Jet Skis and help you out during the game, add an extra dose of estrogen. The unrealistically shiny polygon models of the surfers, while not exactly up to Xbox standards, are well composed and do a decent job representing the professional surfers on which they are based. Fortunately, silky smooth animation overshadows the unspectacular appearance of the surfers. There are no jerks or stutters in the surfers' animations, only smooth, flowing movements. Simply watching your surfer paddle around the ocean is a treat; seeing him or her gracefully carve a wave or brave a massive barrel is especially awesome. Surfboards vary in style, height, and width, and unique designs and logos decorate them. Furthermore, clothing style varies among the pros, with each surfer donning a wetsuit in cold water.

TWS features the best camera system of any surfing game, though it is not without flaws. The camera follows your movements fluidly and is neither too close nor too far from the action. Occasionally, it zooms in or out, depending on your location on the wave or your position relative to objects in the ocean. For example, when you ride inside a barrel of a wave, the camera zooms in behind your surfer, providing a cinematic and very playable view of the action. On the other hand, when you approach a hazardous part of the ocean, like a bunker section, the camera pulls back to give you a clear view of your surroundings. You can manually adjust the camera with the controller's right analog stick, zooming in or out on the action. Fiddling with the camera does interfere with gameplay momentarily, since you lose some control over your surfer, but it is quite necessary at times. This is most problematic during Pro Tour mode, in which you must occasionally override the camera to complete certain goals. Unfortunately, you cannot avoid this, because there is only one camera view available. And as good as it is, there are times when you will need to adjust it manually to get a better view of the action.

Besides the minor camera problems, TWS suffers from a jerky frame-rate, which you can completely smoothen by disabling the game's music or by enabling one of your custom soundtracks via the pause menu. Strangely, the frame-rate is noticeably smoother when background music is disabled. This is partly due to the brief stutter that occurs between songs, as well as visible jerks in the frame-rate while a song plays. Apart from the fixable stutters, minor slowdown occurs on occasions, particularly when many objects are on the screen or when surfing through consecutive tunnels of immense barrels.

Presentation/Audio : 80
Like most Xbox games, TWS supports Dolby Digital 5.1, offering several discrete audio channels and a low-frequency effect. The DD 5.1 mix is not as spacious or as strong as the one in other Xbox games--namely, Halo, Mad Dash Racing, and Cel Damage--but it is good enough. Music plays exclusively through the front speakers, while sound effects play from each available speaker. Unlike some current Xbox titles, TWS properly and effectively uses the center channel of the 5.1 mix, playing comments and the announcer's voice through the center speaker. Although the sound effects are solid, they do not take full advantage of the system's 5.1 audio capabilities. There are no directional effects, and the rear speakers merely echo the front speakers, unlike with some Xbox games that emit discrete sounds through the surround speakers.

Still, whether you hear the game through a TV or a high-end digital receiver equipped with killer speakers, you will enjoy the sound of crashing waves, roaring barrels, and various ambient noises unique to each location. However, the repetitive comments from the Reef Girls and rival surfers, who praise and criticize your performance, eventually get old. Sadly, you cannot disable the comments. Announcing fares a bit better because the game's energetic announcer suits the game well and usually provides worthwhile information. The announcer's voice may sound familiar to those who watch Bluetorch on the Fox Sports Net cable channel.

TWS has a huge soundtrack (so huge, in fact, the instruction manual devotes five and half pages to music credits alone), containing many styles of music, including punk, rock, funk, groove, reggae, and more. The soundtrack is composed mostly of unknowns and independent artists, although it has a few well-known groups, like Sum 41 and NOFX. Other, less-known artists include Alfa One Seven, Sloe, No Motiv, Pepper, The Plug Uglies, Turnedown, Stranded, Dr. Onionskin, and Tony Guerrero. The more than six-dozen tunes are split among eight specific soundtracks (punk, groove, mixed, etc.), which you can choose from in the pause menu. Depending on your taste in music, many songs will be throwaways. However, with the ability to play your own soundtracks via the Xbox's hard drive, the music never gets old. As mentioned earlier, you may want to stick with your own tunes--or none at all--to enjoy a frame-rate devoid of stuttering.

Interface/Options : 86
TWS offers stylish menus, quick load times, and a good amount of options and extras. Menus are hip and easy to navigate, with most of the load screens containing background music and gameplay tips to keep you distracted during loading. Dozens of videos are included--not counting the ones you must unlock through the Pro Tour mode--most of which promote surfing videos and products, though there is a cool trailer of the upcoming TransWorld Snowboarding. The game's audio options let you toggle Dolby Surround and adjust the sound levels of the music, sound effects, and announcer's voice. Vibration can be disabled, and advanced TWS players can turn off the "surfer guides," which display helpful hints during gameplay. Finally, you can view any replays you have saved and check out the game's credits.

The following professional surfers are in TWS: Rochelle Ballard, Shawn, Barron, Taj Burrow, Jason Collins, Tim Curran, Shane Dorian, Christian Fletcher, Andy Irons, Taylor Knox, Cory Lopez, Dan Malloy, Fred Patacchia, and Chris Ward. A few of these pros recently appeared in Sunny Garcia Surfing for the PS2, but most make their video game debut in TWS. The game rates each pro's surfing ability in the areas of Speed, Airs, Paddling, Balance, and Handling. There are four basic surfboards in the game (a fish, two short boards, and a gun), and they carry the same stats as the surfers. Unfortunately, you cannot create surfers, alter stats, or modify the appearance or performance of surfboards.

Infogrames, the game's publisher, has promoted the game as having "pick up and play controls." The controls are indeed easy to adjust to, but as you will learn in the next section, this is not a game you can "pick up and play" without experiencing multiple wipeouts first. That said, the controls are arranged quite well, with each button on the Xbox controller performing a specific function. Paddling controls consist of a Stand button, a Reef Girl button, and a Duck Dive button. When paddling, you use the left analog stick to control direction and the right one to adjust the camera. Calling a Reef Girl with the Y button lets you hitch a quick ride to a wave without wasting time paddling. Surfing controls are a bit more complex, as there are more functions. The left and right analog sticks control direction and camera position, respectively, while the face buttons perform ollies/airs, snap turns, floaters, stalls, and dismounts. The trigger buttons control grabs during hangtime. Naturally, these are just the basic controls, as you must press combinations of buttons and move the right analog stick in specific directions to do advanced tricks and special maneuvers.

Gameplay : 85
Although TWS features professional surfers, well-known sponsors, and fairly realistic water physics and surfing mechanics, it is hardly a pure simulation of surfing. Yet, the high difficulty level of the game and tricky combo system make it more than a simple Tony Hawk-style romp on waves.

To begin, the game has more than 30 tricks (some are real, others are exaggerations) and a smart combo system that lets you link as many of them as you possibly can. Moreover, each surfer has three special tricks, two of which are unique to him or her, which you can do when you fill the trick meter. As per the standard action-sports-game formula, you fill the trick meter by doing tricks, with the meter slowly diminishing as you surf and completely emptying when you wipeout. Tricks called floaters are similar to boardslides in a skateboarding game; that is, you slide along the lip of a wave and must maintain balance via a balance meter. There are several types of floaters in the game, but each surfer can only do three: a boardslide floater, a crooked floater, and one special floater. Next are snaps, which, for purposes of this review, are similar to manuals in the Tony Hawk games, in that they help link tricks. Various spin, grab, and flip tricks (kick flips, heel flips, etc.) are possible, and you can land and execute tricks in a fakie (i.e., backwards). Lastly, you can ride inside barrels, doing snaps inside it to add to your multiplier. You can rack up some major points by adding a long barrel run at the end of a combo, just as long as you manage to exit the barrel successfully.

Moving up and down the face of the wave builds speed, and you carve by doing large, smooth turns. To catch air, you can launch straight off the lip or preload with the A button to increase your air. Landing cleanly is very important--and one of the more difficult elements to master--as you will wipeout if you do not land perfectly. Linking tricks is also vital because single tricks do not score many points, especially since point value decreases as you repeat tricks. To build a combo, you must execute consecutive tricks as quickly as possible without wiping out. For instance, airing into and out of a floater, followed by a snap turn into a barrel, multiplies your trick score by five. The more tricks you mix into a combo, the more points you will score. Each trick in the combo must be unique, however, because repeating a trick does not add it to the combo. Eventually, you will learn how to link multiple tricks and score some major points with one combo. However, unlike the Tony Hawk series, it takes practice to link even a small number of tricks, and there are no outrageous million-point combos here.

TWS has a unique Karma Meter, which displays your level of karma. Your karma fluctuates based on your interaction with sea life and the other surfers, decreasing when you wreak havoc on the waves. Although your karma level dictates how the creatures of the sea and rival surfers react to your presence on the waves, the Karma Meter is not always accurate. The game's instruction manual claims that colliding with sea life or stealing a wave from another surfer will cause your karma to fall, but this is not always the case. Other times, your karma will decrease for no apparent reason. Still, the Karma Meter is a neat addition and is something other surfing games lack.

Modes of play include Pro Tour, Single Session, Free Surf, and Multiplayer. Sorry, Virginia, there's no Practice mode to teach you how to surf, so you must brave the waves on your own. Pro Tour mode borrows heavily from other action-sports games, such as the Tony Hawk and Dave Mirra titles. In Pro Tour, you must meet a series of goals (72 in all) and win competitions. Sound familiar? Goals range from performing specific maneuvers and tasks to meeting high scores. Competitions consist of three heats and force you to go big, wiping out as little as possible, to take home the gold and a new surfboard. While Pro Tour mode is challenging--and occasionally frustrating--its only real twist is in the form of photo shoots, wherein you must impress photographers with your moves to land a spot on TransWorld Surf magazine and unlock competitions. Even this has been done before; Thrasher: Skate and Destroy challenged players to make the cover of Thrasher mag, and THPS3 is laden with photo ops. In other words, if you played an action-sports title before, you have played this mode--only not on a surfboard. It's a shame, really, because the tight gameplay in TWS deserves something a bit more fresh.

Single Session and Free Surf are the obligatory "filler" modes, with Single Session being timed and Free Surf giving you free rein to carve as long as you like. Multiplayer mode contains three basic, self-explanatory games (King of the Wave, Competition, and Free Surf) for up to four players. Surfing does not lend itself well to single-screen multiplayer action, since the split screen greatly diminishes each player's view of the waves. Someday, we will be able to play a surfing game online. For now, split screen must do.

Replay Value : 83
There is a great deal of stuff to unlock in TWS, and its Pro Tour mode is lengthy and packs quite a challenge, even if it lacks innovation. But not every gamer will have the desire--or patience--to play through the Pro Tour mode thirteen times. On the opposite end, Free Surf lets you explore each unlocked ocean at your own pace and is actually very relaxing. Multiplayer mode is decent but lacks the excitement and playability of the multiplayer modes in other action-sports game. If you are a fan of surfing, or merely enjoy exploiting a game's trick/combo system for all it's worth, you will get more mileage out of TWS than the average gamer.

Overall : 84
Best surfing game available? Certainly...but TransWorld Surfing does not have any real competition apart from the forgettable Sunny Garcia Surfing on the PS2. Nevertheless, the gameplay is solid, despite the Pro Tour mode's complete lack of originality. With Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer on the horizon, time will tell if TWS will be able to stay afloat in the slowly expanding pool of surfing games.