Wave Break

It is finally here, Wave Break was a timed exclusive for Google Stadia, but that time is now over and now it is on its way to Steam. As a massive fan of skateboarding games, I have long been looking for something to scratch that birdman itch if you know what I am saying. I feel that this is the closest that any game has come to doing that and it adds enough of its own craziness to make it stand out on its own.

Miami Vice

This game is kind of crazy. The story of the game is set in the 80s and features these animals that are in a kind of Miami Vice world. Wave Break features you playing as this bear who is doing these various tasks for some not so good people (well animals) it is a lot of fun and completely over the top and it works like a charm.

Tony Hawk’s Wave Skater

To say that this game is inspired by the Tony Hawk series is a massive understatement. The basic controls are exactly the same as Tony Hawk. The buttons for jump, grind, grab and flip are all exactly where they are in the Tony Hawk series. This is great on one hand as it gives Wave Break a real familiarity about it. However, the gameplay is not quite as slick and smooth as Tony Hawk and this can throw you off at first. Eventually, you start to get it and play the game as its own thing rather than just trying to copy exactly what you would do in Tony Hawk. The levels are set out like a Tony Hawk game where you have various objectives to complete such as getting high scores, combos, and finding items.

Wait, What About The Water?

Ok, so while you can “skate” your boat on dry land and that is very similar to other skateboarding games. Wave Break has another gimmick and that is the fact you are at the end of the day in a boat! As a result, your boat can go into water where it controls very differently and you can do other things like jump on the waves and so on. It does take a while to get to grips with going from water to dry land, but once you do it feels great.

Vice City

I just fell in love with the presentation of the game right away. It has that 80s style that we all know and love. It is bright, over the top, and the game even though it stars animals has that Miami Vice, 80s cop show feel, and it well and truly embraces it. Another thing here is that there are guns… yes guns! In the campaign, you very rarely have to shoot, but the shooting comes into its own in the multiplayer deathmatch mode. Here you need to shoot players to take them down, make money and buy more guns. It is a fun addition in this mode, but it does feel a tad tacked on in the other modes.

Pros:

• The whole premise and setting is great
• It does play similarly to the Tony Hawk series
• The deathmatch mode with the guns is hilarious
• This is the kind of game that is very addictive

Cons:

• The guns in most of the game do feel tacked on
• The load times can be pretty brutal when you have to reload another level/run