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Carve Review
Derek dela Fuente
23/03/2004
Argonaut apply their creative touch to the water-racer genre; leaving us asking do we actualyl need anymore...
If you were forced to name 20 of the top developers worldwide, based on recent releases, then Argonaut would surely be in that top bunch although if you were to do the same based on the last 15 years then they could well be in the top five. Although Argonaut is still creating some excellent titles their days as being known as the purveyors of new ideas and stretching a format to its limit have long gone. This brings us to Carve, a new game from the team, which has been off and on in development terms for a number of years.
Water based games have never been top of any gamersā āmust haveā list, although there is as much latitude in racing on water as there is on the road and it is even more picturesque but when you hear about the setting of the world of extreme watercraft racing it barely summons up much excitement!
The premise of Carve, which is XBOX Live enabled, is a water-based game/sport in which you can compete on one of 27 global location tracks in diverse settings such as Thailand, Iceland, Amsterdam and the Grand Canyon. You must earn your water wings and then attempt to master the ultimate challenge of the Steel Ocean. But first, you've got to decide who you're going to ride as ā“ Max, rich boy gone bad, or perhaps the allure of ice maiden cum water babe Amiko is more to your liking!
To start the game you choose who you wish to be and a list of options for the kind of play you prefer to undertake - whether it be a short race or multiplayer or plenty in-between. Wanting to get into the swing of things as quickly as possible whilst taking in the gameās tutorial, to familiarize the player with some of the tasks and tracks on hand, was straightforward. The first adrenaline fix via the quick race, which served up the real essence of the game, was the lasting impression we got, which was not entirely positive!
The basic ideas ā“ wining races and performing tasks/tricks were mirrored by the game controls ā“ basic and simple. This is not a downer on the game, for easy to understand and execute controls are always a plus factor, but only when the game offers up a real challenge.
Think of a watercourse and buoys, other racers, ramps, twist and turns ā“ this is the simple premise for the overall design. In most cases it would be hard to distinguish what course was pertinent to which country or even location. Thatās not to say the designs were in any way boring ā“ although to be honest they were!
Catapulting over ramps, doing some neat gyrations, staying out of the turbulences thrown up by the others racers, just wasnāt enough to inspire the player to really compete and be the best. All the time you were constantly thinking more about getting up some speed and staying on course rather than thinking about the other racers! It should be a shared objective.
Could it be that water based games are not the perfect setting for an enthralling video game? Could it be that the design layout in Carve is just too cumbersome? Itās highly probable that is a combination of the two.
Underlying principles are trick and treat. Get a trick and action right and you get a treat ā“ you stay on course. Not much of a reward ā“ eh?
It must be pointed out that the handling and physics of the game is top notch but the underlying fact you canāt really move at pace whilst being able to see what is in front and guide your hydra craft without constantly colliding is really frustrating. Some games you want to turn off after the shortest possible time and Carve is one of them! There is no incentive factor!
Carve combines the liquid physics of its environment-mapped bump-mapping (EMBM) system with trick heavy ramp action but the impressive technicalities far outweigh decent and progressive gameplay! Weāve also got to have a moan at the lack of serious waves within the courses; compared to the tsunamis of Wave Race: Blue storm, Carve is like a wet drip.
The set of racers have a list of tricks that they can perform but the disernable differences in the actual execution of them and the outcome of the overall challenge borders on the mundane. Sadly thereās just not enough to give the trick system any merit, whilst the fact that all characters share the same is pitiful; although Tony Hawks fans will enjoy the way that you can link tricks to form big combos. One particularly neat aspect is the RUSH system, which grants players a temporary speed boost based on successful tricks, the complexity of which determines how long the boost lasts; balancing the boost after a trick certainly provides the biggest challenge within the game.
Carve does look pretty with nice bold graphics and animations, along with some water specific techniques but these are more to do with technology than pure game designing.
Gyrating around and underneath (more often than not) the waves, chucking your hands in the air and doing some crazy things with your water jets could never have been so lacklustre. Put it another way, do this in real life and both you and your vehicle would be pulp with 30 seconds!
