Pros: realistic physics, superb wave engine
Cons: mediocre visuals and sound, no real life breaks

Introductory Rant:
Surfing... gaming's final frontier? Board sports seem to be the big thing right now. Tony Hawk is the hottest franchise in gaming (1 million sold in 2 weeks?!) and SSX (a snowboarding game for PS2) is getting a similar reception from the press and the public. Elsewhere, copycat snowboarding and skating games are popping up on just about every console from PSX to the NGPC.

Despite the boarding craze, a successful representation of surfing has NEVER been developed on any console. California Games had that cool little surfing event in it, Town & Country on NES was fun for a few minutes, and more recently, the very poorly executed Surfing H30 showed that technological advancements don't always equate to improved gameplay.

Part of the problem is that there are some variables about the sport of surfing that make it very difficult to translate into a video game: wind conditions, board size and shape, break types, and most of all... WAVES! Also, surfing is much more of a niche sport than skating or snowboarding. The fact that you need to live near a beach with waves to actually surf, limits its immediate poplularity. Because of these factors, development houses are probably more wary of putting a surfing game on the market.

My History with Championship Surfer:
Although I currently reside in New York City, I have many fond memories of surfing while I was growing up in LA. I'm also a big gamer, so I've waited a long time for a good surfing video game. I first read a preview of this game in NextGen magazine about 5 months ago. The screenshots looked great, and the preview was positive. Ever since, I've been eagerly anticipating its arrival. Information and opinions on Championship Surfer have been scarce. What little I did hear about the game and its developer (Krome Studios) was positive. Krome developed a small PC game a few years back called Mike Stewart's Pro Bodyboarding that was said to have a fantastic wave generation engine, so that was a plus. I also heard that the guys at Krome are avid surfers, which was important to me (I can't confirm this, but from playing the game, you can tell). I just can't imagine non-surfers being able to create a game true to the sport. These guys put forth alot of effort into recreating the experience of surfing on a video game, and they definitely knew what they were doing. I had anxiously high expectations for Championship Surfer, and the game does not disappoint.

***side note*** It took me a while to find this game. I visited 6 different stores in Manhattan before I was able to locate it at good ol' Babbage's. The managers and employees at the other 5 stores had never even heard of the game. Championship who?

About the Game:
The presentation of the game is fairly bland. Cover art is very plain, and the manual has no illustrations. The intro video footage is of very poor quality, and looks like old 70s betamax footage, but it does sort of hype you up for the game. In-game menus are a bit spartan but effective and easy to navigate.

Graphics are above-average. The beaches and backgrounds, although somewhat simple give a nice feel. Surfer models could have used more detail, but the waves are very well done (although they are also slightly lacking in detail). Championship Surfer doesn't push the Dreamcast to its limits, but it ain't an eyesore either.

Same goes for the animation. The surfers move realistically, but the moves could have been made a bit smoother. Sense of speed however, is very accurately recreated which is a big plus.

Sound effects are a bit sparse, but passable. They water sounds are nice, but they could have done more like adding crowd noise, crowd chatter and a commentator during contests. The addition of a contest commentator would have been an especially welcome touch.

Music is mediocre and repetitive, but not horrible. There are some surf rock inspired songs, a few rock tunes and some electronic stuff. Some Dick Dale would have been a nice addition.

Luckily, with regards to the most important part of the game, gameplay Krome has done (almost) everything right on its first try. This game plays very realistically. There are some funky modes in there, like Rumble mode, where you battle an opponent on a single wave with rubber duckies while trying to pick up goodies and points, but the heart of this game in my opinion is free surf, where there is no point other than to surf with no time limit. Championship Surfer offers a variety of camera angles from very far to a rear view tubecam, and these can be toggled with the L-trigger or the Y-button. Switching perspectives at the right times is a big part of the game. Krome has also included auto-switch camera view option, but button-switching offers much more freedom.

One thing to note about gameplay is that Championship Surfer is a very difficult game. The lack of a tutorial mode will leave many non-surfers and casual gamers in frustration. For example, non-surfers probably will not know some of the nuances of the sport that surfers will know. A tutorial mode could have done alot to educate surf newbies about things that the game effectively simulates like: offshore versus onshore winds, how to shift your body weight on take off, that it is much easier to catch waves with a longer board, that pin tails are better suited for carving long lines while square tails are the best trick boards, or that big waves are better suited for longer, heavier boards.

What's Missing?
Krome has developed a fantastic game engine, but despite all that this game does well, there are ALOT of things that have been curiously left out:
1) Why no bail button? Sometimes you just gotta bail out in style.
2) Why don't the tubes in this game spit? One of the most rewarding and exhilarating moments in surfing is when you disappear deep into a barrel and then get shot out like a screaming cannonball, but the game does not recreate this experience. Outrage!
3) Where is big wave mode? How about some 8 foot guns and 25-foot faces? That would rule!
4) Why no real life locations?! Real life breaks like Hossegor, Pipeline, Rincon and Tavarua would have been sweet. Even Waikiki, with its 3-foot waves and fat tourists to get in your way would be cool.
5) Why no other surfers in the lineup? The surf photographers are cool, and the snorkelers are ok, but instead of multiple surfers in the lineup to act as obstacles, we get weird out-of-place stuff like mines, wooden crates, and buoys. PS- Those sharks are scary!
6) A larger and cooler variety of surfers would be nice. An official ASP Tour license would have done wonders for this game.

Closing Rant:
Krome has created something that I never thought was possible, a surfing video game that is not only a blast to play, but that faithfully recreates the experience of real surfing. The only thing that this game lacks is a pinch of graphical and aural polish + some real life locations, and possibly a better license. Much of the reason for this was probably due to budget restrictions. Krome is a smaller development house and this game has sadly received very little hype or marketing. Hopefully word of mouth will be enough to sell this superb game.

Everyone please go out and buy this game so that Krome can get a big budget and add more stuff to this superb engine in the sequel! While it's not a perfect product, Championship Surfer is the next best thing to paddling into the lineup and experiencing the real thing, and I can't wait for a sequel. For that reason alone, I have to give it at least 4 out of 5. The negatives I've expressed are very superficial in the grand scheme of this game. Music, sound effects and visuals might be mediocre, but the gameplay and physics are fantastic, and that's what's important.