Surf's Up

Yet another game made out of a movie, Surf's Up is a racing game in which all of the participants are penguins riding atop surfboards. In the game, you complete laps around courses situated on ocean or river environments. You get to perform a variety of tricks in the air by pressing the correct sequence of buttons when projected upwards on certain obstacles or ramps. There are also weapon boxes scattered around the track, although you don't have much control over the tricks. The attractive 3D graphics generally put the system's horsepower to good use. The frame rate also remains smooth, even when waves are crashing down and the characters are performing somersaults in midair. Characters bounce around constantly as their boogie boards pass over waves. That, combined with the splashy landings, gives Surf's Up the same sort of look and feel as Wave Race or Jet Moto. The sound effects mainly consist of generic splashing noises and brief repetitive character comments. If you don't like the soundtracks that come with the game, you have the option of making a playlist using your own MP3 files by placing them into the game's folder on the memory stick.

Races are still loads of fun despite not being able to control your character's acrobatics. The real question is how much play time you'll actually get out of the game before you're done with it. The single-player championship mode consists of five meets that contain four courses each, for a grand total of 20 races. A three-lap race typically takes roughly five minutes to finish, which means you'll only need about two hours to finish all 20 courses and earn the championship. Going through the championship unlocks courses for use in the free surf mode, as well as additional characters that you can use in all play modes. The free surf mode is nothing special as it simply contains one-off races, time attacks, and survival races using the standard courses. The multiplayer mode offers different options depending on whether or not your friends have their own copies of the game. As many as eight people can compete in races and in Mario Kart-style arena matches if everyone has a copy. However, if there's only a single copy to go around, you'll be limited to two players and have half as many locations from which to choose. The multiplayer isn't compelling enough to compensate for the sparse single-player offerings, but if you can find some people to play with, you will definitely get a few extra hours out of the game.

Overall, the game doesn't offer much in the way of content. If you're a great fan of the movie, you'll appreciate the way the characters are portrayed and enjoy speeding through races with them. Just don't expect to get more than an afternoon or two out of the game before you're finished with it.

Yuwei's gonna be in Bintan for a 3mth internship! So excited for him, even though it's only a 40min ferry ride away. It's still considered an "overseas internship" k. Anyway we just read about Xiaxue's entry on her bad experience at Angsana Resorts Bintan. We dont really read her blog all the time (yes, i refuse to contribute to her ads dollars) but because of the internship, yuwei better read up on any news about the resort. It was really bad publicity for the resort but some stuff wasnt really their fault (like when the tar on the beaches stained her clothes, it was a common beach and they cant stop the tar from coming onto the beach rite..) From the way they reply her, they probably dont care about her swearing them upside-down haha. I'll still visit Bintan anyway, to visit Yuwei =)

By the way, 5th May is a Monday, not Tuesday. 60hrs before the flight, I just realised that I'm leaving on a different day that I've always thought so. It's on 5th May 320am!! It changes alot. (1) I cant talk to Jiakai online anymore because by the time she reach home, we'll already be on the plane. So she better access internet somehow and reply my how-to-get-to-ur-place-in-paris mail. (2) I cant collect our train reservation from STA on Monday because we're already on the flight (again). Luckily uncle's there to help. Thanks uncle Gary! It's gonna be his 5th trip to STA, opsy! (3) We're taking the same flight as Kah Yong! Yay more in-flight entertainment! haha (4) I only have half a day to pack my stuff after sending yuwei to the jetty on Sunday. Yes I wanted to start packing only on Monday but it seems impossible now. I better start tomorrow. (5) I need to reschedule things I plan to do Sunday and Monday all on Sunday! (picking up walkie talkie from Jingwan, buy snacks/sweets/biscuits, remove my half gone nail polish from my toes, settle credit card bills etc.) *Panicks*