Developed by CRI Middleware and released by Crave Entertainment in late 2000 in Europe and early 2001 in the rest of the world, Surf Rocket Racers picked up where Nintendo’s Wave Race 64 left off, and brought the world of jet skiing to the Sega Dreamcast. Confusingly, in Japan the game was published by CRI and released under the title Power Jet Racing 2001, meaning that in a tenuous way it could actually be considered a first party title (what with CRI, CSK and Sega's convoluted business relationship during that time).
Surf Rocket Racers is a lesser-known Dreamcast title that I stumbled upon recently as part of research for another project I’m currently working on, and it instantly appealed to me as a fine example of an arcade racer. If you’re bored of racing cars around street circuits, then this might just be the racing game you’ve been looking for.
Players must select one of the various characters on offer to start their jet skiing career. The usual suspects are on offer and you can decide if you want top acceleration, speed or handling whilst compromising the others. “Ryan” is the Super Mario of the group who has average stats in every category and thus a great starting point. Controlling your rider is about as simple as you could make it; with the right trigger being used to accelerate and the analogue stick being used to steer. A flick of the analogue stick in a direction will pull off a trick when jumping off a ramp, and that’s all there is to it.
I was slightly disappointed to discover that there aren’t too many tracks to race on, but there is enough variety across the different locations and routes here to keep you entertained. Racing takes place in venues such as the Bahamas, Manhattan, Rome and the Amazon. Each location has a short and medium route and each has a very unique and distinct colour palette and style. The background detail on each course is particularly impressive and as you ride past things like the Statue of Liberty or as dolphins jump out of the water in front of you, you can’t help but sit up and take notice.
Championship mode is the main attraction which is a standard affair of having to secure certain results in the races so that you can move up the ladder, unlocking new riders and courses as you progress. Beyond the Championship mode, you’ll find a Time Trial where you can flex your muscles against what your friends can muster, as well as a two-player multiplayer mode. If racing isn’t your bag, you can try your hand at the Tricks mode where you must complete a number of technical challenges, or the Hazards mode where you have to pop balloons on the course as you progress to build up your score, which is great fun.
Visually, Surf Rocket Racers is perfectly serviceable but nothing to write home about. The graphics are colourful and genuinely have a strong arcade feel to them, making the game good looking without having a wow-factor or texture details that push the hardware as much as it could have. The water effects are naturally going to be under scrutiny given the genre and they largely do a really good job of looking the part and reacting how you’d expect them to do; unpredictably. The water effect changes from venue to venue as well, adding some more additional variety.
Critics at the time of release generally gave Surf Rocket Racers a lukewarm reception, with the game receiving slightly above average review scores across the board. “Although pretty useful at what it does, Surf Rocket Racers is by no means the best in its sparsely populated field”, was the Eurogamer verdict, drawing further comparisons to Wave Race 64 which was released many years previously. Beloved Dreamcast magazine, DC-UK, called Surf Rocket Racers an “excellent title that provides a nice alternative to the road-based racers”, which is pretty much how I felt about it now; it’s a really nice change of pace.
To conclude this retrospective, it is worth pointing out that it is perfectly acceptable to have a great time with a game that isn’t known as an all time great. Surf Rocket Racers was a bit like uncovering a hidden gem for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the no fuss racing experience that the game offers. You’re not going to be blown away and it will likely never be in anybody's top ten game list, but it is a Dreamcast game that you can take a good few hours of enjoyment from.
Tom also previously documented his thoughts on Surf Rocket Racershere and here, from when he picked up the game back in 2013. If you haven’t tried it out yet, I urge you to do so; you might be as pleasantly surprised as we were!