Based on the move if of the same name, Surf’s up tracks the progress of a surfing Penguin on a quest to take down the surfing champ. I grabbed this game to give my 5 year old son something to play and I played a bit of it myself and surprisingly enjoyed it.
The first thing I noticed about Surf’s Up was the load time. And no, that’s not a good thing. For some reason the load times took longer than I believed to be necessary for the short map levels in the game. While loading Surf’s Up provides some tips and hints for gameplay, but overall you’re simply stuck watching a clamshell spin around. While a minor irritation, it is worth pointing out. The gameplay in Surf’s Up was fun for me and my son so it was worth the wait.
GAMEPLAY
There are three modes available in Surf’s Up: Championship, Multiplayer, and Leaf Sliding. Championship mode is the single player story mode. Multiplayer is single-console only and allows you to play with up to 3 of your friends. This mode is fun on the waves when you want to drop in right in front of your friends and ruin their shred. Leaf sliding is reminiscent of the days when we used to grab the larges piece of cardboard we could find and ride it down the biggest hill we could climb. Your character is inside a volcano and rides a leaf to the bottom where it meets the ocean. Your goal is to reach the bottom as quickly as possible – no simple task. You can control your character with the six-axis or the d-pad.
The objectives in most championship rounds are to reach a set points objective, pass through a set number of gates and rescue a certain number of stranded… uh surfing gophers? Finishing different objectives unlocks different surfboards, different places to surf and new songs. While the first objectives are easy to reach, they do get progressively more difficult forcing you to string together crazy combos and reach for ever increasingly challenging tricks.
Points are scored by doing different tricks as you shred it up on your surf stick. Each trick carries a different difficulty and points score. By picking up bonuses in each area you can increase your point gatherin as well.
You start by being able to choose from 4 different characters, each with a different style and abilities. On top of that you can customize your character by adding hats and other accoutrements. These are always fun for the kids to try and make their character look as goofy as possible.
Your character is controlled by moving the six-axis controller in the direction you want your guy to surf. A quick left and up pull will caused your surfer to jump off the wave so you can pull some gnarly tricks. You can also hit jumps to catch air and give you a chance to string together different tricks for bigger point totals. Tricks are performed with button combinations with different buttons giving you easy or difficult tricks.
Don’t run into anything while you’re surfing or you will get the icy cracked face graphic:
The controls took some getting used to before I was shredding up the waves and putting together some mad combos for massive points. I even threw on some board shorts and let my hair nap up into dreads while I was playing I got so into it. But my own amusement wasn’t the reason I grabbed the game. I wanted to find something my son could play and would enjoy playing. Thankfully Surfs Up did not let me down. After having a bit of trouble controlling my character, I thought my son might find it difficult as well and simply put the game down in frustration. Thankfully he didn’t.
Finally proving that surfing and skating are the same, you can also rail-grind your board through different areas on the map. By performing tricks you can raise your speed bar and get a boost when you need it to jump higher and perform more tricks in a row for a huge boost in points.
AUDIO AND VISUAL
Most of the maps are bright and surfy looking. Background graphics are pretty, but fairly static. The background characters watching you surf don’t do much other than jump up and down (who isn’t excited by a surfing Penguin?). Of course, you really aren’t looking at the background while you’re surfing anyway so no negative points here. The game itself is rendered at 720p and looks pretty, but not over-the-top beautiful. Considering the game is built around water, the water itself is fairly well done and reflects the surroundings very well. The swells, waves and other items move the shadows and reflections around in real-time. There is nothing to see under the water though so don’t go looking for any fish or anything else while you’re shredding up the waves.
The cut-scenes when entering a new territory are news-cast style and carry on the story of your little penguin trying to make a name for himself. Thankfully they can be skipped if you want to get right into the action. I did notice some artifacts and blocking while watching the news stories that was a bit distracting.
The sounds are typical surf sounds and the music in Surf’s Up is typical surf-grunge (if there is such a thing). The water sounded like water and the gulls and other beach sounds were present – though I will profess to a lack of knowledge that gulls lived in the frozen tundra (and I’m not talking Canada here). All put together, the ambiance is there and adds to the enjoyment. I fixed myself a mai-tai and settled in for some gameplay.
CONCLUSION
Surfs Up is cutesy and easy enough for the kids, while challenging enough for adults. I had fun playing but the levels did get repetitive for me. Given that kids enjoy repetition (it stimulates learning right?), my son didn’t lose interest in Surfs Up right away. In fact, he kept asking to play it, which is a good sign for what I believe to be Surfs Up’s intended audience. While I would not recommend Surf’s Up to the hardcore gamer (unless you are also a hard core surf nut), I do recommend it for parents with children between 5 and 14 as a kid-friendly game that both you and your children will enjoy.
Hehe, yeah but not this early (only 14 months)! He still doesn't want to sit through a movie, the boy is all over the place I tell you. He does love pushing buttons on the remotes and if I'm messing with the AV gear he always wants to help, must be in the blood.
I love that my son is equally happy at the batting cages or playing games with me. 
My son is the same way. It's gotta be in the blood! 
Linear Mode
