Forget hefty armour and the oppressive atmosphere of horror games! Wave Race! Let the sea air and the frothy white waves carry you away! Wave Race changed water physics, making every race a dramatic duel between speed, handling skills and the raw fury of nature.
Forget the flat asphalt of standard racing games. In Wave Race, your track is constantly shifting, and you must master the following mechanics.
This is the golden rule. Buoys are scattered across the course; you must pass Red Buoys on the right and Yellow Buoys on the left.
Every time you correctly navigate a buoy, your top-speed gauge increases by one level. Reach the maximum level, and your jet ski will rocket forward. However, go the wrong way or miss a buoy, and all that accumulated power resets to zero.
You don't just steer left or right; you also have to manage your center of gravity. Leaning back helps you soar over massive waves, while leaning forward keeps the craft hugging the water for greater stability and speed.
Use ramps or giant waves to pull off aerial acrobatics. While risky, these stunts yield massive scores.
Many beginners try to take the shortest "as-the-crow-flies" path and ignore the navigation buoys. That is a fatal mistake. A jet ski running at "Maximum Power"—achieved by collecting a full chain of buoys—will easily overtake a rival who took a shortcut but is moving at a snail's pace.
Water doesn't offer the same traction as asphalt. If you keep the throttle pinned while navigating tight turns around buoys, your craft will drift out of control and veer wide. Instead, learn to briefly ease off the throttle, make a sharp turn to hug the buoy closely, and then punch the throttle again.
Don't fight the water. If a large wave is cresting right in front of your bow, lean back to ride over it or try to steer around to a lower section of the wave. Ramming the bow straight into the face of a wave will kill your momentum completely.
During races with rough conditions, keep an eye out for stretches of calmer water. Navigating through these areas allows you to maintain significantly higher speeds compared to struggling through the choppy water in the middle of the course.
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