Since I was born and raised in the Midwest, surfing has never been available to me, but I was always intrigued by the sport and the lifestyle. I’ve watched it a bit on TV, and there’s a very distinct relaxing art about the sport. It’s very elegant, yet intense at the same time. Most surfing games I’ve tried in the past were very weak, and not worth the time, so I was rather unsure how the Tony Hawk type mold would suit the sport. What Activision has churned out is a very different, and refreshing wave fest.

Kelly Slater introduces the beginning of the game, and each new area by giving background information, and personal history of his connection with the locales. It’s not only informative, but it’s interesting, and entertaining. I actually look forward to this when I open new levels. There’s heaps of these types of videos laden through out the game, and even a 30 minute Kelly Slater TV show on the disc. All of these additions make the experience more personable. Instead of dumping you in some area and forcing you to do things, it places you into the mindset of the surfer, and plays along well with the surfing vibe.

Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer has the objective-based, and competition type levels just like Tony Hawk, yet they add a couple new elements to the mix. The training areas are required, and help teach you the basic, and advanced moves. There are photo challenges where you try to execute high scoring moves at the perfect time to get the best picture. Also new are the icon challenges, where icons appear that indicate which trick or move you are supposed to perform next. These added additions are what really help Kelly Slater from becoming another stale extreme sports knock off.

The controls are much more toned down than any other extreme sport game. The GameCube controller face buttons are the main controls that you use. A is jump, and B, X, and Y execute tricks. Z will give you a view of what’s behind you. The shoulder buttons and C-stick don’t do anything. Tricks are executed by pressing combinations of these buttons at different points in the wave. Tricks are made up of wave face maneuvers, tube (under the crest of the wave or inside the wave) moves, slides, and aerials. Linking moves together, as usual, gives you bonus points for combos. The waves in a sense act as a moving, changing quarter-pipe. You will have to learn how to ride the water before you’ll be able to execute the multitude of tricks. If you try to go into this game playing like you would Tony Hawk, you’ll be sucking water fast. I think the learning curve could be rather steep for some, but the reward is well worth the effort.

The water effects aren’t as impressive as I’d hoped. Treyarch did a good job with portraying how a wave acts, breaks, and feels, but the appearance of the waves can sometimes be chunky. If you get really close to the spray of the wave, you’ll notice extremely blocky textures and pixelization. I realize there’s a lot going on in the physics of the waves, but pixelization is absolutely uncalled for on a system that’s as powerful as the GameCube. Since the camera is pointed at you, there’s very little else happening on-screen except a few obstacles here and there, so this makes no sense to me. Outside of being able to see what’s in back of you, the camera is always fixed, which makes some of the objectives like spraying windsurfers or people in inner tubes frustrating. You can sometimes fix this by slowing down, or entering the tube, but on later levels you may blow by the objective and have to start over. On the other hand, surfer animations are excellent, and can be appreciated when watching the replays.

Another thing that sets Kelly Slater apart from other Activision O2 titles is that it’s very ambient. The music, tempo, and overall feel to the game is relaxing and mellow, just like the sport. You won’t hear some grunge/rap barf rock screaming in your head. You’ll get mellow flowing beats that bode well with the surfing action. When you’re executing tricks, or trying to balance in the tube it will get tense and crazy, but the intensity is somewhat calmer.

The music is solid and features such notables as Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Perry Farrell, Ben Harper, Jungle Brothers, G-Love, and Special Sauce. The sound effects are extremely generic. Surfer screams and yells could have been better, and the menu pop-beep-boop sounds seem to have been ripped right out of a TiVo.

One final thing to note: the GameCube version of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer does not contain the Tony Hawk 4 demo like its PS2 counterpart. My assumption is that there wasn’t enough room on the disc. This is a very big disappointment.

Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer is surprisingly good, yet it still has some shortcomings. I have yet to play multiplayer, but I think when I show my friends this game, they’ll be hooked. If you like the Tony Hawk type games, I suggest giving this game a rental at the least. Treyarch should be commended on creating the first really solid surfing title. If they polish up some of the problems, Activision could have another must-have franchise on their hands. With the cold Midwest winter approaching, this is just what the doctor ordered.