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Madden NFL 2007
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Pub.: EA
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Dev.:
EA
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Score: 8.6 |
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Carve Review
by T-Gizzile
Developed and published by Argonaut Games PLC and Global Star Software (part of Take 2 Interactive's publishing division for budget titles), respectively, Carve is an Xbox-exclusive, jet-ski, racing title featuring Xbox Live support. Carve is also rated E for Everyone and was released on 02/24/04.
Features:
-Xbox Live support up to 8 players.
-"Team-play" mode via Xbox Live.
-Water effects.
-Budget title (retail price - $19.99).
-Lots of unlockables through "Tournament" mode.
Gameplay:
The meat and potatoes of Carve's game-play happens to be the Tournament mode and Xbox Live play. But before venturing into either of the previously-mentioned options, the Trick Tutorial mode happens to be the best starting point for those who really want to be successful in Carve.
The Trick Tutorial mode features 8 lessons of tricks (12 tricks total in Carve, as well as 4 signature tricks for each character) that you can pass by executing each trick (i.e. back-flips, barrel rolls, etc.) effectively by pressing the A, B, X, and/or Y buttons, along with the left thumb-stick.
In the Tournament mode, one of the 8 characters can be chosen to race against the 7 computer-controlled characters. There are 5 tournaments in "Tournament" mode: Rookie, Advanced 1, Advanced 2, Pro 1, and Pro 2. By successfully completing each tournament, new courses and jet-skis are unlocked. Also, in each tournament is a trick point goal. By completing the trick point goal, in each tournament, signature tricks are unlocked for each character. And last, but certainly not least, the cheats in Carve are unlocked by placing 1st in each tournament (Tip: On the very first course of each tournament, you must place at least 4th to continue to the second course. And as you proceed in a tournament, in order to advance, your placement maybe higher or lower depending upon how well you've raced on previous courses).
Carve has 8 characters total, which are paired up to form 4 unique teams:
-Team Venta (Oz & Moke):
Strengths - Fastest "RUSH!" and tricks.
Weakness - Slowest speed.
-Team Tsunami (Amiko & Mizuki):
Strengths - Fastest speed and use of shortcuts.
Weaknesses - Slowest "RUSH!" and tricks.
-Team Terra (Elena & Nikolai):
Strength - Blocking (use of wakes, or water trails, to slow other racers down).
Weakness - Ramming.
-Team Inferno (Adrienne & Max)
Strength - Ramming.
Weakness - Blocking.
Xbox Live Impressions -
Yes, there is Xbox Live support for Carve (But where are all the racers to give Carve the online justice it so righteously deserves?). Well, unfortunately not very many people have even heard about Carve, and/or not enough people are creating games online for others, who have Carve, in order for Carve to reach its full potential online. Team-play is the most desired mode online, featuring combined team points and buoy misses (Tip: Buoys mark out the course you have to follow: yellow buoys have to be passed on the left-hand side and red buoys have to be passed on the right-hand side. Missed buoys add time to the race clock, subtract bars from your Double Rush meter, and 5 missed buoys in a race usually results in disqualification) for each of the four teams. The frame-rate for online play is rather smooth as offline play. And the load times can be rushed without performance suffering (by pressing the A button repeatedly while a race is loading), especially not too much for online play!
Graphics:
In its entirety, Carve's graphics are decent (with respect to the original $20 price tag). The in-game, character models are very bland/generic-looking and (at many times) seem somewhat un-recognizable compared to their concept artwork drawings.
The level design for each course (27 courses in all - many of them you must unlock in the Tournament mode) is pretty good, ranging from short and circular (usually easy to master) to long and curvy (usually difficult to master). But out of all the graphic components of Carve, the water gets the extreme thumbs up, from the nice flowing waves to perform tricks on to the water droplets splashed onto the TV screen, while performing a Double Rush: The above and beyond" of all speed boosts.
Speaking of the Double Rush, in order to execute it, you must effectively complete tricks (on ramps, water, or both) during a race which builds up your Double Rush meter (Tip: Stringing tricks together in the form of combinations can build up your Double Rush meter even faster). Once full, the Double Rush meter; which is located at the bottom, left-hand corner of the screen, flashes at a constant rate. At that point, by the click of the left trigger, you're zooming past the competition for a 1st place finish.
Even though the Double Rush is a great feature for game-play purposes; visually, it is hard to navigate (at times) to where you are going on certain courses, especially when the weather conditions are bright and sunny, and/or the courses were designed with light colors in mind. But, thankfully, the visual effects of the "Double Rush" don't last way too long under the previously-mentioned conditions.
Audio:
Upbeat, techno-like music fills Carve's audio soundtrack (23 audio tracks total) and meshes well with the game-play. But, unfortunately, Carve doesn't have the Custom Soundtracks option available. Thus, meaning the in-game music will grow tiresome fast for those who would like to listen to their favorite music tracks while performing double barrel rolls, during an intense race.
The voice-over work is a nice touch for the single player mode(s) (i.e. your partner praises you for a nice, trick combo; encourages you after a non-qualifying race; updates you on the current situation(s) of a race, etc.), as well as the voice chat to your partner in Team-play mode and other players in other modes, during online play. However, the voice-overs for the single player mode(s) can be repetitive and become annoying, after playing Carve for a good amount of time.
Overall:
Overall, many people would think that for a title like Carve, "you get what you paid for." But I beg to differ. Anyone who buys and plays Carve is getting a lot more than what they paid for, which could range from $5 to $20 (since Carve has been released for a good while now). Carve is a must-have title for every Xbox Live user; especially for those who have enjoyed other titles in the jet-ski, racing genre (i.e. Wave Race 64, Splashdown, etc.) and/or are looking for a jet-ski, racing game to play with/against friends online.
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| Rating |
| Gameplay: | 9 |
| Graphics: | 6 |
| Sound: | 7 |
| Value: | 10 |
| Tilt: | 8 |
| Overall: 8 |
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