Size: 1 DVD
Got it for: $19.99
Developer: Argonaut Games
Xbox.com Section: No
No. of players: 4(simultaneously) offline or 8(simultaneously) online
Live Enabled: Yes - Online play
Guests: No
System Link: Yes
Hard Drive: 14 Blocks
Custom Soundtrack: No
Dolby Digital: Yes
HDTV: 480p/16:9
Carve was played on my 27" Panasonic SDTV via an S-Video connection.
Four teams have assembled for what is said to be the ultimate test of water racing...*ever*. This competition will take pace in various locales all over the globe, as each team fights their way to the finish line. Why they are racing, or what they are racing for is beyond me. To tell you the truth, there's not much of a story to speak of...then again, it's a racer, there really doesn't need to be...

What's it all about?
It's an arcade-like jet ski racer: You choose from one of eight characters, jump on your rig and hit the water. You can choose to play in Quick Race, Arcade, Tournament or Time Trial modes and to race at night, during the day, in the rain or under clear skies. Racing consists of making your way around the track while weaving in and out of the buoys that are setup, all while trying your best to pull off tricks that fill your "Rush" meter. The "Rush" meter is setup in five stages, or points; the bigger the trick, or the longer you hold it, or combo it, the more the meter is filled up. Once the trick has been successfully performed you are treated with a blast of speed that shoots you forward until the meter has been depleted. This is, essentially, how you win races. Along the way you'll not only fight for rank with other racers, but against the the courses themselves. Water conditions range from being as smooth as a sheet of glass to harsh waves that will just pound your ass into the sea...

The waves do tend to get a bit harsh on some tracks...
 Graphics - Solid. The tracks look fabulous, and manage to keep getting more and more impressive the further you make it into the game. It ranges from gorgeous, crystal blue waters in a tropical paradise to sunken cities and abandoned ship yards. Every location is filled with scenery like ocean cruisers, lush greenery and even moving cars and wildlife. The water itself has this interesting sort of glossy look to it, like there's a thin layer of oil floating on top...it sounds odd at first, but really looks nice. The characters models, though you really only see their backs most of the time, are very well done with some nice detail in their costumes and, when you see them, their faces. About my only real complaint on the graphics, and it's really minor, would be the water spray effect. Basically, whenever you make land a jump, or have someone buzz by really closely, it sprays water droplets all over your screen(the camera). It's a neat effect, and after a while you begin to get used to it, but it would have been nice if it could have been turned off.
Sound - The soundtrack consists of very mellow techno beats, and a few with lyrics even. It's very relaxing, and really seems to fit the mood of most tracks. Unfortunately, the Custom Soundtrack feature was left out, so if the tunes don't do anything for you, turning the music down(or off) is about your only alternative. The only track that just really drives me up the wall consists of this guy screaming "New Disco!" over and over and over until your ears bleed. After a couple of times listening to that, you'll want to take a shotgun blast to your crotch just to ease the pain. The in-game sound effects are pretty limited with the roar of your jet ski being the main thing. Past that though, there are nice, little touches like the squeak and screech of iron as you pass under oil rigs and dead ships, splash down sounds and the chirps of various wildlife(the ducks are nice and quacky...not that that's an actual word...). There's even a little bit of voice in the game, just enough to give it some personality. Voice bits include your racing partner chiming in to give you some inane tip or bit of encouragement, opponents shouting "Back off", etc. and various screams as you crash or shoot off in a burst of speed.
Control - Smooth. Though there is no option to reconfigure the controller in the least, the setup is very nice and once you get used to it, you'll understand why they don't allow you to mess with it. The jet ski controls very well, and even allows for tight cornering via pulling down on the analog stick. Tricks are accomplished by pressing a series of buttons in a specific order, or by simply using the analog stick. You begin to see how deep the system is once you start using both the stick and the buttons together to perform trick combos. The best thing about the system is that all tricks are easily pulled off and don't require an unreasonable amount of effort. The game even features an ultra-friendly tutorial mode, that doesn’t bore or frustrate, to help you further. It goes so far as to provide an actual in-menu example of how to perform the particular trick, and what it’s supposed to look like.
AI - Mixed bag. The AI goes from pushover-easy to insanely fucking hard in a matter of just two tournament series. Winning seems to rely on how many tricks you can manage to pull off rather than actual good driving. This can, at times, make you feel very frustrated as for those of us who are not trick pros, just yet, are left in the dust every single time by the malicious AI. It kind of breaks down like this once you make it to the "Pro" series of races: AI - "Hey everyone, I know every shortcut, almost never crash and always get my tricks perfect. Wanna play?" If this isn’t your idea of a fun single player experience, you may want to stay away from the offline play until a code comes out unlocking all tracks....unless you just enjoy *fighting* for seventh place...

Yeehaw!

The "camera splash" effect takes some getting used to. Click for a closer view...
 Replay value - High! It's an arcade racer, and it's online on top of that. During offline play there are a number of races to complete in Tournament mode that can unlock 24 the game's whopping 27 courses, as well as the various cheats. You can attempt the Tournament mode with one of eight different characters, all with their own attributes, which makes for a fun bit of experimenting. On top of that, the offline mode allows for split screen racing of up to four players in Arcade mode. Finally, there are also Time Trial and Quick Race modes, along with the always-entertaining "Thrill Docks" Tricks practice mode. Add to this the amazingly fun online play, with its various modes and you've got yourself a racer that's going to last quite a while.
Online Play - Getting to an online game is easy using the familiar Live menu and setup. Once there you can choose from the usual “optimatch” menu, where you can search for games by specific features, or “Quick Match” to randomly find something, and fast. As for setting up a game yourself, you can choose from Arcade mode, Teamplay or Chat Room. Arcade is exactly that, arcade-like play: Fast and furious. Teamplay sets you up with a partner, where you both earn points that determine your teams overall score and ranking; it also makes you share buoy misses, so be careful. Chat room, though it sounds cool, like Tetris Worlds Online's “Lounge” mode, really isn’t anything I can see people using. Basically, the host sets this up, and is not allowed to play…but everyone else who joins the game is...
The online component of the game has a few features above and beyond what we’re normally used to. You can now set the game to tell you of friend’s online status, as in, if they are on, when they sign off, etc. You can also set it up so that once you sign on to Carve, it sends out an invitation to all members on your “Friends” list, or just those also playing Carve. You can also set it so that others can update your stats; ie: if someone gets a better lap/race time than what you have, it’ll actually save their lap time and name in the ranking list on your Xbox's hard drive. Also, Carve has a very nice way of handling host drop offs: Instead of simply ending the game for all players, when a host is disconnected, the game pauses for about five seconds and the hosting duties are simply passed on to the next person in the room. Finally, the online lobby is just beyond cool! On most Live games, when you enter a game that's in session, you have no clue as to when it'll end, or what's going...in short, it really sucks. Not so with Carve: The online lobby actually has a map of the course that allows you to see where players are on it, and how many laps they have to go before they finish the race and return.

When a "Rush" is activated you are given an immediate speed boost, complete with flame-like effects.
 
As for the actual Live online play, it's an absolute blast. Up to 8 people can join in as the host picks from any of the tracks they've unlocked in Tournament mode, or sets it to randomly pick a track; the number of laps, weather climate and other features can also be set by the host. About my only gripes with the online play are that you can't take a buddy online with you, split screen like most Xbox Live titles allow. Past that, online chat is a bit odd as it does more of a “chat by proximity” sort of thing. You can only talk to those close to you, or when there’s a good distance, the person directly in front of you and directly behind you. This can make for some confusing conversations...but overall, I suppose it reduces lag...which is a good thing.
Tips for better gaming experiences:
Play the tutorial, it's not an option...it's not just something they just put in there for kicks, it *really* helps you get the hang of the tricks...which are crucial to the gameplay. Plus, it unlocks the "Thrill Docks" stage for offline/online play!

Taking in the sights...in mid air...during the race, while trying not to crash...now *that's* how you do it...
 You only need to place fourth overall in the tournaments to unlock the tracks, but must place first to unlock a cheat. Trust me, fourth place to unlock just the tracks is good enough...that AI is just too much of an absolute bastard to kill yourself over trying to place first. The cheats are cool and all, but can only be used in Arcade mode(offline) and are more of a fun little thing to mess with rather than something that actually adds a lot to the game.

Most tracks have shortcuts you can take, at the expense of missing one or more buoys. As the buoys simply take three seconds off your race timer, don’t worry about them until you’re down to your last miss(you'll almost never run out of time on the Race clock).
The backflip always yields a one point "Rush"...but you can get a three point out of it easily. On any given ramp(yellow or red), as soon as you start the backflip tap X, X to perform the "One Hander" trick. This easy combo trick will jump your one point "Rush" to a three pointer....*every time*. Remember it....
My rating: 85(out of 100) - An excellent and well done racer with some nice graphics and lot of gameplay. The trick system is fairly deep, and the smooth control doesn't frustrate. With *27* tracks, 8 characters, and a whole lot of stuff to unlock, not to mention the excellent online mode, there's more than enough to have you coming back for more. A few of the game's rough points, like the brutal AI and some standard features missing(Cust. Soundtracks, no "guest" feature for online play), are about the only tarnishes on an otherwise excellent $20 gem. Don't miss this one...
Hot, Xbox chick meditating in Dreamcast swirl says:
Why am I not in this game!? It's the overly-ridiculous arm and headset isn't it? Isn't it!? Fine, be that way...you all suck.

Making a jump over some of the debris in the Sunken City track.
A Sega man's man:
During an interview with Xbox World, the game's producer Caspar Field said of Carve: "We want it to feel like a Sega game." More power to you Caspar, if only more we had more developers like you on the Xbox. Also, one of the guys who did some work on the character models and animation, Tomer Litvin, has early renders of the Carve crew on his website. Be sure to check that out.
Gameplay Videos:
Attract Mode - 1:29, 28.1 megs

Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: A quick compilation featuring the racers, the tricks and the tracks..
Note: You'll need the most recent Divx codec to watch these videos. Also, slowdown and jumps in the playback may not necessarily be the fault of the game so much as the method I am using to record them. If you are having problems watching the videos in your browser, just right-click and download them to your hard drive...


...and finally...

HD Usage(for the obsessive-compulsive in you):
Carve takes up a total of 14 blocks, or 0.2 meg roughly, on your Xbox's hard drive. It breaks down like this:

1. Profile - 5 blocks
2. Rankings - 5 blocks

...but Bel, this doesn't add up!
I know, I know...the extra 4 blocks that are missing are used in just creating the save space on the Xbox's HD.
Screenshots were borrowed from both of the official Carve sites located at Argonaut Games and Global Star Software.