Roaring through 8 massive exotic levels as a professional watercraft rider you're the envy of all other racers. While racing one of your highly stylized watercraft through raging rivers turbulent rapids massive waterfalls and hairpin turns in far-off lands such as Atlantis the Arctic and humid South American Jungles you know you're good. But you're not alone. Your competitors know the intensity of the races. They know that this is not just a race of speed but a test of extreme trick skill. They also know that they want to beat you. They are ready for the challenge.Features:Hop a 300 foot waterfall roar through a raging river and blast through Poseidon's mouth to the ancient city of Atlantis - one of 8 massive fantastical worlds to conquer.Catch huge air as you pull off more than 30 insane tricks through wild multi-path tracks!Challenge intense riders to wake-eatin' races on any of 10 highly stylized watercrafts.Format: PS2 Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: E - Everyone UPC: 711719717324 Manufacturer No: 71732

Watercraft racing in a fast-paced, arcade style

environments include a swamp, the Arctic, a Pacific island;Raging rivers, turbulent rapids, and huge waterfalls

30 motocross-style tricks

Average Customer Review: ( 8 customer reviews )
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...and I was severely disappointed :-(

For a game which combines speed/placing and tricks, SSX Tricky is definitely the pinnacle of the extreme games genre. SSX Tricky also has numerous characters with a great variety of personalities, plus a massive number of customizable features for the characters. JetX2O, on the other hand, has fewer characters, fewer choices in equipment (jetskis compared to snowboards), and a far less interesting array of personalities among the characters.

In its favor, JetX2O does have some intriguing courses. There are pop-up ramps, trick bonuses, numerous obstacles, blind and semi-blind corners, and a good variety of scenery and locales. This certainly helps to draw the player into the game, but only to a certain point.

Where the game TRULY lacks is in the ability of the player to identify with the characters, to find points of interest with the characters, and to essentially WANT a particular character to represent her or him in the game. A large part of this "lack" is due to the voice acting, which is certainly not impressive by any means.

Ranking above the game's characters, the announcer (emcee, narrator, sportscaster, or whatever) is not really at all interesting during the events themselves. The introduction to the different event venues is definitely interesting, and seems to be somewhat improvisational (almost in the same manner as much of Robin Williams' voice acting performance in portraying The Genie in Disney's Aladdin) - and this works rather well in the venue overviews - but this same "inner fire" seemingly disappears once the events get underway. This is unfortunately in VERY sharp contrast with the announcer in SSX Tricky, who is seemingly very much into the many events and is just as much a part of the game as the obstacles and the ramps and the trick bonuses themselves.

Another significant drawback to JetX2O is that the game's menu interfaces all seem rather "clunky" at best. Obviously, extremely little time and thought was afforded to the menus, as there is no apparent fluidity when progressing from one menu screen to another. The character selection menu and the jetski selection menu are definitely better than the rest of the menus in the game, but even these do not convey the feeling of an extreme sports game; certainly, the characters move about and chatter, but something still seems to be missing which almost prevents the player from wanting to continue on to the events themselves.

Overall, JetX2O is truly left to only those few diehard jetski fans who are also diehard console gamers. Whereas SSX Tricky (and SSX before it) was able to easily draw in a vast array of gamers - including those (such as myself) with no experience in snowboarding or any extreme sports - and present a beautiful mix of events and characters and venues and "extras" (such as the announcer), JetX2O fails in almost ALL these aspects. This game is worth a short rental, but is certainly NOT worth buying for the majority of potential players.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Lots of Jet Ski fun here !!Aug 21, 2005
By Eric Ulmer
I am not much of a video game player so for someone like me this game is particularly amusing. I simply bought it to keep from getting bored with my other games and found that it was rather fun. Jet X 20 doesn't require much skill and can be played for hours if a person so chooses. For the person that is really into games this one is a good choice. There are plenty of levels and competition to make it a challege for even the most experienced game player. I would say the graphics are fairly good and the different levels are designed with a bit of imagination. Overall I would recommend this game to anyone looking for something fun and simple to play.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Great Game, Lots of FunJul 15, 2003

I've got two kids and we all three enjoy games. Something else we enjoy is jet skis. This is one of the best games we have for the PS2. It's a lot of fun to play when you can't be out on the water for real. I love the courses in the game. I like the jet skis and the people you can select to ride them. The tricks are fun but for me the racing is the best. I have trully enjoyed being able to kick butt in the races. This game is good for a quick "relax" break in a busy evening or as something to do when it's pouring rain and your kids are bored. This game was a well spent 30 bucks for us!

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

THIS GAME ROCKS!!!!!!!Nov 24, 2002
By mike
I love this game! It is a cross between SSX Tricky and Splashdown ( those just happen to be my two FAVORITE games!! )
It really is a lot of fun and the tricks are sooo COOL!!!!!!!!!

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

a huge disappointmentNov 08, 2002

I was expecting this game to rock .... The controls are unresponsive. The sense of speed is nonexsitent and makes me wonder why they even put the turbo button in the game in the first place. The graphics are lackluster and there aren't many options (there are only 3 modes to the whole game). However the courses ... are cool b/c they are so large and unique. Nevertheless, I seriously suggest renting this one first and definitely play Splashdown before buying.

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