Riding the Waves in Surf's Up

Published June 19, 2006

Movie-based games aren't always rich depositories of strategy, but Surf's Up™, while maintaining its accessibility, requires a good measure of skill and strategy to score trophies and post high scores with ease. Consider the following and you'll be riding the wave to success.

Strike a balance when you grind.

Tap, Don't Hold
Classic extreme sports titles such as Tony Hawk's Project 8™ have taught us to hold down the jump button for more speed, and then release it when we want to jump. However, the basic level of speed is a constant in Surf's Up, so only hit A when you actually want to jump. Otherwise, you'll leap on the initial press, and this can quickly throw you off rhythm.

Avoid those Obstacles
Every time you strike an obstacle, you lose points for the trick you were attempting, and even worse, you miss out on an entire section of the track. Every section of a track is needed to set new high scores, so make sure to use your speed boost (Right Trigger) if you can't get out of the way in time. The boost can even be used mid-air to help you keep going.

Complexity First, Simplicity Second
Your combination of tricks should run from the complex to the simple once you have launched from a ramp or a wave. Hit your freestyle, hold, and advanced tricks right away, and then, as you fall back down, engage the simple tricks with the A button. The risk of bailing is too high if you try complicated tricks just before you land.

Hit a simple trick before you splash down.

Double Stoke
Using your Stoke moves rakes in the trick points. Combine two Stoke tricks in one jump, and you'll really skyrocket in points. The trick here is engaging the second Stoke maneuver just after the first is finished. Pay close attention to the animation of each Stoke trick, so you can spot right where the first one finishes, and where the second one begins. It takes a little time, but the payoff is worth the effort.

Practice Run
Unless you're a Surf's Up prodigy, you're not going to score every trophy and collect every item on your first try. Use your first run or two to familiarize yourself with the course. Don't sweat complicated tricks right away. Instead, pay close attention to the location of gates, ramps, obstacles, grind locations, and items. A little up-front practice, and you'll be more comfortable and able to focus on the task during successive runs.

Focused Performance
When the difficulty ramps up and the courses get more complicated, it gets much harder to try and achieve high score and gate-based trophies on a single run. Try focusing on one specific goal instead. If you're going for the high score, just ignore the gates and hit as many tricks as you can. Likewise, if you're going for the gates, don't concern yourself with ramps and rails and big air.

A Stoke move in action.

Wave to Jump to Rail
In order to set massive high scores, spend as much time as possible in the air or on a grind. The best way to do just that is to chain elements of the course together. For example, when spotting a grind location a little ways ahead, try hitting a jump off the wave just a bit before it, and then float your way to the grind after a trick or two. As you grind, look for the next ramp, trick multiplier, or any other element to keep that score rolling.

It's less important to score individual tricks off a single jump, and more important to take advantage of the features of the course—one after another—performing tricks from start to finish.

Powerups
Almost as important as any chain of tricks is collecting the various powerups along each course. Hitting a massive freestyle to grab to grind combination is great, but doing so with an x4 multiplier is, well, four times better. Likewise, the Energy Boost powerup fills up your entire Boost/Stoke meter, so try to snag it just after you've unloaded your meter with Stoke tricks. This really pumps up your score. These items are static throughout each level, so once you've spotted them on a practice run, take advantage of them when replaying the course.

These tips should help you ride the waves with all the penguin-y goodness found in the movie. It's time to break out your board, 'cause Surf's Up!

Article by Ryan Treit