Rubberduck Wave Racer
Reviewed by Cyril Lachel on
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While nowhere near as good as the greats of the watercraft racing genre, Rubberduck Wave Racer does have a few things going for it. This is a racing game that makes good use of the water theme by giving us cool weapons to deploy and sixteen great water-based stages. Unfortunately, a lot of the good is undone by crummy gameplay and unrealistic water physics. This is also another bare-bones racing game, so don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles. While not the worst racing game I’ve played this year, Rubberduck Wave Racer left me feeling adrift.
Rating: 50%
Just last week, I complained that we don’t get enough arcade-style racing games. You know what we get even fewer of? That’s right, I’m talking about water-based speeders in the style of Wave Race. Outside of a couple Hydro Thunder games and Riptide GP keeping the genre alive, I’m having a hard time remembering the last great watercraft racer. Perhaps that’s why I was hopeful that Rubberduck Wave Racer might have what it takes to shine a big spotlight on this style of racing game. Is this newest duck-filled game the next Wave Race, or does the genre once against drown after getting sucked down a whirlpool? That’s what I want to find out in this review of Rubberduck Wave Racer.
Rubberduck Wave Racer is the newest title in a long line of bare-bones racing games made by indie developers. This one comes to us from Joindots, which is the exact same company that gave us Renzo Racer in 2022 and Emoji Kart Racer earlier this year, two perfect examples of this trend. This Rubberduck game trades roads and karts for water and, well, rubber ducks. Although that’s not all that different from emojis, at least rubber ducks don’t make me cringe. That’s already a point in Wave Racer’s favor.
The thing about rubber ducks is that they don’t come with any baggage or preconceived notions. Outside of them floating on water, you don’t have that many expectations when you think of rubber ducks. Does it make sense that a rubber duck can exceed fourty or fifty miles per hour? No, not really. But who cares? I can go with the idea of seeing different rubber ducks battle it out to come in first, especially if we’re treated to a bunch of zany levels and water-themed power-ups.
In that sense, Rubberduck Wave Racer actually delivers. We’re treated to sixteen different water-based stages, all of which look good and have some pretty obvious shortcuts. There’s actually a nice variety of locations in the game, ranging from stages themed around delicious desserts to a wish fountain to a waterpark full of cute alligators. We visit ancient temples, Middle East pyramids and even a spooky Halloween stage. And we’re just scratching the surface of all the fun locations you can race.
The game also gives us a series of water-based items that we can deploy to fight against the competition. We’ll shoot mechanical fish at the other ducks, create devastating whirlpools and even unleash a deadly shark. While there’s nothing especially unique or original about these items, I definitely appreciate that they modeled them around the theme. That’s one of the first things that most developers overlook.
From this perspective, Rubberduck Wave Racer is already way ahead of the competition. It has cool levels, good looking graphics and weapons that actually play into the theme. Unfortunately, there’s just one problem – Rubberduck Wave Racer is no fun to play. These yellow ducks are slow, sluggish and hard to control, leading to one frustrating moment after another. The truth is, I could spend an hour picking apart all of the problems with the gameplay, but, for brevity’s sake, I’ll focus on a few of the most offensive problems.
The biggest issue is that it never feels like you’re racing on water. There are no big waves and it’s not like you’re getting caught up in the river’s current. Sure, the water makes the gameplay feel a bit slipperier, but not in a realistic way. Of course, it doesn’t help that these rubber ducks are slow to get moving and never seem to race with much urgency. It’s common to hit an obstacle or just ram into an enemy and be stuck floating aimlessly for a number of seconds, enough time for the competition to slip by you. And let me tell you, once you’re out of first, it’s nearly impossible to catch up.
It's also worth mentioning that the stages are constructed using invisible walls, something you’ll ram into over and over and over again. The problem you’re going to run into is that a lot of the ramps have speed boosts that will aim you right at the invisible walls, which usually results in your duck being turned upside down and all around. This happens constantly, and it’s all because of those damn ramps. Who thought this was a good idea?
Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the gameplay, I still had no problem winning the four tournaments and unlocking all of the bonus material. As a bare-bones game, your options are limited to four different tournaments (each with four levels to race) and a single track mode that is exactly what it sounds like. The good news is that you can play both of these modes with up to three additional friends, assuming those friends are in the same room as you. Sadly, there’s no online multiplayer support.
While I didn’t love Rubberduck Wave Racer, I will say that it is a step up from both Renzo Racer and Emoji Kart Racer. It doesn’t have enough characters to choose from, the gameplay isn’t very good and the water doesn’t feel realistic, but at least it made good use of the theme and had a bunch of water-based weapons. That’s not enough to make me recommend Rubberduck Wave Racer, but it does give me a glimmer of hope that this developer will eventually get it right.
While nowhere near as good as the greats of the watercraft racing genre, Rubberduck Wave Racer does have a few things going for it. This is a racing game that makes good use of the water theme by giving us cool weapons to deploy and sixteen great water-based stages. Unfortunately, a lot of the good is undone by crummy gameplay and unrealistic water physics. This is also another bare-bones racing game, so don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles. While not the worst racing game I’ve played this year, Rubberduck Wave Racer left me feeling adrift.
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