Ocean Rush

About the game

Ocean Rush is a cel-shaded jet ski racer in the spirit of Wave Race. Ride a buoy slalom through three open-water courses, read the swell to launch off wave crests, hold drifts to charge boost and keep your power up. Red buoys go to your right, yellow to your left, and five missed markers end the run. Race the championship, a free race, a time trial against your own ghost, or just cruise Dolphin Park.

In-game

How to play

Take the markers in order: pass a red buoy on its right side and a yellow one on its left. Five misses and you are disqualified, so protect your power meter and stay inside the pink boundary. Hold the throttle through the last beat of the countdown for a turbo start. Keyboard: W or Up for throttle, S or Down for brake, A and D or the arrow keys to steer, Space to drift and release it to spend the charge as boost, Shift or E for nitro, M to mute, R to return to the last marker, Esc to pause. On a touch screen use the on-screen steering pad plus the gas, brake, drift and boost buttons.

Behind the build

I wanted the water to be something you read, not just something under the hull. The swell you see is the same function the ski rides, so a crest that looks like a ramp actually launches you and a flat landing hands back a little power. The marker rules took a few passes: red right and yellow left sounds simple until the slalom tightens and you are choosing with half a second to spare, and five misses ending a run felt harsh until I played it a few times. Dolphin Park is there because the water looked too good to only see at race speed. Which course gave you more trouble, sunburn strand or ironjaw bastion?