Worth avoiding

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great water physics, general graphics

Cons: Poor control, sound, voice acting, and level design lacks creativity.

The Bottom Line: 
Too much hype for such little delivery. I think it would be wise to rent this game before buying it.

Author's Review
As plenty of other reviews will no doubt point out Blood Wake's shining moments (it has a few), mine is simply to recommend you either avoid it completely, or go out and rent it to judge for yourself (without gambling $50).

The controls are sloppy and too varied. I work with a lot of boats, and I can tell you that sometimes the game feels just right with some directional maneuvers, then suddenly goes stupid and out of control. Also, I don't like the idea of having throttle & reverse on the same thumbstick as rudder/steering. Makes it too easy to pull to a stop when you really just wanted to make a turn.

Sound is very very weak. Weapons have no umph! that makes so many other games feel right.

Voice acting is just stupid. These are supposed to be asian characters--but the voices sound like horrible west-coast B-actors. The main character has the dumbest hollywood lines, and he sounds like Christian Slater badly impersonating Jack Nicholson.

Finally, the level design is simply...well, simple. You're generally fighting on one large plane of water, with occasional rocky obstacles. SuperMarioCart + cool water effects = Blood Wake. So where are all the cool ideas for levels? Haven't you ever watched a james bond movie? Give us multi-layered ramps, waterfalls, let us drive through one of the villager's huts.