Be it karma, luck or irony, in the same month that our brains are stained with the abominable Gravity Games Bike: Street.Vert.Dirt - literally the baddest extreme sports game in the world - along comes a breath of fresh, invigorating ocean air in the form of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

Unusually for an extreme sports game, a proper plot is at work. Backed up with lots of comments from the titular, tubular Kelly, you travel the world on a boat, receiving text messages from friends and sponsors asking to meet you at a certain beach, or head to a certain place for great photo opportunities.

This method is interesting and well presented, improving a familiar extreme sports game structure in an original way yet remaining faithful to both the sport upon which it's based and the genre.

Riding a wave is made interesting by giving you a whopping reserve of tricks to access and explore, and allowing you to string together combos along any part of the wave, the break (the wave folding back into the sea) or the tube (the space between the inside of the break and the wave).

Building combos is more than simply performing stunts in succession. First, you've got to max out your special bar, by either landing 'perfect' from an air trick or riding the lip of the wave.

Then, once the meter is flashing, you're in a position to start racking up some meaty scores through some nifty trickwork. As long as the bar is yellow from being maxed out, your tricks accumulate and tot up on the combo counter. The meter is quick to empty if you're idle, so you've got to keep pushing, getting close to the tube of the wave to get a good height on your jumps. If you bail, it's all over, your points and chance of jumping into bed with sponsors and ladies blown.

Riding the tube is both neatly done and good fun. Other than that, you can skim across the roof of a tube grind and twist along a lip of a wave, pull off sharp roundhouse turns and grabs and chain them all together in a slick, satisfying way. Getting a combo buzz is what extreme sports is all about, and Kelly Slater creates it in a fresh and satisfying manner.

There's a constant, addictive pressure on you to rack up a stratospheric score, instead of easing off and banking what you've already earned. Potentially, you could maintain a combo for an entire two-minute run. Even after you've finished the game, that perfect performance and wave is something you'll still want to play for.

Besides the smooth tricking, there's a great sense of carving your way through a massive expanse of rolling water. The waves themselves are fairly pretty, but they comprise the main visual feature you see. There's little incidental detail, although, to be fair, every beach does have its own character and mood. Miami is bright, sun-drenched and laid back, Antarctica is threatening, foreboding and inhospitable.

But still, at the end of the day, you're just riding the same old wave formation, and using the same trick style in each stage. The challenges on offer are far more entertaining than those of TransWorld Surf, for example, but they vary little from beach to beach.

The simple truth of the matter is that Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer is just not as varied and freeform as street-based extreme sports titles can be, even though it tries respectably hard. But it's still the best surfing title to date, and one that should appeal to anyone with an appetite for slick, polished gameplay.

1. Refreshingly new stunt system
2. Addictive high-scoring combos
3. Lots of challenges
4. Fresh tunes

1. Lacking in variety
2. Few multiplayer modes on offer

Power
The waves look and (in particular) sound excellent, but there's little else going on besides that.

Style
Very well presented, with plenty of commentary from the man himself. Beaches have individual looks.

Immersion
Get caught up in combo-building, and you'll find it hard to escape. Control is accessible and responsive.

Lifespan
Massive trick potential will keep you floating back, even when you've nailed the challenges.

Summary
A great mix of cool ideas, aquabatics and satisfying play that makes for an original and deeply enjoyable experience.