Review by: Danielle Riendeau

If you follow the rest of GameShark’s coverage – namely, the podcasts we host during E3, you’ll know that I have something of a history with this game. I played it at E3, in fact I was assigned to go check it out because of the fact that it would feature me making a giant moron of myself flailing around, and pictures were to be taken. It wasn’t a great game back in June, and I’m sad to report, it’s not a great game now, though it is absolutely spectacular if you’re interested in looking like a crazy person.

Push the Limit’s fatal flaw lies in two elements: its personality problem (there’s a sense that the game just doesn’t know what it wants to be), and its wildly inconsistent controls. Essentially, it’s a swimming sim that tasks you with competing in races by simulating the upper body motions of a swimmer (on dry land, of course). There’s quickplay, competitive multiplayer, and a career mode, and about seven different types of strokes to race, but it all comes down to a few basic motions.

In each race, you’ll first “pump up the crowd” by pumping your fists in the air, which, if done successfully, gives you a speed boost during the race. Then, you bend over, ready to dive, and hop up to the timing in order to get an optimal dive. Then, the race is on – you need to match your swimming stroke (read: flailing arms) to the onscreen metronome – not too fast and not too slow. At the very end – you need to reach for the finish line. That’s all.

Multiplayer is hysterical, if only because it juxtaposes the joy of looking like a spastic fool alongside a friend doing the same with the fear that one of you will wind up with a broken nose from flailing so hard in an enclosed space. My roommate and I are both small people, so I can only imagine what a Push the Limit match between two big guys would look like.

Career mode does add a bit of depth by giving you upgrade points with which to beef up your swimmer’s stats (something you’ll need to do judiciously if you hope to beat the three seasons of progressively tougher races).

Unfortunately, the cryptic controls keep that goal from ever looking terribly appealing. I’d constantly feel as if I had the right timing and rhythm, yet my little metronome friend would chide me for being too fast, then too slow, usually without a change in my actual speed whatsoever. As difficult as it is to get the timing “right” it’s even harder to anticipate what the hell the game wants from you in terms of arm positioning and placement. Sorely missing is a Dance Central-esque mirror model that shows you what you’re doing correctly – and signaling exactly where and how you’re out of alignment.