Surf Prodigy from Drew FX is a 3D surfing simulator with lots of potential upside but currently falls short of some basic expectations. With upgradeable equipment and a plethora of surfing tricks, the title is a great starting point. However, there are some glaring oversights which take so much away that the game is unbearable to play. The first strike against Surf Prodigy are the controls. They are the biggest offender and make the game feel like an early beta. Another noticeable flaw is the lack of sound effects. An oversight of this magnitude is inexcusable in the current climate of the AppStore.

There are a number of tricks to perform: aerials, floaters, and grabs. Performing the tricks is easy with just a tap of an on-screen icon. Unfortunately, controlling the surfer is not straight forward or effortless. The controls are counter-intuitive. The surfing action is viewed from the shore looking out at the horizon. The controls, inexplicably, are not from this perspective. Tilting the device left moves the surfer to the right. I never adjusted to the control scheme and its the game's Achilles heel. Even when I started to feel comfortable with the controls, I found them generally unresponsive and clunky.

Surf Prodigy provides the opportunity to upgrade stats like turning speed and board grip. There is even an equipment maintenance effect which will adversely change your stats if ignored. A career mode is available, but its a rather mute point as the game is nearly unplayable. One of the only things I liked about the game was the music which is a nice stream of beach rock melodies. Some environmental sound effects would do a lot to increase the feel and realism of the game.

With the controls fixed, this game has the potential to be very fun and worthy of support. Currently, the game feels like an early beta. I cannot possibly recommend this game until some major revisions are made. After all is said and done, Surf Prodigy is a very ambitious title for only .99 cents. So ambitious it seems the developer skimped over the controls in favor of an equipment upgrade system. Apparently, the developer is at work with an update which supposedly fixes some ugly low-res images, while adding some small features like sharks, underwater obstacles, and better in-game graphics. Unfortunately, the biggest offender, the controls, are not mentioned in the update notes.