The game involves the player racing a jetski on various courses while maneuvering the vehicle around various obstacles.

Unlike similar games like those in the Wave Race series, however, Jet X2O also places emphasis on performing tricks (which is a hallmark of many winter sports video games, including the SSX series).

Once the turbo meter reaches the "Mega" level, the player has a limited amount of time to perform any special tricks.

[4] There were complaints about the limited number of characters available in comparison to Wave Race: Blue Storm and Splashdown (which were released in the year prior to the game's release), as well as the game's overall difficulty.

However, the game was praised for its graphics and its frame rate, as well as the design of its courses and the simple trick performing mechanism.