TITLE: Hydro Thunder Hurricane
PLATFORM: XBLA
DEVELOPER: Vector Unit
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB: E
RELESASED: July 28

By Eric Stuckart
Creator, Destroyer

The second release in Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade event is Hydro Thunder Hurricane, the sequel to the arcade classic Hydro Thunder. The powerboat racing game is steeped in the original arcade racer’s nostalgia, and makes for a fun, fast paced racer.

At the start of the game, there are only a few challenges open and a single boat available, but placing in events earn the players points based on rank. Points unlock everything in the game from boats and paint jobs to new events. As the game progresses, the player will learn that there are three difficulty tiers, Novice, Pro and Expert, applied to both the events and the boats.

There are four types of events that players can take part in: Race, Ringmaster, Gauntlet and Championship. Races are self-explanatory; featuring sixteen contestants in total, while Ringmaster tasks you with racing through rings on the course, slalom-style, and Gauntlet is a time trial of sorts, except that the courses are full of exploding barrels that need to be avoided. Championship events combine the other three events into multi-event competitions for more points.

Image from joystiq.com.

The main name of the game is speed, first and foremost. So much emphasis is put on this that the borderline-inane game announcer is always yammering on about you needing to use, get more, or are running out of boost. What is boost? Boost is speed. Throughout the game’s eight courses are nitrous cans that both add to the boat’s speed and allow you to jump. Also, players can use boost to jump over other opposing boats on the courses. Skilled players will learn quickly the fine art of ‘drafting’, or driving in opponents’ wakes to get a bit of a speed boost and jump over them to overtake them in races.

The game’s ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’ aesthetic is put to the test, as the difficulty curve ramps up considerably once getting through the Novice events and a portion of the Pro ones. The Expert levels get to a near-impossible level of challenge, but that calls for no more than a need of practice. Besides, the game’s point system allows for players to replay previously won events as many times as necessary to unlock everything in the game, so there’s no need to feel forced into getting better just to open up all the game’s tracks and events.

For completists and achievement hounds, there are ten hidden packages in each level; some are easy to find, while others are not. Also, intrepid players will go out of their way to find the hidden shortcuts in each of the tracks, as having a good memory will take them far in the game’s more difficult courses later on

But this wouldn’t be a Hydro Thunder game without the theatrics. The original’s loud, in your face nature has not been forgotten, and the level design won’t let you forget it. Players will be subjected to such ridiculous tracks as Lost Babylon, a race through ancient ruins in the jungle, complete with river monsters, and Area 51, which takes a detour through another planet. Want to see what it’s like to race through the Halls of Asgard? It’s here. If this all sounds tongue in cheek, that’s because it’s supposed to, and it makes for a lighthearted gaming experience not really touched on in this gaming generation’s obsession with realism and seriousness.

Image from joystiq.com.

While the single player has plenty of ground to cover and will take even racing game enthusiasts a good amount of time to complete, there is an equally fun multiplayer aspect, which is sure to be a big draw for the game. Hydro Thunder Hurricane features local splitscreen as well as online multiplayer, but I for one will be using the local multiplayer much more.

With fast load times, fast paced races, and a heavy emphasis on fun, I really can’t find too much to complain about with this game. It’s visuals don’t live up to the standard of, say, your average sixty dollar full retail game, but that really shouldn’t be counted against it, as this downloadable title is a fourth of the cost of the average new game, and with plenty of replay factor and a hell of a lot more imagination to its track design than the average racing game, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a must have for fans of arcade racers.

RATING: 8/10

Front page image from joystiq.com.