Hydro Thunder Hurricane Review

It’s been 10 years since Hydro Thunder hit our consoles, now it’s part of xBox Live’s Summer of Arcade promotion could it ride the ‘wave’ of expectations? Let’s find out…

The game is produced by Vector Unit, who have been working with Microsoft after they purchased the original license from Midway and on first impressions it looks just like it’s namesake, with improved graphics and very cool water effects.

Each of the 8 tracks are all very pretty and I like the fact that the waves can be unpredictable, it keeps you on your toes and will guarantee you an exciting race.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane retains the arcade-style gameplay of the original, with simple controls: hold down throttle and go! As in the original, blue and rarer red boost icons are scattered about the tracks and award varying amounts of boost power and the “hydro jump” ability, which is crucial for propelling your boat up into secret tunnels. This is personally my favourite part of the game, especially when you take on the Vertigo inducing jumps.

In every race you start in 16th, so you need to use all skills to get into 1st place before the end of the race. Other modes include Ring Master which is essentially like the slalom, time trials (Gauntlet) plus tournament modes. In all the racing modes whether it’s the 4 player split-screen or 8 players online, you can earn credits which unlock new contents including new tracks, modes, boats and boat skins. The game has the standard 12 achievements worth 200pts and you can view them here, there are also some nice avatar awards that you can unlock too.

The fact that there is so much to unlock acts as an incentive to master each course search for all those hidden tunnels. There is also the added competition from the game when it taunts you with your friend’s time as you pass through checkpoints.

I’ve really enjoyed playing this game and although I haven’t been able to take on anyone in multiplayer, I look forward to riding the waves on Wednesday against the rest of the world. Whether the game is worth 1200ms points may be up for debate but if you fancy a different style of racing then this could be the game for you.

7.5