I will start this review saying that when playing Hydro Thunder Hurricane you really need to set your expectations accordingly. This isn’t Need For Speed, Blur, or Project Gotham racing on water. This is an arcade racing game made for you to have some fun, not a deep hardcore racing experience with mind blowing visuals. That being said, I enjoyed my time playing Hydro Thunder Hurricane. In single player, you get eight tracks to play across three different game types (Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet) with 3 difficulty settings (Novice, Pro, Expert).
When you begin you only have one track to choose from with one boat, and you can only do a regular race. In order to unlock more boats, tracks, and game types you need to obtain credits by winning races. You need to get first, second, or third place to get credits and the higher you place the more credits you get. You don’t need to spend credits to unlock items; you just need to have them. So it’s more like XP (experience points) than your typical credits. Besides boats and tracks, you also need to unlock difficulties. I really didn’t understand why until I unlocked my first pro track. Along with AI difficulty increasing, you also get different boats to choose from as well as the track layout changing. I will get into more detail about that later.
As mentioned earlier the three game types are Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet. Race is pretty self explanatory. Your objective is to place first by reaching the finish line first. In Ring Master, your objective is to make it to the finish line in the fastest time possible. The rings come into play in three ways. One, when you hit them you gain boost. Two, when you miss them you lose ALL of your boost. Three, when you miss you are also penalized for in time. In Gauntlet, there are exploding barrels placed all over the track, most of the time in line with where you want to go. You need to reach the finish with the fastest time, but naturally, if you hit a barrel it will send you flying and disrupt your racing. In this game type, you will use the reset feature the most.
When you start flipping through the air uncontrollably (it will happen at least once) or land in a bad direction, you can press the back button to reset your boat to a position that’s toward the finish. The downside is you are completely at a stopped state so you lose some time. There is a forth mode called Championship, but it’s just a set of races of varying game types. Winning first, second, or third in Championship will give you points which you need to have the most collectively at the end to win that Championship. Championships contain anywhere from 2 – 8 tracks.
As mentioned earlier, difficulty not only changes AI difficulty, but also boats and track layouts. The boats you receive at higher difficulty are typically faster and sometimes harder to control. That mixed with the AI difficulty mean you need to play a bit sharper. Watch your positioning while in the air and ride in your opponent’s wakes to increase your speed even further. You will also find that the AI will try to ride in your wakes as well. You should try to cut it up a bit to make it harder for them, but not too much to the point where you’re losing speed. The faster your boat goes, the easier it will for you to go airborne off of waves and other times you really don’t want to. The higher difficulty makes you pay attention to your current environment much more.
If you are playing a game type that doesn’t have opponents, the track layout will change. In Ring Master, the higher the difficulty, the more out of the way the rings take you. Also, there are more rings you will miss unless you keep a sharp eye out. Sometimes you will see rings where you need to jump between tight spaces just to get them. Most of the time if approach these rings incorrectly it will lead to you crashing and exploding. In Gauntlet, you can expect more exploding barrels in your way. That mixed with the speed increase of the boat turns it into a real challenge.
On any difficulty, each track has a few obstacles to overcome. Some maps have planes that drop bombs, causing high waves. Some have sea monsters you need to get around. Some have boats that get in your way. Some even have Norse gods that interfere with your racing. Most of the tracks have one or two boats that get in your way while racing, but you can get past these rather easily. Each track also has multiple routes that sometimes present different obstacles. You might think your taking a shortcut when in reality you just set yourself back a bit.
Overall, I enjoyed the game but I can’t honestly say that It’s a must have. For 1200 points ($15), I have to say it’s a fair price. The game will offer a nice challenge, but nothing extreme. For the most part it’s just fun to play, but hey… so are the other games you bought right?
There used to be an embeded media player here, but it doesn't work anymore. We blame the Tumbeasts.
*Images taken from XBox.com
