Hydro Thunder
Reviewed by Dale Kulas
The Game
Hydro Thunder is a brand new arcade racer from Midway. But
instead of the usual wacky arcade racing, this one is of
speedboats going at it on a variety of water worlds. Just
combine Wave Race 64 and Cruis 'n USA, and you'll know what
I mean. Now will this be just as better as the previous
Midway racers? Let's get onto the review and find out.
Graphics
I gotta admit, these are really impressive. For a Dreamcast
launch title, I see these beautiful environments you race
on, made up of jungle trees, the ocean, and just about
anything else you can imagine. There is so much animation
going on at once, like your boat going all over the screen,
plus the many environment animations (like volcanoes
erupting, trees falling, etc.) I can't believe that the game
runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, even in two player
mode. The game's menus are really easy to navigate through
and nothing should be confusing at all for you, except when
entering your initials for the high scores; it takes
forever! All the boat models vary a lot, from the basic
one's they give you that look like standard speed boats, to
really wacky one's like the Titanic. There really isn't
nothing bad at all about the graphics, except I do believe
the game could've managed to fit a 4 player mode on here
with no problem, but maybe they were rushed to make it in
time for Dreamcast launch.
Sound
The sound is standard in here. Nothing really spectacular.
You got some guy telling you all the options as you pick
them, he sounds a lot like the main navigating voice off of
Crazy Taxi. He will get repetitive right away, because at
the start of the race he says 'Go, Go, Go!' You got fairly
decent background music which is dimmed out to where you
barely hear it when racing. You mostly here all the sound
effects in the game, all which are well done, from the
sounds of turbo boosting, to the boats jumping the rapids
and so on.
Game play
The game controls are easy to learn. Not many, basically the
L and R triggers accelerate and brake, and you use the
control stick to steer. The rest of the buttons are used for
the Turbo Boost, (power ups found throughout the course
which gives your boat a limited boost in acceleration) and
changing camera angles. It took me a little while to get use
to the steering, which tends to be a little tight and to
precise at moments, but I finally adapted to it.
The game has a couple of main modes, first there's
championship, where you race on several different
difficulties on a set of courses, by placing in all of them
you will unlock new courses and tracks. The race itself is
fairly easy to complete, each one only takes a few minutes
to complete, and it moves around the same rate as it's
arcade counterpart. Next, there's the standard time attack
mode, which is like a time trial where you race for your
best times on any course you want. And finally, there's vs.
mode where you and a friend go at it on any course in split
screen action. All the mode's play great, but some may feel
a bit sluggish while playing. And that steering can cause
you to miss a few valuable turns.
Replay Value
The game can be played with two players, but a 4 player mode
seemed like a must here because the Dreamcast could've
easily handled it. And the N64 version had a 4 player mode,
and that doesn't make it sense, because why would you save
better modes for lesser systems? The only other thing here
to keep you playing besides the regular championship
circuits, is the time attack races, which really isn't much.
Some more modes would've been greatly appreciated, like some
form of trick attack or something. So don't look for nothing
extra to keep you here.
In Brief
+: Great arcade port, smooth frame rate all around, lots of
boats and tracks!
-: No 4 player mode to be found, Only 3 game play modes all
together, steering can be a bit tricky
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 9. 0
Sound: 7. 9
Game play: 7. 5
Replay Value: 3. 7
Overall: 7 out of 10
Comments
This game is pretty fun to play, but more modes should've
been added to keep gamers playing this game. The game is
loads of friend to play against a friend, but don't buy it
just for the single player experience, because after you
unlock everything, nothing is here to keep you playing. Just
give it a rent instead, and if you really want it for the
multi player experience, get the N64 version instead,
because it's playable with up to 4 players.
OR
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