Hydro Thunder Hurricane Review

There once was a time when arcade games reigned supreme over console games. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. From that era emerged what is quite possibly the best water racing game of all time, and debatably among the best racing games in general. A game so glorious that its name must be yelled with excitement and enthusiasm: HYDRO THUNDEEERRRRR!!!! After its arcade version they released Hydro Thunder on the Dreamcast, N64, PS1, and in the multiplatform Midway Arcade Treasures 3. 5 years after M.A.T. 3 a sequel was released on the Xbox 360 over Xbox Live: Hydro Thunder Hurricane. A high-quality racing game at a low price, it is [nautical] miles above and beyond the original classic while still paying a lot of homage to it without remaking it.


The game starts off with a limited amount of content: one track on race mode and one boat with one skin. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for new tracks and boats to be unlocked through credits. At the end of every race there’s usually a new reward for your efforts (early on in the game). In total, there are eight courses, each with Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet modes (each with three difficulty levels) along with a number of combinations in Championships. There are also nine boats with three to four skins each. The Tempest Pack DLC adds three more tracks and two entirely new boats with their skins, and I should add is totally worth it. After all the easy stuff is unlocked, earning gold medals and skins for vehicles is the challenge that separates the men from the boys. Finding hidden packages in the various tracks can be rough even when the player knows where they are.

The courses are all either completely new or similar to the classic Hydro Thunder tracks that have been completely remade from the ground up. Racing through, a lot of it looks fantastic and the entire course is bursting with creativity. The downside to the tracks is that on harder modes it was so tough it was difficult to enjoy them and appreciate their designs. It required so much focus to get first that I started to not notice how cool the level designs were. Plenty of the three-lap courses will actually change the track between laps, closing off certain points and forcing the player to take alternate routes or just opening up new optional ones. The effect that stole the show was the water effects. They feel so vivid and realistic and at the start of some races there will be a nice “wet window” effect on the screen. The slightest change of objects in the water will send out little subtle waves. Thanks to controller rumble, when the boat takes a huge drop and lands in the water with a huge splash it really feels like the big boom it’s supposed to be.

Race mode is exactly what you would expect from it: 16 boats total all driving through the course. Usually in racing games when you mess up the AI suddenly decides to take some sort of light speed leap in front of you as a brutal and unforgiving punishment for the most minor of failures. This game goes for a realistic AI comeback and the race won’t always be lost by minute mistakes. It certainly won’t be easier of course, and when you come to a complete stop or just crash and burn then of course you’ll get passed. Sometimes the AI themselves crash in particularly tough spots.

Ring Master mode involves passing through a sequence of consecutive rings and not missing any of them. The unique twist is that every ring you pass through gives you more boost and if you pass through every ring in order you will have infinite boost throughout the entire stage. However, if you miss a single ring you lose about two seconds of time and all the boost you’ve saved up. That means constant boosting could cause you to miss some rings and lose precious time. The expert ring master levels are just evil. Not quite as sadistic as F-Zero GX’s story mode, but still really tough. Gauntlet involves explosive barrels are scattered around. Touch one of them and it blows, killing your boat, adding time, and forcing you to recover. Aside from that the rest is a standard time trial. But what better way to liven up a time trial with explosive barrels of graphic fiery death for boats? The easiest way to avoid these is to either drive to the side or jump boost over them. In addition, taking shortcuts usually gives you paths without very many barrels, so in this mode you’re encouraged to find the shortcuts. Championship mode is various combinations of Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet across various stages. Each Championship has a difficulty level throughout all events and you must use the same boat in all of them. Victory is based on scores on each event, similar to Mario Kart circuits.

Of course, there’s an online multiplayer. The online play is very solid. From what I can tell, it always counts as expert mode and credits are awarded accordingly. You can do a variety of things, including quick race, search, and host. Quick race does just that and makes you join a party. The hosts pick the tracks and up to 7 online players can join (host included). When searching you select parties which displays the host’s name, the track currently selected, and how many players are already in the party. You can join a party while a game is in progress then wait until it’s over so that you can already be part of a larger or smaller party in advance. I admit the wait can be a tad annoying but it’s surely no more than 3 or 4 minutes. The interesting benefit is that multiplayer can be a win-win sometimes. Considering that you still get credits for taking the top 3 places, if you enter a small party your odds of getting 3rd or higher are almost guaranteed. If you enter a large party then you get a true challenge and a chance to prove yourself against 7 other players. It is incredibly easy to get lots of credits while playing online, as well as online-only achievements and various skins for boats that can only be earned in multiplayer online. Unlike games like Halo, there is virtually no lag as far as I can tell and the graphics do not suffer.

If pressed for flaws with it, I would primarily say that it doesn’t do anything outstandingly new. With some control differences (like actually being able to hydro jump with ease) it plays just like the original Hydro Thunder. Well, racing games usually aren’t revolutionary at this point. Also the graphics on the boats are not quite as good as other aspects like the water and levels. Given the massive amount of unlockables you will start to get overly familiar with stages. Even with the DLC, 11 stages doesn’t seem like a lot when you can play several different versions of each one over and over again, mixing the three modes and the three difficulties. The game has a ton of stuff to do in it, but I think it is limited by being slightly bigger than the average DLC and too small for a full disc release. Also, constant attempts and failures to accomplish some of the hardcore expert stuff (like earning Gold on Ring Master Expert in Bermuda Triangle) will break your psyche. Also, I saw a category on the main menu that said Leaderboards but it only told me how my friends scored on stuff. Yet, when I play an actual track the game compared my running time to other people whom I had never met.

When a game’s sequel or remake comes out, often it does something really wrong. It could completely devalue the previous games to the point where it would be pointless to buy it (like multiplayer shooter sequels or any annual sports game). Or the sequel may look fancier but the overall result will never match up to the original. What’s worse is that just as often any and every sequel is created in an attempt to cash in on the original that people loved and expand the series (even if the sequel is good, the motivation can be bad).

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is an example of a sequel that is clearly released because they wanted to make another Hydro Thunder and make it good, not make more money. For a fan of the original, it is clear that Hurricane is not a cash-in but a tribute and a reimagining. So many things from the original were kept in the new game (though with updated graphics) that it’s a clear sign of the new game saying the old one was great. It builds off the original without losing anything good or gaining anything bad. At the same time, it’s not such a blatant remake that it devalues the old original. I actually still find a reason for people to buy the classic Hydro Thunder even after playing Hurricane. It’s still a different and good enough game so that newcomers can still enjoy both the original and the remake in the age of the remake. That NEVER happens in games without a new story.

For a downloadable title, the graphics are stunning and vivid, definitely on par with games released on actual discs, not to mention to creative environments the player actually sees. The controls are classic arcade goodness, before “realistic racing simulation” games like Forza came out. The true value of this game is in the tons of unlockables it offers. Better yet, every victory third place and above gains credits and accumulating those unlocks more content. It also has a great balance where the casual player can get a lot out of it while the hardcore racers can rigorously pursue the really tough stuff that unlocks the best content. Hurricane doesn’t rely upon your ability to get in first place in absolutely everything, but at the same time you still have incentive to go the extra mile, challenge yourself, and go for the gold. For those who pursue the latter let me just say one thing: good luck (you’re gonna need it).

I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes arcade and classic racing games. If you like F-Zero, you will definitely love this. The only people I wouldn’t recommend this game to are people who like realistic simulation driving or people who just plain don’t like racing games. Check out the trailer and the trial version, and if you like that then buy the full game. I’d happily pay double what they’re selling it for.