Review: Hydro Thunder Hurricane

Generally, any racing game that steers away from realistic simulation is considered an "arcade-style" game. But few games deserve that designation as much as Hydro Thunder Hurricane. Back in the arcades, games were designed to give you that "one more try" feeling at all times to keep you pumping quarters into the machine. Hydro Thunder Hurricane recaptures that feeling, and does so with a vibrant energy seldom seen in modern gaming. There are no muddy brown and grey textures or weapons or generic pilots with a contrived sense of machismo. It's just you, a neon purple and green speed boat, and a course full of boosts, tight turns, and even tighter controls.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane will feel instantly familiar to fans of the original game from the arcade, PS1, N64, or Dreamcast. The three classes of classic boats return, with old favorites like the UFO-looking Rad Hazard controlling just as it did in the original. There are a few minor changes to the roster, the boat Midway has been renamed Vector to reflect the change in development studio and the bonus boats from the original are missing in action, but players should have no trouble gravitating toward a favorite craft that reflects their play style. Making a return is the emphasis on using boost to zip ahead of the competition, with boost canisters scattered around the course. When your boat is ready to boost, it undergoes a transformation with engines and rockets folding out of the back to add that extra bit of personality to each of the game's crafts. Also returning is the boost jump maneuver, allowing you to give your craft a hop in the air so long as you have some boost remaining, giving you access to the abundant shortcuts in the game.

And yet, even with that feeling of familiarity there is so much new in Hydro Thunder Hurricane. All of the eight courses in the game are new, each with its own secrets, hairpin turns, and personality. For example, on the Monster Island track a dinosaur leaps from the water to create giant waves on the course while the Area 51 track has police boats interfering in the race telling you that you are in a restricted area. These not only add to the personality of the track, but also serve a gameplay purpose as you can perform a jump off of the dinosaur's waves or draft in the police boat's wake for a boost. You can even cause the police boat to crash and take that component out of the race entirely. These dynamic elements keep each race feeling fresh, which is a necessity with the short list of eight tracks. As for gameplay mechanics, the aforementioned drafting carries over to your opponents, allowing you to save some boost while riding in another racer's wake. Also a welcome addition is how instantly your racer respawns upon crashing. Pressing the Back button repositions your boat in the middle of the track with only the penalty of how long you waited to press the button. Some may find this feature overly generous, but I found that it encourages experimentation to find new shortcuts without worrying about the consequences if there isn't actually a secret tunnel under that waterfall.

In addition to the standard races there are also Ring Master, Gauntlet, and Championship modes. Ring Master is Hydro Thunder Hurricane's version of a time trial, with a prescribed course of rings laid on the track for you to follow to get a fast time. Each course has a Novice, Pro, and Expert ring layout corresponding to each of the boat classes, with the more advanced layouts forcing you to make extensive use of the course's shortcuts and secrets. Gauntlet is another time trial mode, but instead of following rings you must navigate between and around explosive barrels all around the course. The explosive barrels present a different type of obstacle since it's possible to boost jump over them, allowing both modes to feel distinct despite offering a similar experience. Then there is the Championship mode which takes a combination of race, Ring Master, and Guantlet events and tasks you with completing them in succession.

Placing first, second, or third in any of these modes earns you credits, and it's those credits that are used to unlock new boats, courses, and game modes as you progress in the single-player game. In addition to the regular unlockables through earning credits, there are also new skins for each of the boats that can be unlocked by completing specific objectives with a given boat. One of the ways to unlock new skins is to collect 10 hidden tokens on each track, which the game thankfully remembers which tokens you have already collected so that you don't need to do it all in one race. You'll be constantly unlocking new features, which is a huge motivator for that ideal "one more try" aesthetic. Even placing in the top three ranks in multiplayer earns you credits to unlock single-player modes, so even if you're stuck on a single-player event you can still unlock new ones. More games need to break free of the separation between unlocking features in single-player and multiplayer, so it's refreshing to see Hydro Thunder Hurricane tie the online and offline experiences together.

Speaking of the multiplayer, this is where Hydro Thunder Hurricane changes from simply being a fun racing game to an addiction. Unlike the single-player modes, all of the tracks and boats are unlocked right from the start in multiplayer, allowing you to hop right in and start racing online without any barrier. Multiplayer supports both local split-screen and online matches, or a combination of the two with a group of four players going online from a single console. With all of the focus on online multiplayer in most games, it's great to see that the classic split-screen experience has been preserved. One subtlety that most gamers may not notice at first is that boost behaves a bit differently in multiplayer than the single-player races. In an effort by the developers to balance the game for all skill sets, players trailing behind the pack will get more boost from canisters than those in the lead. Of course, a skilled player who knows a tracks secrets will always come out on top, but it keeps the races close and ideally prevents race stragglers from getting frustrated and quitting. There's even an extra boat available in multiplayer: the Rubber Ducky. It's hardly the fastest or most maneuverable boat in the game, but there are few things as whimsically enjoyable as eight players zooming yellow ducks around the track, quacking and squeaking with each inevitable crash into a wall.

And what would an online experience be without leaderboards. Even if you aren't typically a leaderboard hunter, Hydro Thunder Hurricane may turn you into one. When playing in any mode offline the top leaderboard time is shown in the top right corner of the screen, as a constant challenge to further tie the single-player and multiplayer experiences together.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is an excellent racing game. The controls are solid, the water physics are a joy, and there is just an infectious energy flowing throughout the game. I do wish there were a few more tracks, perhaps more bonus boats would be nice too, but with all of the single-player events that have been added there is definitely enough content to justify the 1200 point price tag. The main menu has a DLC option, so it's possible that more courses and boats will be available later on. It may come from a new developer, but fans of the original Hydro Thunder shouldn't hesitate to get on-board with Hydro Thunder Hurricane. And if you never played the original, then you're in for a treat. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a throwback to the lost time of arcades with modern touches to expand the solo experience. It isn't a deep racing game with loads of strategy and customization options for your boat, and it isn't trying to be. When I think of how to describe the game, there is only one word that keeps coming to mind: fun. Pure, unadulterated, speedy fun.