"Shots rang like it's thunder, and everybody bumrushing and I'm rushing"

Midway had scored a hit with the waveracer game Hydro Thunder, and naturally decided to bring such ocean going fun to land-locked gamers with this game, Arctic Thunder. The concepts of the two games are essentially identical, except that in this instance, choppy water has been replaced by freshly packed snow and your waveracer is now a snowmobile. The game’s physical setup can of course be linked with other cabinets, so that multiple players can race together, and I have seen as many as eight modules hooked up together.

While you are trying to make your way down this mountain in as short a time as possible, you must also be aware of other riders. Competition in the race is not limited to trying to beat your opponent’s time; you can also physically attack your opponent during the race. The most basic attack is simply to kick out your leg and try to unseat an opposing rider. However, as you speed downhill, you have the opportunity to acquire different weapons by passing through floating targets on the course, in the same you that you acquire power bursts. Weapons like the Atomic Snowball let you hit other riders at a distance. Midway seems pretty pleased with this new addition to the series (these attacks weren’t present in Hydro Thunder) and they scatter a fulsome assortment of weapons along the course. More powerful weapons are hidden to the side, where only experienced drivers will knowingly seek them out, and this makes knowledge of the course ahead much more useful than in most racing games.

It would be ridiculous to ignore the interactions of the various racers on the course. There’s little more annoying in a racing game than when, from the above-the-tail camera, you watch your vehicle’s graphic pass through that of a competitor as if the two are in diverging dimensions. However, Arctic Thunder seems to place too much emphasis on this level of gameplay and too little on the racing and control itself. Most of the tracks are so simplistic in their twists and turns that the game often seems to be not a racing game at all, but a fighter in which all the participants are sliding down a mountain together.

The combination of challenging courses and competition from the other racers makes this a pretty tough game, and on the higher difficulty levels winning is not easy. Knowledge of the course AND luck will both be required to make it through these lengthy races. Luckily the controls are very simple, with just a handlebar for steering, an accelerator, and a button to fire your weapons, so beginners can pick things up and get right in. Still, most of those who have not played Hydro Thunder will find themselves struggling to balance the fighting and racing aspects of the game.

Visually, this game has the expected elements, but adds nothing to really entice players to join in. The snow on the ground and the rock walls of various caves and caverns are both realistic, but again this is nothing too special; the main exclamation one can make after playing is that the game really feels like it’s moving very fast. Trees rush by with significant velocity so you get the impression that you’re doing some serious racing. The absurd aspect of the game is in the jumps, some of which feel like they’re one or two thousand feet tall, and yet apparently are survivable while falling on a snowmobile. Still, the game does a nice job of fading the color and detail of objects at the bottom of the jump, and bringing things into clarity as you fall, demonstrating the true vertical distance you have covered.

Nothing in the sound seems to stand out either, with typical engine sounds, muffled and indistinct explosions, and fast moving synthesized music with a touch of electric guitar. This is a very tired formula for a racing game and is certainly showing in this title that it’s on its last legs.

Overall, Arctic Thunder is a not-very-appealing addition to a very overpopulated field of arcade racers. As a pretty hyped up release, considering the popularity of the predecessor, there are a lot of machines out there, and by offering the ability to handle a lot of racers at once, things are kept interesting. Still, Arctic Thunder is not a highly recommended game, and even poor arcades will probably offer something superior to this.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/03, Updated 06/22/03