Hydro Thunder

"Vroom...is about all you're going to hear..."

Water racing games are few and far between these days, with most of the water race games premiering on the Playstation, or the Nintendo 64. Dreamcast does an almost perfect job of bring home one of the more addictive and fun boating games on the market today with Hydro Thunder. Putting you into the racing persona of one of several boats that can be unlocked through various performance or stage clearing, you have boats that will test your reflexes, both with either speed or throwing your controller at the wall because you lost the race! With vicious boats and exotic locales, you’ll find that the Dreamcast version of Hydro Thunder isn’t any different than the others, but does do a Dreamcast owner justice.

True to the arcade version, you must place within the top three to proceed to the next stage. If you're good enough, you can score as first place, and then unlock new boats and new tracks to race on. The races themselves revolve around the lap system, where the computer controlled opponents gain difficulty with each passing stage. As for in-track design, you'll find that using the jumps and the turbo button is worth taking the time to learn to use. With that under your belt, you'll find that the races are rather easy! Now to perform and win the races, you have to know about shortcuts and where to jump with good timing. Jumping off the ramps seems as though it is a waste of time, but the turbo bonuses that you need to keep your turbo gauge full are mainly at the tops of these ramps, so using them is key to winning the race in some instances.

Multiplayer mode is one of the funfest options about Hydro Thunder, allowing you and your friends to go at it in an all out race to the finish. But don't expect super weapons special attacks or anything of the like, this is straightforward boat racing in some pretty cool and exotic locations. The boats are all designed to really specialize in different attributes such as speed and cornering and you’ll find that the Expert class boats are probably the best in the game once you have them unlocked. Unlocking boats is easy enough to do if you stay ahead of the pack, and the use of shortcuts can be the difference between winning and losing the race in some instances. Shortcuts aren’t easy to find and are usually in places that you wouldn’t expect, so are on the look out for them!

The only thing that would have made this even better is if a steering wheel attachment could have been used throughout. That probably would have given an almost life-like control over the game. The Dreamcast controller isn't that bad, in terms of the analog stick that you can use to control your boat. It's clean, and it's crisp, but it can bruise your thumb if you play for extended periods of time. Boosting is done with a simple tap of the turbo button and then it is just a matter of learning how to control the boat while it’s going full tilt into the water with the boost! In some cases, you’ll have to revert back to car racing games in which to effectively make a tight corner; you’ll hit the brake button and then the turbo to shoot yourself out of the hole and ahead of the rest of the pack!

With Hydro Thunder, you would probably be expecting some first rate and speed filled visuals to accompany your journey through the wild thunder boat racing and you would be about half right. While the speed of the game does tend to border on insane, the overall visual accuracy of the game doesn’t quite match that of the arcade version! The boats, while well designed in their wild ways, have nothing of the arcade detailing and like with some Dreamcast games, it has a bit of color muting to it that will make you wonder if the sharpness of your television is working correctly. This can come as a rather disappointing surprise when faced with what has been seen and played before. Regardless of that, the stages have been faithfully recreated with some pretty interesting visual effects such as the water wakes that the boats bring up, bringing home the arcade feel!

Audio is something that Hydro Thunder excels in only with the sound effects and the announcer voice over. The game music is something that sits in the background and really doesn’t do much to accent the game. With the roar of the engines in your ears and the slight beat of the game music, you’ll definitely have the feel of sitting in the arcade seat. But the overall audio quality of the game much like the visuals seem to have that muted feel. I’m really not sure if this is just an effect of porting over a game or what, but there are instances of it over several different arcades to Dreamcast ports!

Hydro Thunder is a great game no matter how you slice it. While not completely perfect, it is as close to the arcade version as you're going to get without actually being in the arcade itself. With this being said, the visuals, audio, and control are all in place, along with the fast-paced gameplay giving you a great experience. There are two versions of this game, one with glitches, which was the first one released, and then one version without. Most people can find the newer version in any retailer, and those with the glitched version, can trade the game back into Sega for the newer version. Worth a weekend rental at least, any racing fan won't be disappointed with a purchase. Hydro Thunder fans should probably consider this a Hydro Thunder Light and not really get into the debate of whether or not this is a true to arcade porting of the game. A single rental should be sufficient enough to through the game and only the die hard Dreamcast owners will find this a worth ten dollar purchase!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/01, Updated 11/20/01