Hydro Thunder

The boat racing game is a rare breed. They have been few and far between since video games came home, yet most have been at least mildly popular. The latest, Hydro Thunder was born in the arcades, featuring great graphics and some seriously fun gameplay. The Dreamcast version of Hydro Thunder packs everything the arcade version had to offer in a smaller and easier to carry package. A near-perfect arcade translation

The game features a variety of crazy boats to choose from, ranging from your typical V hull, to a couple of jet-powered hydroplane boats, to a bunch of other boats that just plain defy classification. Each has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, there are nine main tracks, each divided into Easy, Medium, and Hard, and almost all of them are insanely designed. All save one take place in outrageous locations like across glaciers or through Grecian cities, even one through the canals of Venice. The crazy amount of detail in these tracks never fails to amaze. The Far East track, for example, blew my socks off when I played it. You start out with some very lush landscaping, complete with field workers and fogging, and then move into a small Asian city at night. Zipping through the city on a canal, drums can be heard, Chinese dragons can be seen dancing about on the streets, and a patrol boat comes and starts harassing you. Incredible.

Each section of tracks and boats must be unlocked, starting with the three easy boats and tracks. Finish in the top three positions for all of these and you'll earn the next three boats and tracks. Finish second or better for these three and get the hard grouping, then finish first at all of the last tracks to earn the bonus tracks and boats (four apiece). Two-player here is terribly fun, making Hydro Thunder one of the most fun multi-player games available for the Dreamcast currently. Just about anyone can pick up the controller and start thrashing around in the water and ramming the other person around. Win or lose, a good time almost always ensues. Unfortunately, there's no four-player support, but hopefully we'll see that in the sequel.

The graphics in this game, even beyond incredible track design, are top-notch. Everything is bright and colorful, the textures are clear and not blurred at all, and the models for the boats are large and very detailed. There's also a great splash effect in this game, for when the boats hit the water and shoot up a bit of spray. Attention to detail makes this a great looking game, hardly loosing anything in the translation from the home version. Sound effects are likewise incredibly well done. From the sounds of the boat hitting the water to the roaring engines, everything is authentic. I've heard the sound of big multi-engined racing boats before, and the noises that you hear when passing another boat in this game are very authentic. Likewise, the ambient noises are great. When a police boat passes you the officers on board will shout at you in their native language, or pass under a bar in one of the tracks and you'll hear loud music blaring.

Anybody who got a kick out of playing this game in the arcades has to pick this game up. It is an arcade perfect translation in terms of graphics and sound, but most importantly the fun factor has remained high. After you unlock everything you'll have 13 tracks and 13 boats, which is decent, and you'll find yourself going back and racing the old tracks again just for the fun of it. And, if you've got friends who will be playing this game with you, all the more reason to buy this game, or at the very least rent it. You'll have a good time.