Brilliantly, it doesn't matter what type of race you do, as the game rewards you equally for all - whether it's split-screen multiplayer with family and friends, or single player against the computer, whatever you're doing, you'll be earning points, which unlock new tracks, boats, tournaments - and even avatar items, including a toy boat!Īnd although we've sat around trying to think about problems for a while, there really are very few. It has that "one more go" factor in bucket loads - thanks in no small part to its rewards system, which gives you points for achieving first, second or third place in the races. Take in several laps of a course, and it'll often change every time you go round, keeping everything feeling fresh and exciting.If you're fond of collectibles, too, there are even 10 tokens hidden in every level for you to find - so exploring every nook, cranny and shortcut is a must.īut if you're the sort of misery guts who needs more than "just" fun to keep you playing, Hydro Thunder has plenty to keep sucking you back in for more. It's exciting, it's easy for anyone to pick up and play, and most importantly - it's a heck of a lot of fun. Cramming three other players onto a sofa, and duking it out is one laugh after another, as your boats fly through the air, or, if you're like us, bounce off a wall, land upside down, and then somehow manage to right itself as everyone else scoots past you. With four player split-screen on offer, which even lets you take your split-screen game online, and compete against up to 8 players, Hydro Thunder: Hurricane's multiplayer is a highlight of the package. While the changing tracks force you to act on your toes, they never cause you to come a cropper, and never feel unfair - instead, just helping to make the game feel more exciting, as opposed to many other dull, more realistic racing games.
Our resident gaming novice, Sarah, who can barely win a race on most other racing games was absolutely fine with this - even managing to come in first place in several of the races, and progress through the career with relative ease. This may as well be an artist's impression of the aformentioned incident.Īnd although it may sound it could be incredibly frustrating - it isn't. Travis be damned - a mellow, relaxing Sunday cruise on the lake, this isn't.
As our boat leapt from wave to wave, the police boat yelled at us to pull over - seconds before it crashed into an explosive barrel, which had been shunted into its way, and splintered into a pile of driftwood, floating on the water. Splashing into the water at the bottom, our impact triggered a landslide from a cliff, which threw giant waves into the water. Littered with secret passages that let you cut off huge corners, ridiculously over the top scenery, like dinosaurs, giant vikings, and even frozen mammoths (that we somehow managed to miss), the things that appear to just be lying next to the track often trigger and come to life just as you drive past, forcing you to make a last second change of course, and keep your adrenaline pumping.Īs an example, just before we sat down to this review, we crashed into a police boat, and both careered through a wooden fence, over a giant waterfall into a valley below. Rather than just having you race around eight varitaions of the same track, just in slightly different colours, everything about Hydro Thunder's courses can, and often will change as the race progresses to catch you out. There are four modes on offer - basic races the pictured ring races, where you've got to - funnily enough - race through rings Gauntlet, where the track gets littered with exploding barrels, and a number of championships, which let you take on a combination of the above.Įverything in Hydro Thunder has been designed to keep you on your toes, and your heart constantly racing.