Developer: Eurocom Publisher: Midway Release: 09/9/99 Genre: Racing
Like many I looked forward to the Sega Dreamcast launch in the US. Even though Sega did a less than spectacular job handling the Saturn’s exit from the market they seemed to have everything lined up properly for the Dreamcast. But a part of me was apprehensive; we all know Sega would bring the heat but would third parties? Indeed they would as the Dreamcast still has one of the best launch lineups of all time. Midway were especially strong with their support with Hydro Thunder being the best of the bunch and the closest to the arcade of the many versions released.
Hydro Thunder had a successful run in the arcade before the ports to home consoles would come. In addition to this Dreamcast it hit the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and PC which was uncommon at the time. Each version has something that makes them unique. The N64 game has a four player split screen mode while the PlayStation version has an actual career mode. Those looking for arcade perfection in terms of content and presentation however are better served with this Sega game which still plays great even today.
While the comparison to Wave Race 64 is easy in truth Hydro Thunder plays closer to Midway’s own San Francisco Rush series albeit on water. The tracks are a varied bunch as you race through an active volcano, the canals of Venice, a ship graveyard, and even the ruins of New York City. The track design is generally excellent as the variety in settings offers plenty of wild thrills. Driving through an active volcano at breakneck speeds and capsizing a tour boat never gets old. Every course has numerous moments like this and as you progress they get wackier. There are tons of shortcuts; you can play the same track four or five times and still discover some route you did not see before. Considering most races str a single lap it does wonders for replay value as well.
The gameplay revolves around managing your turbo meter and this skill is critical to success. Turbo measures in seconds and accumulates (up to 18 seconds) with blue granting four seconds and red a whopping nine. Needless to say if you see a turbo item you must go for it. Turbo is used for more than just going faster. With the right timing you can catch major air and leapfrog the competition or access the many, many hidden paths on every track. Or if you are using a heavier boat you can ram your opponents and send them flying. You can send almost anything airborne; your jaw will drop once you flip a massive cruise ship end over end. Of course if you do it wrong you can also knock a rival ahead at the worst moment too.
Like the arcade game there is no career or championship mode. Instead Hydro Thunder separates its courses in to easy, medium, hard, and bonus categories. To unlock medium you only need to place third or higher on the easy difficulty. Medium steps it up and to progress to the hard level you must reach first or second place. If you are up to the task of coming in first on every track you can access the bonus courses. These are a mix of arcade content and brand new tracks exclusive to the home versions. Together with the large boat selection it is a lot of content. But getting to all of it will take more time than you will expect.
To see all of Hydro Thunder’s content will take time. This is an arcade game meaning the difficulty curve is steep. For the home port the switch the placement of the courses. This means some that were ultra-hard in the arcade are now medium level and such. This makes unlocking all the content that much harder. There is some rubberbanding but it is not as egregious as the worst offenders in the genre. You can break away from the pack but if you make a mistake they will catch up in seconds, especially on the hard and bonus courses. The requirement to unlock said courses is pretty steep in my opinion and a bit frustrating. Most will barely unlock the medium tracks. Requiring first or second place to unlock the hard level is a bit too quick. I wish they adjusted this as it would make the game more accessible.
Even today Hydro Thunder is an exceptionally pretty game with great water physics and animation for its time. There is a diverse set of environments such as a San Diego Amusement Park, a trip through an abandoned Scottish castle, the ruins of Atlantis and even an imaginary look at what New York would be if the city were flooded. This track takes you through the city streets, subway tunnels and culminates near the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. The frame rate is a consistent 60 with some added special effects over the arcade. Eurocom and Midway even squeeze in split screen multiplayer which is also a treat. The only negatives would be the plain interface and long load times, sometimes as long as 10 seconds.
In Closing
Hydro Thunder is one of the stars of the Dreamcast launch and a great game overall. There is loads of content, it looks great but most of all it is just plain fun to play overall. There have been many water based racing games over the years (and even a few indirect sequels to this classic) yet Hydro Thunder remains fun to boot up for a few hours of mindless fun to this day.
