Hydro Thunder

by Playstation

Product Features

• original sony playstation game which will also play on play on PS2, complete black label edition

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000035YA1
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 29, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,977 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Hydro Thunder is one of those games that prove that timing is everything. The game was rushed to the Dreamcast so that it could have the advantage of being one of the few reasonably good games available at launch, and it ended up being a beautiful, if not painfully exact, arcade port. Now, more than half a year later, the game has landed on the PlayStation. While it's obvious the developers spent more time making this version of Hydro Thunder more complete, without the graphical muscle of the arcade hardware or the Dreamcast, the PlayStation version simply isn't as impressive. The addition of circuit and time trial haven't changed the game a whole lot. You're still racing one of nine different boats across 12 different courses in an attempt to place first. Along the way you'll run into various obstacles, collect boosters, make insanely huge jumps, and do your best to keep your boat afloat. This basic concept remains the same throughout, as it's only trivial details that change between modes. The circuit mode is a somewhat awkward attempt to make the different tracks fit together, as you pick a boat and make money depending on what rank you place in each race. Unfortunately, there's nothing to spend your accumulated wealth on, making the mode almost worthless, as you can neither save your progress nor switch boats between races. The time-trial mode lets you race a track without opponents or a time limit, but it isn't that useful because you aren't allowed to explore the track and look for secret paths. Still, the user interface has been much improved, and it now sports a "restart race" command from the pause menu and offers a more comprehensive option menu. Unfortunately, the PlayStation version doesn't let you completely customize your controls and instead makes you pick one of three different preset control schemes, none of which emulates the controls of the Dreamcast version. This makes it all the more difficult to pull off boost jumps, as the boost button is now nowhere near the brakes. Hydro Thunder's greatest asset was its incredible graphics, which just don't translate well onto the PlayStation. While the graphics found on the PlayStation version aren't terrible, they definitely hurt the game. All the little graphical touches littering the Dreamcast game aren't in the PlayStation version, and some of the effects are so poorly translated that they're almost laughable. The frame rate suffers at times, turning into a choppy mess. Gone are the amazing water effects, and the normal water looks so bad it's questionable what you're actually racing on. Still, there is almost no pop-up, and the graphics are good enough for you to understand what's going on. Another department that faced heavy losses was the audio department. While the in-game music is pretty much the same, the audio cues from your navigator and the engine noises are very low quality. Now all the boats pretty much sound the same, and the sound effects have gotten pretty generic. The most apparent change in the sound effects is the noise your booster makes, which is obviously a loop because it gets louder in midrepetition. While some areas of the game have been improved, the incredibly frustrating AI hasn't been. It's still the case that the computer-controlled opponents are faster or slower depending on which boat you select. If you choose a faster, more difficult boat to control, you'll be up against faster opponents. This makes it a bit lopsided, as you get none of the pros but all the cons inherent in choosing a more difficult boat. So, in short, the best boats to select are the slowest ones, unless you're less concerned with winning the race than you are with placing the fastest time. Perhaps the most frustrating element of Hydro Thunder is the outright difficulty. You always start in 15th place, and the only way you can win a race is by hitting every boost, taking every shortcut, and hitting no walls. As if that weren't enough, Hydro Thunder retains the time gates - an arcade element. This makes finding shortcuts more accidental than intentional, as you've no time to stop and explore the track. Most of the details present in the Dreamcast version were sacrificed, replaced with only a few minor improvements. This is the game, with its improved interface and new game modes, that should have appeared on the Dreamcast instead of the one we're familiar with. That game could have greatly benefited from the revisions found in the PlayStation version, while this version, without all the advantages Sega's machine has to offer, isn't as compelling a game as it once was. --Ben Stahl
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description

This is the game Hydro Thunder for the Playstation 1. This game may not come with the original case and instructions. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Game, June 3, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hydro Thunder (Video Game)

Dont believe the negative reviews that this game received in the Video Game magazines and websites. Hydro Thunder is a fast paced Boat Racing game loaded with short cuts and power ups. The levels are challenging. The gameplay is fast paced and will have you coming back for more and more. The graphics are not the best you have ever seen on the playstation but they dont take away from the gameplay. THe sounds, when cranked up on a stereo are great and real add to the feel of the game. Buy this one....its worth it!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Impressive for PSX, but *hard*!, March 23, 2000

By 

Chris Adamson "invalidname" (Grand Rapids, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hydro Thunder (Video Game)

Crunching an over-the-top arcade rocket-boat simulator onto a PSX disc can't be easy -- look how badly "San Francisco Rush" missed the mark -- so it's a pleasant surprise to find Hydro Thunder so true to the arcade original.

Tweaking the arcade game slightly to squeeze out some more replay value, you begin the game with your choice of three easy boats and three easy tracks. Finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd (in a field of 16) on these tracks opens up the medium set, where you need to be second or better to move onto the hard tracks.

The graphics are a wildly mixed bag -- some races have patches of incomprehensible blur and pixelation (most notably the first portion of the "Arctic Circle" track), while at times you'll be stunned by surprisingly good reflection and other water effects.

The developers also did a great job of keeping in all the "look ma!" cutesies of the arcade game, such as police boats and tour guides chasing you down the river (sample audio: "the tracks in Hydro Thunder were constructed from thousands of tiny triangles... oooh!")

The knock against this game is the agonizing difficulty level. You won't win a race without finding significant shortcuts and getting most, if not all, of the "boosts", which often require a special "hydro jump" technique to blast out of the water and into the air. I'm all for getting more than five hours of playability out of a disc, but in HT, it seems you have to run the same track 30 or more times to get the perfect run that places you high enough to move on. It's grueling, and when all's said and done, I think the shortcut-crazed novelty-racer might do better to play "Sled Storm" instead.

But if you absolutely loved the arcade game, the PSX version is a worthy adaptation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not truly an arcade conversion, but still great, March 21, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hydro Thunder (Video Game)

This game isn't really as good as the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast versions, I'll admit, simply because the Playstation is an older machine than either of those other ones. However, I'll give credit where credit is due, there's plenty of enjoyment to soak in here. The game does feature pretty good graphics and very tight gameplay, as well as some modes not present in the other home versions. Stick with it and you're bound to have a good time racing for first place.