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Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: June 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

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!

Impressive for PSX, but *hard*!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: March 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

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.

Quality

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Very tough to play at first. I played the arcade version and fell in love with it. When I bought th PS version I was blown away by the consistant quality of the graphics and the handling changes for each different boat. Once you win the first race, you'll be hooked.

Not truly an arcade conversion, but still great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

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.

one of the BEST games ever.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the best of all boat racing games.I love this game!!

Hydro Thunder

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I had been wanting this game for sometime but didn't want to pay the high price...This game took me less than 2 weeks to finish. The graphic are good and the boats are cool but rather hard to control at first...

~HYDRO THUNDER~

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: May 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is good, their is a good challang in the game but it is possible. their is also 4 bouns tracks and boats. My favorit boat is call "Bannshi" their are 13 tracks in all but you'll have too 1st get 1-3 in the "begginer" tracks. 1-2 in the "intermidate" tracks and get 1st in the "expert" tracks. (you can do this in arcade mode).
Over-all this is a fun game

sweeeeeeettttt

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

this game is so sweet racing through the water at 100mph hitting boats and hering people scream but your not hurt.

its an ok game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: March 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

well too start off i have too agree with ben stahl but all soo looking at it from another side ithink the game is ok yes at first i was hyped about a boat racein game on play station when i got it home and played it i was in heaven because i love too play boat games i think this is the only game out for play station as far as raceing goes..as i starting playin this game i thought it was cool..and i have not got past the very fist part yet i have beat 2 out of 3 tracks on the easy bord and let me tell you it was not as easy i am really let down by the game but i still love the game its ok for kids but not for a 28year old who really knows whats going on but all in all the game is not that bad its just very hard too play and the better the boat the harder it gets too handel so in closein i would say its not all that bad but they could have done better and i bet the game does not stay in stock for long in stores..and they need a cheet book out on this game ..well enjoy and have fun remenber its only a game shawn g.

10 year old gamer from La

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: November 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is the best! If you like racing games or don't this still is the best game ever! The plot is fantastic.

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