Hydrophobia
Review
Hope you packed your swimming gear
by Chris Priestman
reviewed on X360
Shock To The System (cntd)
The environmental hazards are also dangerous to you, and parts of the game play like a platformer as you attempt to avoid them. As most of the ship is either flooded or blocked off, Kate has to find her way around through elevator shafts, ventilation systems and other hazardous pitfalls. It can be easy to lose track of where you are, but there is a very helpful in-game 3D map to make sure you aren’t stuck for too long. The platforming bits do well to vary the gameplay from just fighting the terrorists, but I found climbing and jumping a bit jerky at times. Although this is not a problem as there aren’t really any points when you are being rushed, it did stand out during combat. Sometimes it took repeated button presses to get into cover, and it soon became frustrating when I continued to die and had restart at the last checkpoint. The easy targeting system alleviates some of the pain, as it is very accurate which is essential when trying to shoot down electrical wires to fry the enemy with. Generally, whilst on dry land Kate’s movement is fine but it doesn’t feel as smooth as it should be.
Open The Floodgates
Whilst Kate may have been scared to enter the water, I dove straight in. The HydroEngine works beautifully, and the water dynamics do not disappoint. More than eye candy, they are integrated into the gameplay quite well. Water bursts through tight corridors and sweeps you off your feet; conductivity is on to full effect, and oftentimes live wires will kill your enemies for you. The swimming controls are excellent and make it very easy to navigate the flooded decks. Just remember to not be too carried away and find an air pocket before you drown.
When fighting underwater the combat changes as well. Everything is much, much smoother underwater, which should encourage you to get wet. It’s as if the game shifts to slow motion and the bullet trails make the game look spectacular. When you are shot underwater your blood leaks out and mixes with the water just as it would in real life. Explosions also have that extra wow factor when they are slowed down underwater.
Although I was really impressed with the water engine in every way, my only wish was that it was used more outside of combat. Most of your interaction with the water consists of either emptying rooms or filling them up with water. As the game is only a third of the final game, there’s more to come, but a bit more variety in this release would have been appreciated. Later in the story Kate acquires some hydrokinetic powers, which has my mouth watering (pun intended), as it seems that the full extent of the HydroEngine has yet to be seen.
Anyone Got A Bucket?
One of the main downfalls of the game is that its story will give you about 3 hours of gameplay. The absence of a multiplayer will leave you questioning what you paid for, but there are leaderboards that rank players according to their scores in the game. You can replay levels to build up better combo multipliers, as well as finding a variety of collectibles. There are also almost 50 in-game medals that are earned by reaching certain landmarks in the game, or performing a variety of skill-based actions. All of these factors add towards your final score, so if you want to reach the top of the leaderboards mastering them all in one playthrough will be essential. Fortunately these replays will not be identical to each other as the water physics will constantly vary each part of the gameplay. Outside of the story there is a survival mode called the Challenge Room, which pads out the length of the game a bit further. After facing the five rounds of ten enemies you will be finished with it though, unless you are chasing leaderboards.
Let Me Hose You Down
As it was once scheduled to be a full retail release, Hydrophobia is certainly very different to most other downloadable titles out there. To get the most for your money you will need to be creative with the physics engine, but the initial interaction with the water is definitely worth checking out. It’s hard to judge a game when you are only given a third of it to play with, but it seems like the best is yet to come. Hydrokinetic powers will definitely spice up future installments, and you owe it to yourself to try the first one so the story doesn’t confuse you later on. My advice while playing the game is to get absolutely soaked as soon as possible. The slight stiffness of dry land soon disappears and the water effects will leave you in awe.
8.7
fun score
Pros
Interacting with the environment and experimenting with the HydroEngine is fantastic fun over and over again. Characterization is done well and the game is backed by a strong story.
Cons
Player control is at times sluggish, particularly during combat and objectives are quite repetitive. The game is very short without sufficient replays.
