Review by: Scott Steinberg
Published: October 25, 1999

Having played the worst the PC had to offer in boat racing titles, such as Telstar/H-Plus-A’s less than stellar Speedboat Attack, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about making some waves in Midway’s latest Dreamcast offering, Hydro Thunder. You might have seen this one before in the arcade, but if you’re stingy like me, it’s likely you also didn’t want to waste multiple quarters on the sit-down coin-op machine. With this in mind, I went into the review totally fresh, having never actually seen the game in action before, although I was expecting this one to sink faster than the Titanic. In the end, however, it seems the joke was on me, as I found out that all this time I’d been missing out on one of the best Dreamcast launch titles on the market.

If the story is to be believed, we’re cast in the role of someone who’s spent countless thousands improving their superboat using state-of-the-art racing equipment simply for the love of the sport. Rumor has it we’re on top of our game, having mastered the international circuits, and are undoubtedly on the lookout for the next challenge. Eventually, a letter arrives, informing us that we’ve suddenly been inducted into the Hydro Thunder Racing Association, a highly illegal and clandestine organization of racers who play by one rule: Do whatever it takes to cross the finish line first. Along with the note comes directions to the next event and the inevitable feeling that no matter what the law says, it’s going to be impossible to resist the lure of a race without boundaries, rules or restrictions.

From a purely conceptual standpoint, there’s little that separates Hydro Thunder from any racer we’ve ever seen before, as you merely climb behind the wheels of one of several superboats and race several courses in order to place first in the rankings. Sure, in this game things take place on water, but that’s hardly a novelty nowadays, unless, of course, one was to first design the best looking water effects ever seen in a console offering, add a pinch of breakneck speed to it, then toss in some fabulous scenery and a hint of intuitive gameplay for seasoning. The sum of these parts is a rather straightforward racing title that challenges you to move it or lose it in a frantic race through multiple courses to move up in the rankings and gain access to better boats and new tracks.

Upon loading, one will find that the menu system is driven by icons and, although it’s a bit short on play modes — offering opportunities only for one and two player matchups — there’s plenty of options to configure. You’ll be able to choose from one of two preset controller configurations through which the game is manipulated, allowing you to move in various directions, accelerate and brake as necessary, change the camera angle or use a speed booster. Games can, of course, be saved and loaded to the VMU, allowing you to retain access to any extras you’ve uncovered, and you can even control just how much the jump pack vibrates in any given situation. Options exist through which you can tweak the volume settings of both sound effects and music as well, so at this point, all you’ll have seen is pretty standard fare.