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Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 65 Ratings

  • Summary: [Xbox Live Arcade] Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the all new, full-featured sequel to the arcade racer. Features rocket-powered speedboats blasting across amazing dynamic water, gorgeous visuals, and interactive environments packed with shortcuts and surprises. Pit your rocket powered speedboat against 15 opponents in single-player races and championships. Hone your speedboat skills in the new Ring Master and Gauntlet modes. Dive into intense multiplayer races with up to eight players over Xbox LIVE, up to four players locally, or even mix local and online games. [Microsoft] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 56
  2. Negative: 1 out of 56
  1. 93
    Everything I loved about Hydro Thunder has returned with Hurricane and more. The fun and addicting gameplay, the huge selection of boats and courses, and the speed all make for a great day of racing. Throw in some new single player and multiplayer modes, Hydro Thunder Hurricane will keep you racing until your fingers fall off.
  2. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a fast racing game for casual players and fans of the Burnout series.
  3. Hydro Thunder Hurricane doesn't make a huge splash, but riding the waves and boosting for shortcuts make for some good, cheap summer thrills.
  4. Ponderous and lightweight racing atop near-vaporous water. Go and have a bath instead. [Oct 2010, p.121]

See all 56 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. 10
    Oh man this game brings back memories. Me and my friends used to play this and SEGA Bass Fishing all day, every day back on the Dreamcast. Well, not this exactly, the original, but this is so close its not even funny. Except this one's way better. The core gameplay remains the same. You drive drifty speedboats through over-the-top courses complete with dragons and giant Norse gods with swinging axes and what not. You fill up boost meters, draft rivals, and pull off huge jumps. There are several modes like race, ring master (where you drive through ring gates as fast as possible), gauntlet and championship. You get bronze, silver, and gold medals based on your finish and are placed on leaderboards. There is also multiplayer which pretty much explains itself. There are also boats, skins, levels and other things to collect. The graphics here won't blow you away because this is essentially the Dreamcast game, although now visuals have been given a little HD polish and there are spray effects and better lighting. Not that the original looked bad, its just more than a decade old and needed a touch up. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a lot of fun and worth every bit of the 1200 point asking price. Expand
  2. DaveD
    10
    Arcade racing bliss! To play it, is to love it. An accomplished update to the infamous racing classic. Well done, Vetor unit.
  3. 8
    Pretty fun game especially the multiplayer in my opinion. Improved graphics, new levels to explore and much more. If you liked the original game I'm shure that you'll like this. Expand
  4. VictorR
    7
    This game is terrible when compared to its origins. As someone who dropped far too many quarters in the Arcade version and who bought the Dreamcast version on day 1, this game pales in comparison. The game doesn't really convey a good sense of speed. After turning this "remake" off and popping in the Dreamcast version (after finding and dusting off my poor old DC), the difference is like night and day. The DC version felt fast when you were boosting. It also felt like a challenge because it was based off the arcade where they were artificially harder to keep you dropping quarters in. In Hurricane, I took first place on every single race, got gold on my first ring challenge, and first place in the first tournament. *Yawn*. The boats themselves look terrible and I'm convinced the Dreamcast version had better textures, even if they had less polys. One of the things that made HydroThunder was the over-the-top announcer and the silly comments being made by your pilot or spotting crew. Both have been gutted here. The announcer had a reverb effect added to him which makes him sound muted, and the in-race comments are deadpan, at best. Flying down the corridor in Lake Powell with things blowing up and the guy says, in an almost monotone voice: "I didn't sign up for this." Again, *yawn*. All in all, not worth $15. If you have access to the Dreamcast or N64 version, stick to them. Expand

See all 14 User Reviews