Hydro Thunder, a great arcade racer, has
found a home on the Dreamcast. It does almost everything right, but Midway has failed to
add any additional modes of play to extend the replay value. With that, this one sinks
(pun intended) into the "must-rent" category. Midways has flawlessly translated the look of the game from the arcade. Water effects have rarely looked better, only topped by Wave Race on the Nintendo 64. There is some minor slowdown in a few areas, but these moments are few and far between.
Inappropriate is the only way to describe the soundtrack. Why the designers chose an orchestra to conduct tracks for this game is baffling. Granted, these sound great, but they sound like they should be in Final Fantasy, not a blazingly fast arcade racer. The over eccentric announcer fits the game even if he can quickly grate on your nerves.
The fun factor alone is enough reason to pick this game up, at least for a test run. With only the arcade and a multi-player mode to dive into, this one is over too soon. Having a party? This would be a recommended pick-up. If you enjoy playing your games alone, then there's no reason to actually spend money unless you're collecting.
