[360] Hydrophobia Review

[Ghostbear]

Hydrophobia Review

Title: Hydrophobia
Platform: XBLA
Developer: Dark Energy Digital
Publisher: Dark Energy Digital
ESRB: Mature
MSRP: 1200 Xbox Live points
Editor: Jeremy 'Ghostbear' Spurlock

What's Hot: An interesting game world; slightly better than average strategy when it comes to shooting; sound design is great.

What's Not:The graphics are sub par; the water engine isn't nearly as impressive as it sounds; clunky implementation of combat

Welcome to the “Party of the Century,” but as you can imagine things aren’t going to go exactly as planned. The game takes place onboard the Queen of the World, which is essentially its own country. It is about to go on its maiden voyage where it will be free from state influences and politics. A group of fanatics called the Neo Malthusians decide to show up and ruin it for everyone. They believe that the world is far outpacing its resources and the only way to save the planet is to drastically reduce the world’s population. The first part of their plan seems to be to wreak havoc on the ship. The only person in position to stop them is you, Kate Wilson, Systems Engineer.

The world created in Hydrophobia is interesting; it’s too bad the game is mediocre in most every other respect. Much was touted about the game's new water engine, and to be fair, there are moments it really shines. Most of the time, however, it doesn’t really effect what’s going on directly around you. Opening doors doesn’t always release the torrent of water that was in the room just behind you into the room you are entering. It seemed to be more of a set piece than a consistent adversary.

The gameplay is fairly unexciting, being a mix of some light Tomb Raideresque climbing and swimming combined with an OK third person shooter. Speaking of shooting, most often your attacks will be indirect, using your weapon to destroy walls in order to release of flood of water or perhaps knocking some electrical wires into the water surrounding your enemies. Later on you will find some other ammo types that let you set off timed explosions, electrical “mines” and basic bullets. These help to mix up some of the strategies used to disable your foes.

A large portion of the game is spent scanning the bulkheads and decks searching for crypto keys, so that you can open a door you need to get through. You do this with your MAVI, a portable scanning/hacking tool. Speaking of hacking, this is probably the best hacking minigame I’ve had to play in recent memory; you have to match wavelengths using the thumb sticks. It’s a good way to keep you involved without it being annoying. Visually the game is probably not up to the graphic level that you might expect, even for a downloadable title. I never felt the graphics were poor, but I was never impressed. It had the dreaded “jaggies” of yesteryear. The game does manage to make the environments interesting with lots of objects in the background to look at and interact with.

Hydrophobia is single player game planned as a trilogy, but that hardly forgives the “to be continued” that hit my screen in the middle of a cut scene. To say I was annoyed would be understating it. I finished playing in about 5 hours, so a solid chunk of time. The game never quite seemed to impress me, I always felt a bit underwhelmed and at times frustrated by clunky combat and irritating voice acting. There were moments of goodness, but they were in the minority. I hope the follow up episodes improve things, because I would like to learn more about the game’s world.


Score: 2.5 out of 5 CoGs


Jeremy says, "With middling graphics and gameplay, Hydrophobia is not a game I can recommend."

[Narradisall]

Shame, I was hoping this would have some potential. I'll still end up renting or getting it, but at 5 hours it's bargin bin for me.

[Ghostbear]

It's download only, I'm afraid.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Narradisall

Shame, I was hoping this would have some potential. I'll still end up renting or getting it, but at 5 hours it's bargin bin for me.

It already IS bargain bin at $15 download price. I don't think it is remotely fair to compare the graphics to a $6o release. They should be compared to other arcade games, in which case they probably stand far above most.

However, it the combat and world is uninteresting, that is a problem. But I don't think it is justified to complain about the length or graphics give the budget priced release. Personally, I'd love to see more games go this "in between" route, but it won't happen if people expect $15 arcade games to look like Gears of War.

Not to undercut Ghostbear, but I think everyone should at least try the demo. It has gotten some great reviews elsewhere and I think it may just be a matter of what expectations you go into it with. I go in expecting a title with lower production values to match the lower price.

[Ghostbear]

I did mention that I felt the visuals were poor for a downloadable title. I wasn't comparing it to Gears of War. Nor did I complain about the length.

[Shrinn]

You're a jerk, Ghostbear. You should feel bad.

Sounds like a good review.

[Spigot]

I'm tempted, to be sure. This sounds sort of like a more action-oriented take on Disaster Report without the japanese weirdness. Very tempted...

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by EternalGamer

But I don't think it is justified to complain about the length...

Not only did he not complain about the length, he specifically gave it credit for being a "solid chunk of time." He just seemed to feel that the way it concluded was poor, though I agree that it's a part of the review that isn't entirely clear.

As for the graphics, it certainly looks nice in screenshots, but XBL has had games like Limbo, Shank, Monday Night Combat and Shadow Complex, so "for a downloadable title" is becoming a less meaningful qualifier. There's some good looking stuff out there.

I'll give the demo a shot, though, for sure. Free is free.

[Spigot]

I think EG was commenting on Nardarrassil's comment about 5 hours being bargain bin fodder.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Spigot

I think EG was commenting on Nardarrassil's comment about 5 hours being bargain bin fodder.

Yeah, I was referrin to Nardarrassil's comment. But perhaps I should have been more direct and quoted him rather than just being lazy and using the text box to reply. I was commenting on the general expectations people come to these sorts of experiences with.

EDIT: Wait a second, I DID quote him. Now I am confused by the confusion.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

As for the graphics, it certainly looks nice in screenshots, but XBL has had games like Limbo, Shank, Monday Night Combat and Shadow Complex, so "for a downloadable title" is becoming a less meaningful qualifier. There's some good looking stuff out there.

I'll give the demo a shot, though, for sure. Free is free.

It is obviously subjective but I've watched some videos and I was pretty impressed with how it looks for an XBLA game. The games you mentioned do look great, but they aren't exactly going for the same fully realized atmosphere that this one is. Most of them are just 2D games that, as far as I am aware, don't require anywhere near as much time and effort as modeling full 3D environments with details that can be observed up close.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by EternalGamer

It already IS bargain bin at $15 download price. I don't think it is remotely fair to compare the graphics to a $6o release. They should be compared to other arcade games, in which case they probably stand far above most.

However, it the combat and world is uninteresting, that is a problem. But I don't think it is justified to complain about the length or graphics give the budget priced release. Personally, I'd love to see more games go this "in between" route, but it won't happen if people expect $15 arcade games to look like Gears of War.

Not to undercut Ghostbear, but I think everyone should at least try the demo. It has gotten so e great reviews elsewhere and I think it may just be a matter of what expectation s you gominto it with. I go in expecting a title with lower production values to match the lower price.

I don't think $15 is a lot, but I think my particular stigma (and it's not wholly fair) comes from retail gaming deals. I can buy a $15 game on clearance or discount and get a full blown high budget experience with a decent campaign. Then when a game is released on XBL for $15 or so I balk. I don't buy games at $60, and $15-20 is a more standard purchase range for me, so my brain does the comparison automatically--I know the difference and know it's silly but I still do it. I still haven't purchased Limbo, fer cryin' out loud.

It's not fair, no. I will try the demo as I like these types of games. We'll see if I commit to the full purchase. I have almost 3800 XBL points stagnating and haven't purchased anything on Live for about a year (or since my Gold expired and I no longer qualified for weekly deals). I should catch up and buy some crap. Maybe.

Still $15 for 5 hours isn't bad. Demo will be grabbed tonight, if it's available.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

I don't think $15 is a lot, but I think my particular stigma (and it's not wholly fair) comes from retail gaming deals. I can buy a $15 game on clearance or discount and get a full blown high budget experience with a decent campaign. Then when a game is released on XBL for $15 or so I balk. I don't buy games at $60, and $15-20 is a more standard purchase range for me, so my brain does the comparison automatically--I know the difference and know it's silly but I still do it. I still haven't purchased Limbo, fer cryin' out loud.

It's not fair, no. I will try the demo as I like these types of games. We'll see if I commit to the full purchase. I have almost 3800 XBL points stagnating and haven't purchased anything on Live for about a year (or since my Gold expired and I no longer qualified for weekly deals). I should catch up and buy some crap. Maybe.

Still $15 for 5 hours isn't bad. Demo will be grabbed tonight, if it's available.

Where I am coming from is that I like the idea of "bite sized" full game experiences. When we can get awesome games that last 3 hours long and are the price of a movie ticket, I think we will have arrived. I would love to have awesome gaming experiences that I can sit down and experience in full in one sitting and have them be paired down and eventful enough that I would like to revisit them like I do my favorite films or music.

I don't think this has to be the ONLY model for gaming in the future. But I would like to see it become A model.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by EternalGamer

Where I am coming from is that I like the idea of "bite sized" full game experiences. When we can get awesome games that last 3 hours long and are the price of a movie ticket, I think we will have arrived. I would love to have awesome gaming experiences that I can sit down and experience in full in one sitting and have them be paired down and eventful enough that I would like to revisit them like I do my favorite films or music.

I don't think this has to be the ONLY model for gaming in the future. But I would like to see it become A model.

I understand that and agree. I don't replay many games because they have a commitment that is unlike that of rewatching a film. As long as the price is not high, I'd always be accepting of something smaller and shorter. For some experiences, anyway.

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by EternalGamer

Yeah, I was referrin to Nardarrassil's comment. But perhaps I should have been more direct and quoted him rather than just being lazy and using the text box to reply. I was commenting on the general expectations people come to these sorts of experiences with.

EDIT: Wait a second, I DID quote him. Now I am confused by the confusion.

I'm confused over the confusion about the confu-- oh screw it. My bad. Sorry.

[Narradisall]

I'm confused that you lot replied to my comment when it was pretty clear I'd mistaken this for a full title.....

I always thought this was a full game, no idea if was a XBL game. So 5 hours for $15 is decent imo. I thought it was a $60 game, hence why I didn't think 5 hours was good.

I'll pick it up at some point now its been clarified.

[ElektroDragon]

Well, at least it has a more interesting/original premise than stuff like Monday Night Combat. I'd bump it up a CoG just for that.

[Ghostbear]

I am shocked, shocked that you complained about the score. Just because you don't like one game is hardly a valid reason for increasing the score of another.

[JayK47]

For some reason I thought this was a full retail game and was interested in it. I am not a fan of XBLA. Maybe if the game was $5, but do XBLA games ever go on sale? I never seem to notice. $15 is too much for 5 hours of "fun" along with the Sopranos ending and the possibility of no sequels.

[Darkmatter]

I think he's just saying that more original games should get small rating bonus for not just repeating whats been done 100 times before. Tho I'd say half a cog.