The second release in Microsoft's Summer of Arcade, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, is a sequel to Hydro Thunder which was originally released as an arcade and was later ported to Dreamcast, Playstation, and N64. That being said, if you loved Hydro Thunder than Hurricane is meant for you. It pays homage to the original by including all of its core gameplay elements but unfortunately, that's about all it contains.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane is gripping at first with its fast-paced, boost centered racing and the constant hunt for shortcuts will bring you back to old tracks again and again. The problem with this is that there are only eight tracks so they grow old fast.
There are four different game modes; Race, Ring Master, Gauntlet, and Championship. While each of these provide a small variation in gameplay (with the exception of Championship which is just a mix of the other three) they all take place on the same eight tracks so your left feeling like you've already done this. Ring Master even keeps you on the core centered path of the track to avoid exposing any of the shortcuts but this also prevents you from using any of the shortcuts you've made the effort to find. In a game that centers so much on the discovery of any and all shortcuts it's very irritating to not be able to use them.
The multiplayer is bare bones at best. It contains only two game modes, straight up Race and the much more interesting "Rubber Ducky" in which each team has one player control a rubber duck which the rest of the team must try to get across the finish line before the opposing teams rubber duck. It makes for an interesting and fun variation that is actually a blast to play. The only problem is that the online infrastructure is, for lack of a better term, broken. It is very difficult to get into a game and if you do manage to do so, good luck staying there. I repeatedly got a "Disconnected from server" error message and I asked around the lobbies that I did manage to get into and I was clearly not the only one. Fortunately the game does offer split-screen so if you can get buddies on your couch to play, that's your best bet.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane is, at its core, a great testament to the original game and its arcade roots. The problem is that it fails to develop enough on that original concept which results in a very thin experience because the original concept was fine for five to ten minutes in an arcade but for a permanent $15 purchase it's just not enough.
If you have rose coloured glasses of the original Hydro Thunder than Hydro Thunder Hurricane might just be for you. In regards to the overall value however I can't justify a 1200 Microsoft Point purchase.
Avoid
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