Platform: Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360)

Price: 1200 MSP / $15 US

Vector Unit's high speed jet racing game  Hydro Thunder Hurricane for XBLA presents all of the “same" boats from the original Midway game Hydro Thunder, with a slight effect of re-imagination and a dramatic improvement graphically. Aptly, the “Midway” boat has been renamed to “Vector” to match the name of the new developer. The selection of boats have been classed as follows: Novice, Pro, and Expert, and track difficulty classifications have been taken out altogether. For Race Mode, the class of boat you choose will determine the class of AI opponents you will face, and the different Time  Limits for achieving Gold, Silver or Bronze medals.

In Ring Master, you choose a track, your boat and face increasingly difficult stage courses based on the class of your boat. Ring Master is a great way to discover each level’s shortcuts and secrets, at least on Pro and Expert. Unfortunately, if you haven’t already discovered most of these shortcuts, it could take you a long time to actually unlock Expert for Ring Master on each track.

Finally, in Gauntlet Mode, you will run solo time trials against the courses, which are littered with explosive barrels, in addition to the built-in environmental hazards.

Unlike the ambiguous boat descriptions from the original game, Hurricane has exact quantification for each boat in the areas of Acceleration, Top Speed, Handling, and Air Control. This makes choosing the boat that fits your style easy, as each boat handles distinctly based on these stats. Another big improvement over the 1999 original is the Boost Jump. Instead of being a difficult process of laying-off the boost, grabbing the brake, and hitting the boost again, boost jumping has been simplified to a one-button operation. This is important as the tracks in Hydro Thunder Hurricane are much more complex and fast paced.

Speaking of tracks, they are pretty epic. A couple ideas from the original to show their influence on Hurricane (including the totally redesigned carryover, “Lake Powell”), but each level is themed and fairly unique from the others. Every level features multiple shortcuts throughout, sometimes even offering up more than one at the same time (decisions, decisions!). “La Isla de los Monstrous” is one of the most impressive of all, featuring multiple paths and water levels that change each lap. While you are enjoying the scenery and looking for shortcuts, you will also come across floating Hydro Thunder Hurricane logos. These “Hidden Packages” are found in some of the hardest places to reach and will give you a reason to explore each level to the fullest. Collecting all 10 from each of the tracks will even get you an achievement and some gamerscore.

Aesthetically, each stage is amazing. The graphics aren’t over the top, but the overall style is impressive, with massive amounts of activity from the interactive environments and rock solid frame rates. The boats are highly detailed, with bright graphic designs and nicely animated “transformations” as your boost activates and deactivates. I was disappointed with the resolution of the water effects and wave physics though, would like to have seen more surface variation and more realistic wake and spray.

I did not like most of the audio in the game. The music and sound effects are on the borderline for me, although I do like the team chatter and a few other things. Area 51 is probably my favorite level for sounds/music. Each boat has a slightly different engine sound, although I think this is done with filters, instead of having unique soundtracks.

HOW DOES IT LOOK? Hydro Thunder Hurricane does a good job in revamping the looks of the original game. Although, a lot of people complain regarding the graphics being a Dreamcast looking game I say that Vector Unit did a good job presenting it to the Xbox 360 systems and polished it enough to make it visibly presentable and appealing.

HOW DOES IT SOUND? The music is very, very repetitive. Sound effects are the usual splashing and water sounds and the engines sound very similar to one another. Voice acting is used sparingly and sometimes not at all. Audio is not really the strongest point in this game.

HOW DOES IT PLAY?  It actually plays really nice, although it sucks being first place and then within a millisecond someone passes you by. (John.)

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? While I do admit the game is very addicting, I would consider this a very cheap thrilled fun game and by cheap I mean not very replayable. There are only 8 tracks in Hydro Thunder Hurricane . Thankfully, there are two other game modes, plus 10 Championship events that will keep you interested. Not to mention challenges to unlock alternate skins for each boat. The game also features up to 4-player local split-screen, with the ability to race online while in split-screen as well.

Vector Unit has managed to take a beloved, but for some reason abandoned franchise and turn it into the great game you mistakenly thought you remembered. With greatly improved visuals and insanely improved playability, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is an amazing half-sequel. The limited track and boat selection is a bit disappointing and the water effects are far from cutting edge, but they get the job done.