Personally, Hydro Thunder is my all time favorite arcade game. The fast

paced, high-tech boat racing is very unique, and the courses are put

together very well. The sound in this game is epic; The voice acting,

unlike the speech in most games I've played, is actually really good.

The gameplay is pretty simple; Drive your boat from point A to point B

at crazy fast speeds, and beat the CPUs, who, by the way, have a good

advantage over you, to the finish line. It really is better than all

that though, because between point A (starting line) and point B

(finish) is a wild water track that takes a quick wit, and an equally

quick ride to conquer the course. The physics should also be given some

attention. The boat bounces on the water at high speeds and/or in wavy

areas, drifts with the tides, and actually goes under the water after a

long fall, and jumps out again. The crashes from boat to boat, and the

ability to jump are definitely not realistic, and the gravity is a bit

lower than real life gravity, but for an arcade game, the physics are

awesome! All in all, I think that this game is quite an experience, and

is definitely on my top 20 favorites list.

Graphics: 9

The
graphics in this game, considering when it was made, are really great.

The water, the mainland, the boats... especially the boats... Everything

is very detailed. The boats all look very good compared to the rest of

the game because of the detail in the paint jobs and rendering, and

they're modeled very well. The three dimensional rendering in this game

is probably about average for Nintendo 64, but the way it was all put

together makes the game look very good, and it truly is...

Sound: 10

As
I've already said, the sound in this game is awesome. The music really

matches the levels nicely, The sound effects all sound pretty good as

well. The resounding sound of when you bump into another boat, a ramp,

or even a wall is almost satisfying in itself. Also, the voice acting,

like I said earlier, is superb. It's not repetitive, or goofy, or

irritating at all. The quality of the sound is better than almost every

app I have on my phone. I'd recommend using headphones or good stereo

speakers to get the most out of the audio in this game.

Addictiveness: 7

I
used to play this game all the time. The only reason I don't play it

now is that I completed it. After completion, every game's addiction

level goes down. I still do play this game every once in a while, which

is more than I can say for most of the games I actually own. The most

addicting thing about this game is probably the fast pace, and the

uniqueness of each individual track. Also, it just has that classic

arcade racing feel to it.I'm 100% sure that I'll be playing this game again.

Depth: 7

As
this is an arcade game, It doesn't have much depth to it. It has

thirteen tracks and thirteen boats. First you complete easy mode, and

unlock medium, then you unlock hard, and then you unlock the four bonus

tracks. The bonus tracks are all very fun and different from the other,

more serious levels. There's also easy, medium, hard, and bonus boats.

Like the bonus levels, the bonus boats are more for fun. There's also a

two player mode, which I've played before, and enjoyed very much.

Difficulty: 8

Arcade
games normally aren't very easy to win, but they're not so hard that

they're irritating. They've got to be addicting, you know. Hydro Thunder

isn't any different. Once you get used to it, you'll place high in

every race. It's still hard to win, though. Thanks, and have fun.

wubbykeith : well this is a great review you made here. It has lots of detail and you broke it down into different categories. So overall good job, keep it up.

Thanks! I noticed that the game didn't have a featured review, so I jumped on the opportunity to earn some extra Viz. Quality does mean something to me, though. I can't stand reading posts filled with words not separated by spaces, lacking proper punctuation, and overrun with stuff that shouldn't even be there. I'm a perfectionist, and I want my work to be decent at it's very least. I actually had very little understanding on what makes video game graphics, so I stopped writing, did some research and came back after I had a better idea of what I was talking about. I hope to do this again, and I probably will.

The review itself is pretty good, but what is with the spacing? You say you are a perfectionist, yet your review has weird spacing. It makes it hard to read and adds false length. Overall a good review, but please edit it and fix the spacing. Keep up the good work.