The future world of Hydrophobia is nothing if not dark. The world’s population continued to skyrocket even as the oceans rose and crippled food production. The result? Mass starvation, global upheaval, and creepy slogans like “Save the world: Kill yourself.” Now, just as the Nanocell corporation prepares to announce some vague new hope for the future, bandana-wearing cultists invade the gargantuan floating city Kate Wilson calls home. The svelte engineer has a choice: grow gills, or take back control of the Queen of the World by force.
Kate’s more likely to upgrade your computer than kick your ass, but that’s part of what makes her frantic journey so much fun. From the moment you leave your cushy apartment for the claustrophobic confines of the lower decks, hell breaks loose almost continuously, and Kate constantly has to improvise far outside her comfort zone. Electronics malfunction, pipes burst, and walls buckle, so you’ll sometimes have to piece together a path from whatever ledges, girders, and shafts you can reach.
This isn’t Lara Croft on a boat, though. The water here isn’t just sparkling scenery; it’s your chief nemesis. Now and then you’ll get to hack consoles or scan walls for hidden messages at your leisure, but most of the time it seems like Poseidon himself has a trident-sized bone to pick with you. Those beautiful cascading slopes of water that slosh around so convincingly can rise past your neck in a hurry, so not ending up a drowned corpse becomes a full-time job.
When you acquire a pistol during the second of Hydrophobia’s three acts, however, you’ll learn the wet stuff is also your principal ally. Sonic bullets do pitifully little direct damage, but they do perpetrate some pretty thrilling cause-and-effect violence. Stun a dude so he falls underwater, and he might drown before he wakes up. Shoot through an electrical cable, and the moist enemies beneath will ride the lightning.
The cover system never feels as responsive or consistent as it should, Kate occasionally seems apt to die if you look at her funny, and a couple of ill-placed checkpoints drop you right on top of enemy forces. But treat each death like an opportunity to experiment with a new approach, and you won’t mind a bit. Indeed, the more you experiment with them, the more Hydrophobia’s dynamic warrens come to life. Turn gas leaks into scorching fireballs, use explosive barrels like deadly dominoes, and change the way entire battles unfold just by choosing how much trapped water to free.
You could always power through with some special ammunition, or grind past opponents with charged sonic blasts. But really, you’ll only be cheating yourself out of all those marvelously entertaining chain-reaction killing sprees and the resulting scoring bonuses. And by the time you reach the abrupt cliffhanger ending, you’ll be too busy planning your next playthrough to worry much about the wait for Hydrophobia’s inevitable sequel.
+ Fast-paced action/adventure filled with tense puzzle-solving and tactical combat.
+ Gorgeous water-dynamics simulation adds unique gameplay possibilities.
- Cover system can be a mild pain; a couple lousy checkpoints; Kate's a bit of a wuss.
? Why no speed-run leaderboards?
