Paramore289's Review of Hydrophobia

Hydrophobia is a game which pushes the boundaries with the thought of using water as such a massive part in the game.

User Rating: 7 | Hydrophobia X360

By Paramore289 | Review Date: March 7, 2011

I have never played a game that has done such a thing, and to addition to it, the developers have executed it perfectly in my opinion. In the game, the water can either be your ally by helping you get to new places which you wouldn't normally be able to reach or your enemy in the fact you have to swim through it to get into another room. While playing the game, throughout which you're in a sinking ship, you constantly feel as if the ship is going to completely submerge at any point thus adding tension for the games experience. The water is visually pleasing, whether you're swimming just on the surface of it, or actually diving in through the depths of it. The physics of the water is manipulated well with realistic effects; by shooting down a pane of glass that has water behind it, you soon get swept away with it and feel it slowing down your general movement and struggling to swim to the surface to the water. I would have however, liked to have seen an oxygen bar on the screen once Kate dives into the water built into the game into the first place instead of on the update. The only way you know Kate is running out of air is by your screen going a nice shade of red round the sides thus limiting your time to go look for an air pocket or the surface of the water.

The game soon becomes addictive even with a confusing storyline. Personally I found the game going too quickly for me to keep up with what was going on in the storyline and became was unclear what was really going on from the beginning apart from slight background information. Objectives are also another problem that I kept coming across. With the storyline being as unclear as it was, I found it difficult to keep up with the objectives and the menu system only added to the problem. I found that the menu system for the objectives was unclear on stating what you had to specifically do sometimes and also sometimes choosing another objective that necessarily didn't need doing right at that moment. Finally, with Scoots annoying voice at least attempting to aid you in your quest, I soon found myself shutting my ears off from him and not paying him any attention. His jokes are somewhat bare even for a character in a game.
The controls are easy to pick up from the start with a relatively short learning curve as it soon becomes apparent that it is a similar layout and way of working as any other third person shooter. Limited to only your pistol in the game, the range of weapons in the game is very poor however is made up with 5/6 different types of ammo and also involves the array of kills you can get by shooting at barrels, leaking gas pipes and electric wires. By doing different and spectacular kills, the more points you earn. This can be multiplied by depending on how many people you kill within a certain amount of time. This can become quite a fun challenge especially between friends on Xbox Live. Some aspects of the game can seem a bit repetitive, this being taken from the task of getting the frequency keys.
I would say the game is highly underestimated however it does have some annoying game play issues (NOTE. This review is based upon a play through without the Hydrophobia Pure update.)After reading up on this game after completion, I am looking interested for any further games that are released on this game due to the cliff-hanger of an ending so such an enjoyable game.

Hydrophobia

Hydrophobia is a game which pushes the boundaries with the thought of using water as such a massive part in the game.

A new IP franchise launched on a brand new water physics engine.

Very Underrated