Hydro Thunder review: the boat race that rewarded showing off

The race starts, the water churns, and your boat leaps forward like it was fired out of something. Hydro Thunder never pretended boats were subtle. It made them loud, fast and slightly airborne.

Why is boost the whole game?

Scattered across the tracks are blue and red boost icons. Touch one and you get fuel; the red ones are rarer and give more boost fuel. That alone would make a decent racer. What makes it a good one is what boost lets you do.

Boosting into another boat can knock it into the air, a move the game calls the Mighty Hull. Braking and boosting at the same time performs the Hydro Jump, and when you pair that with the ramps scattered around each course, you reach shortcuts and boost icons that are otherwise out of reach. So boost is not just speed. It is a key, and every race is a small puzzle about when to spend it.

The best shortcut is the one you have to be a little reckless to find.

Easy, medium, hard, and a reason to come back

The boats and tracks are split into easy, medium, hard and bonus classes. Easy boats handle well but are slow; hard boats are fast and difficult to control. Placing well opens up the next tier, which gave a regular a simple goal for their next visit: get to the hard tracks, then get to the bonus ones.

The places are pure spectacle, from the cold seas of the Arctic Circle to a post-apocalyptic version of New York City. Nobody cared that they made no sense. They looked great from across the room.

What it meant back then

This one arrived at the end of the nineties, when the arcade was shrinking back into movie theaters, bowling alleys and family fun centers. Hydro Thunder was the sit-down machine that still pulled people in: a big seat, a throttle, and a screen full of spray. Dads raced their kids after bowling. Teenagers raced each other for the last quarters of the night before the lights came up at closing.

Playing it today

It is still a joy for a few races, especially side by side with someone. The physics are silly and the boats bounce like toys, but the loop of boost, jump and shortcut hasn't aged at all. Find the ramp. Trust the Hydro Jump.