Hydrophobia is a game with an interesting, if rather unusual route to existence. Developed in Manchester, the game came about because of one man, Dr Huw Lloyd's desire to put his degree in astrophysics to good use. And so, the HydroEngine was born - a powerful, or so we're told, graphics engine that's been designed to create an accurate simulation of water, and all its unique properties. The problem is, of course, there's no point having an engine without anything to show it off with - and this is how the idea behind Hydrophobia came about.
Set in the mid 21st Century, Hydrophobia's story is grounded in a disturbingly believable future. Based on the works of real life demographer, Thomas Malthus, Hydrophobia paints a world in which the global population has far outgrown the capabilities of our natural resources, plunging much of the world into poverty. Luckily for the rich, however, they're mostly fine, as a giant ocean liner, known as the Queen of the World, is keeping them all safe - warm, cosy, and well fed.
And cosy everything would be, were it not for a bunch of pesky terrorists, known as the Malthusians - a group of people who, following Malthus' writings, seem to believe that the best way to combat the global population boom is to kill the majority of people on the planet, thereby easing the pressure on the world's agricultural resources. Somewhat illogically, however, the group of maniacal terrorists decide that the best place to start would be one of the least populated parts of the world, and so target the unlucky people on board the ocean liner.
Kate Wilson - she's up to her neck in it. Well, her waist, at least.
This is where you come into things, taking on the role of Kate Wilson, an engineer on board the ship, who (surprise surprise) gets caught up in the middle of all the action. And, to be honest, it's a good job you've come here first, as if you'd just started playing the game with no prior introduction, you'd have very little idea what was actually going on. With no explanation of the interesting back story, or where you actually are, the game plunges you straight in at the deep end, at least story wise, as you struggle to try and piece things together for yourself with the limited information you're given.
The Queen of the World is a maze of claustrophobic corridors and stairwells, with the few open areas mostly forming hubs to other sets of narrow corridors. While there is a small amount of exploring you can do, it's nothing on the scale of, say, a Tomb Raider game, as you're shuffled from section to section without much in the way of a choice, as an irritating Scottish man yells in your ear.
Kate, too, is a disappointing lead, as the game seems torn between trying to make Kate a lifelike protagonist, while Scoot, the Scottish prat, makes light of even the worst situation. After having killed someone, Kate stammers, trying to come to terms with what she's just done, while Scoot just cracks another unfunny joke. It's a confusing message, and one that leaves you unsure how you're meant to take the game.
As an engineer on a boat full of terrorists, you spend the game horribly underarmed, and, thanks to the game's lack of any sort health bar, and Kate's seeming lack of any health, it's difficult to tell when you're about to die. When added to the awkward cover system, all this means is you'll often find yourself being on the wrong end of a weapon, before ending up face down in the water. It feels unfair, especially as killing the enemies is far more of a challenge than it is for them to kill you. For most of the game, you don't have a weapon that can actually hurt enemies - instead, you have some sort of sonic weapon, which merely blows them backwards, or knocks them down - the premise being that you can knock them underwater and drown them, or shoot a box of electrics as they stroll past, and shock them. But sadly, actually judging how close the enemy has to be to the box of tricks feels like guess work, and enemies are far too quick to recover from being knocked down, which simply makes them a chore to defeat. When their weapons are so much stronger than yours, it turns a minor annoyance into a frustration.
A lot of the game involves platforming, with Kate having to leap from pipe, to ledge, to other awkward pipe to climb out of shafts, or reach new areas - so it's something of a shame that Hydrophobia has such an awkward system for jumping. Only able to jump to a different ledge/pipe when she has her foot on something beneath her (we actually had to have someone point this out to us before we realised), the jumping quickly becomes frustrating, as you're constantly presented with gaps it looks like Kate could easily cross, which, for some reason, she refuses to even attempt. In a game that revolves around water, you'd imagine the swimming controls would be spot on, too, but again they're a disappointment, with Kate often rotating in a circle, bouncing off things underwater, and generally doing everything but go where you're telling her to go.
But perhaps most disappointing thing here is that the water seems to play something of a backseat role. Used only sparingly in a few puzzles, the water seems mostly for show - and even then, it's still not very good. I mean, none of us at Everybody Plays have a degree in Astrophysics, but we know how water behaves - and it doesn't behave like the water in Hydrophobia. Coming into the game, we were expecting dozens of clever puzzles involving switching water levels, opening doors, and basically ferrying the water around the ship, using it as a giant series of locks. Instead, some doors seem to have an infinitely refilling amount of water packed behind them, while others seemingly vaporise water on contact, as you can't fill them up, no matter how hard you try.
Yes, the water looks pretty - shame it doesn't do anything, though.
To brand Hydrophobia a complete failure would be far too harsh. Hunting around, looking for a code to open a locked door by holding up, and looking through a weird, translucent computer screen, adds a much needed feeling of exploration to the game, while crouching behind cover, waiting for an enemy to come past, before shooting a glass wall behind him, and watching as the water tumbles into the room and sweeps the bad guy away is a great feeling, as you use the hostile environment against your enemies. It's just a shame that it's a rarity when everything works together, as it's clearly been intended.
With a great back story, and an interesting concept, Hydrophobia had the potential to be something of a dark horse - but, sadly, it's just too frustrating to be recommended. Far from a torrent of greatness, Hydrophobia's just ended up a big drip.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
