Hydrophobia Critic Reviews

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.

It was an odd decision to spend so much time fixing an already released game, but for those who saw a good game just below the surface of the water, you will be happy to know that this is the game Hydrophobia should have been from day one.

The game is an excellent third-person action adventure.

And when a downloadable game makes you keep thinking its a full retail release, it's definitely doing something right.

For a price that is a fraction of boxed, retail games RRP, it's a surprisingly lengthy and substantial experience.

Incredi-potential half realised and half squandered. The makings of a future Must Have are there.

It's definitely worth playing, though, and using the environment to creatively put down your enemies is quite satisfying. The supernatural water powers hinted at in the Challenge Room also get me excited for Hydrophobia's next installment.

Hydrophobia features a compelling world and premise that's reminiscent of the creepy, built-up universes of BioShock and Half-Life. But, unlike those masterpieces, this seemingly unfinished XBLA game features too many narrative holes and missing gameplay elements, making it seem like there was more work to be done.

Hydrophobia shows what true water physics can bring to a game. It showcases the water well, but that isn't enough to carry the game completely.

This first helping of Game Feast is probably worth a sampling, just as long as you know that there are a lot of empty calories on the plate before you decide to drop your 1200 MP on it.

Just a good game, and an incredibly impressive XBLA effort - one that, unlike many triple-A, big budget titles, introduces something wholly new and ambitious to gaming.

Hydrophobia shows a lot of promise, but doesn't quite get every aspect of it's gameplay down. Combat proves to be frustrating and the campaign is relatively short, but the Hydro Kinetic powers in the Challenge Room save it from becoming a real mess of mediocrity.

Don't be expecting anything groundbreaking with Hydrophobia. Although, I mildly enjoyed myself while playing through this game, the annoying control scheme and rather standard gameplay leaves me feeling like the game has a little more potential than what was tapped into.

The water physics are the star of the show and really help you forget about a lot of the problems the game runs in to.

Hydrophobia's strongest point is the realistically designed water. This is the first game in a franchise that has a lot of potential. However, 1200 Microsoft Points really is to expensive if you are not into adventure games.

Overall Hydrophobia is one of the best looking XBLA games that has been released on the system. That said it does have its share of issues that are hopefully ironed out if the game ever sees a sequel.

Hydrophobia is a good title that doesn't last for too long. The controls may not suit everyone's tastes but it excels graphically and audibly and raises the bar on the technical proficiency of downloadable games.

A decent first episode but one that'll need improvements to reel us in for the next act.

A unique experience that manages to offset its problems with great ideas and a superbly implemented core mechanic.

Although it can't be defined as an absolute masterpiece, this new version of Hydrophobia surely deserves a look. Many of the original version's faults have been solved and the overall quality of the experience has definitely gone up a notch.