Hydrophobia was the longest ‘short’ game I have ever played in my life. Sorry, let me explain. It was a title that caught our attention at The Black Panel. It was an original IP (always a plus) which was to be released episodically, with each installment approximately 5 hours in length. Although the graphics did not wow me and yes it was more post apocalyptic fare, the promised dazzling water effects and the thought of some underwater gunplay had this sucker say, “yeah, I’ll put my hand up to review it. How bad can it b…”
Let’s start with the storyline, shall we? It’s well into the 21st century and the wealthy are living on a city sized luxury vessel called Queen of the World while everybody else is fighting against famine and poverty caused by overpopulation. You play Kate Wilson, a systems engineer, who works on the ship.
Terrorists attack the liner, writing slogans such as ‘Save the World – Kill Yourself’ across the walls. As Kate, you’re meant to be appalled by the actions of these terrorists and heroically fight against them. I say let the ship sink and the rich people that turned their collective back on the world sink with it. I was disturbed by the narrative’s conservative message that the poor should never rise up against the wealthy. To hell with that. How do I sign up for the other side?
This might be a little picky, but why is it called Hydrophobia? I played it and I have no idea. Sure there’s a lot of water (hydro), but where’s the phobia? You have more to fear from fire than water. In at least one case, merely venturing near fire caused instant death!
You can forgive almost anything as long as the gameplay is good. Sadly, it was not. The combat system was woeful, which was a pity considering how often you called upon to engage in some form of battle. While swimming around and shooting your enemies originally seemed like an exciting prospect, it became a laborious and frustrating task. You would often find yourself awkwardly fumbling around to select the appropriate gun while you waited for the graphics to catch up to your choice.
Unnecessary deaths (aren’t they all?) were not unheard of as the same button was cleverly assigned to both the sprint and cover functions. Run away from an enemy and brush too close to anything that could be construed as cover and you’ll find yourself crouched down and exposed (and then dead).
The fun does not stop there for the gameplay, oh no. A significant element of how you progress to the next stage is a gut churning devise called the Mavi. It’s a visual scanner that identifies hidden information. There’s a four step process that you constantly have to endure. Find a locked door (bummer), hack a nearby computer for a code (complete with boring mini game), use Mavi to discover a cipher (huh?), open door (yay) and repeat process again and again (noooooooo).
You may be wondering about those cutting edge water effects that its developer, Dark Energy Digital, promised. It’s too much of a bad pun to say don’t hold your breath waiting to be blown away (sorry). Suffice to say, there are times when they do look and feel realistic. There are other times when they’ve rendered the same sequence twice, with your character and the surrounding objects reacting in exactly the same way.
The graphics as a whole are underwhelming to say the least. The character animation can make you appear as though you’re performing in an over-the-top mime. The level designs are bland and not distinct enough from one area to the next, occasionally making you feel a little lost.
The sound design is, at times, baffling. For the majority of the narrative, you are conversing with your Scottish buddy, Scoot. He helps you get from A to B, with the occasional ‘hilarious’ quip thrown in free of charge. For example, when you set an enemy on fire, Scoot says “does his mother know he smokes?”, and you laugh and you laugh and you cry ‘why am I playing this piece of crap?’ Unfortunately there are times when you need to hear Scoot because it will help you progress to the next part of the level. Unfortunately, Scoot’s voice can be drowned out by background noises (constant beeping, the raw of fire, rushing water, machinery etc). Since you’re concentrating on the task at hand, you also overlook the subtitles. This leads to missing out on key pieces of information. What’s almost worse is that when Scoot isn’t jabbering in her ear, Kate starts talking to herself!
There was one quote that resonated with me. Occasionally an exasperated Kate would shout ‘I don’t know if I can do this’. This piece of dialogue summed up my feelings about playing Hydrophobia. My hands will be firmly placed by my side when and if the next episode is released.
