Hydrophobia is the latest release from Dark Energy Digital for the XBLA. Originally announced in 2007, and subsequently shifted from a full 360 retail production to an Xbox LIVE Arcade title, Hydrophobia places you in the shoes of systems engineer Kate Wilson.

Set in the year 2051, Hydrophobia takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where rising sea levels have decimated the human population, resulting in worldwide famine and poverty. However on the Queen of the World, a city sized luxury ship, the wealthy have managed to escape this world, while promising to use science and technology to change things for the better. It is on this ship that our story begins to unfold, as a political resistance group known as the Malthusians forcefully board and capture the Queen of the World.

Trapped below deck during the initial onslaught, it’s up to Kate, aided by her boss Scoot, to try to thwart the Malthusians’ plans while getting herself to safety. This is no easy task however, as the Queen of the World is slowly taking on water, which only serves to complicate matters immensely.

Kate’s third person adventure borrows elements from a number of different titles, platform and swimming from the likes of Tomb Raider, a cover and combat system straight from Gears of War, and a back story that is accessible through various discoverable documents in a similar fashion to the Metroid Prime series.

Coupled with a constantly changing environment that Kate can use to her advantage during combat and puzzle solving sections, Hydrophobia’s potential is clear from the outset.

However, this is where things start going drastically wrong for Hydrophobia. While all these elements sound great on paper, they’re buried in what can only be described as a highly linear and uninspiring experience.

With muddy visuals that are firmly stuck in the previous generation, and a frame rate that moves up and down like waves on the ocean, Hydrophobia constantly pulls you out of what should be an immersive experience. While the dreadful voice acting serves to shatter the illusion further, its disjointed (and somewhat lacking) story fails to engage the player fully, to provide any true motivation for their actions, or to connect them to the character that they’re portraying.

Furthermore, the jittery controls constantly lead to frustration when they refuse to do what they player expects, often resulting in accidental death and a trip back to the last checkpoint. With trips back and forth through the same few corridors, it quickly becomes a chore to push forward to the next section of clumsily executed scenarios.

Puzzle solving and environmental combat are easily Hydrophobia’s greatest strengths, showing a potential (much more enjoyable) direction the game could have taken. Puzzles require the use of Kate’s Mavi, a device that effectively scans the environment and accesses a number of key pieces of machinery (cameras, terminals, etc).

While using the Mavi, the camera switches to a first-person view, with Kate looking through the Mavi’s main panel as she makes her way through the tightly packed corridors of the Queen of the World. It’s during this scanning mode that hidden messages and encryption keys can be found, which provide further backstory and exploration respectively.

The second function the Mavi provides, is to hack terminals that Kate has been locked out of thanks to the Malthusian attack. Hacks consist of using the analogue sticks on the controller to match a frequency wave presented on screen, by manipulating a similar wave on the Mavi unit.

While the combat may be lacklustre, it still manages to show off the true potential of the environmental physics involved in Hydrophobia. Whether you’re shooting out bulkheads, glass doors, exposed electrical cables, gas pipes or barrels, each element brings its own characteristics into the mix.

Water can be used to sweep enemies off their feet, while electrical cables can be shot so that the live wire lands in the water to finish them off. Barrels and gas pipes can be used to take out a number of enemies at once. Chaining these effects together can be devastating to the enemy forces.

It’s disappointing to say that Hydrophobia feels unfinished. However it’s a feeling that is amplified when the plot finally kicks into action during the last fifteen minutes of gameplay, before suddenly ending.

With such a high level of interest generated from their initial screenshots (included in this review) and videos, Dark Energy Digital showed what could have potentially been a sure fire hit. Sadly, it seems that “development hell” has really taken its toll on Hydrophobia. The end product feels like little more than a glorified tech demo, and while the tech may work, it lacks the spit and polish found in many other games in Hydrophobia’s current XBLA price bracket.

I can only hope that if Dark Energy Digital decides to continue the Hydrophobia experience (via DLC or a fully fleshed out sequel), that they step up their efforts and take on board the numerous criticisms that I (and many others) have levelled against it.

4/10

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