H2Overdrive - A spiritual sequel to Hydro Thunder !!

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http://kotaku.com/5137523/hydro-thunder-spiritual-sequel-on-the-way



Arcade Heroes is reporting today that the team behind the original Hydro Thunder is developing a spiritual sequel to the Midway arcade classic, set to debut at next week's in London.

Arcade game manufacturer Raw Thrills is set to reveal H2Overdrive, a powerboat racing game developed by the original Hydro Thunder team, creators of the best arcade racing game of all time. After two poorly received spin-offs, Arctic Thunder and Off-Road Thunder, Midway allegedly canceled the true sequel to Hydro Thunder in a moment of infinite evilness.

Details are scant, but to hear Raw Thrills tell it, H2Overdrive looks "amazing." Hopefully, that means "actually amazing" and not just "amazing in comparison is Raw Thrills' other games, like Target: Terror." Please be good. Please be good. Please be good.

Update: IT LOOKS GOOD. Arcade Heroes has first screens, just one of which we've yoinked.


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I loved the arcade version of Hydro Thunder, as well as Arctic Thunder, arcade and Xbox versions, so I sure as hell am looking forward to H2Overdrive. Hopefully we'll see a 360 version in the not-too-distant future.

[icbrkr]

I'll take a home version please.

Hydro Thunder was one of the reasons to get a Dreamcast back in the day. At least it was for me...

[otoko]

Indeed. Hydro Thunder was quite a popular item if I remember. I also hope for a 360 (if not PS3) port sometime soon. If the game is good I guess.

[parallaxscroll]

The arcade original:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3924/htarcadefh4.th.jpg (http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=htarcadefh4.jpg)

[Iron Draggon]

Please Be On Pc, Please Be On Pc, Please Be On Pc!!!

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Raw Thrills’ has revealed to us a brand new racing game that will be shown at ATEI next week that is tentatively called “H2Overdrive” (which is not based upon the PS2 game of the same name). In news that should be music to the ears of Hydro Thunder fans, Raw Thrills’ has brought together the original team that created Hydro Thunder to give us this new game, which will feature many of the things players loved about that game (such as the huge drops and many shortcuts) but add some new aspects to it as well (which they couldn’t say much about at this time).

The cabinet to be shown features a 42″ LCD HD screen, pulsing LED lights and the game itself looks “amazing”. We’ll have more on this when ATEI rolls around in a few days!

UPDATE: We just received the first screenshots of H2Overdrive from Raw Thrills’. Many thanks to them for sending us these pics. Now just imagine the game running at 60 fps on a 42″ screen and we have a good idea of what it will look like in person ;)



UPDATE #2: I asked Andrew Eloff at Raw Thrills’ about the throttle control on H2Overdrive and he has confirmed that the new games does indeed use the Hydro Throttle like what was used in the original game but it has been “upgraded to be more reliable PLUS with cool new features!”. He also tells us that “The whole cabinet is a radical departure from the original Hydro…This cabinet is brand new from the ground up.”

More reason to rejoice!


http://arcadeheroes.com/2009/01/22/new-boat-racing-game-by-raw-thrills-and-the-hydro-thunder-team-to-be-at-atei/

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VIDEOS (IT'S GLORIOUS 60FPS BLISS!)

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/23452
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/23454
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/23453

1UP.com PREVIEW (http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3172445)



We go hands-on and deliver the first video footage of this spiritual successor to Hydro Thunder, from part of the team that made the original game.
By Matt Leone 01/23/2009


If you ask my coworkers, they'll tell you I spend a bit too much of my time tracking developers. The theory, as it goes in my head, is that people who have made games I've liked in the past will probably do so again, so when I heard from an arcade operator friend back in mid-2007 that Steve Ranck had started up a new development studio, I did a double take.

Ranck isn't a household name in the game industry, but his track record holds up better than most. For the purposes of this story -- oh yeah, this is supposed to be a preview of the new arcade boat racing game H2Overdrive; I'll get to that soon, promise -- the most relevant game he's worked is the much beloved Hydro Thunder, which he headed up at Midway San Diego approximately 10 years ago. Following that, he formed Swingin' Ape Studios, which produced the excellent shooter Metal Arms before getting bought by Blizzard to take over development on StarCraft Ghost.

Long story short, Blizzard cancelled Ghost, Ranck left, and then Eugene Jarvis (best known for classic games like Robotron and Defender, and current proprietor of arcade publisher/developer Raw Thrills) convinced him to form a company to make arcade games for Raw Thrills. Enter new developer Specular Interactive and H2Overdrive.

Before Midway closed their arcade division, Ranck and co. were actually working on an official "Hydro Thunder 2" that never made it very far in development. Apparently the name is deceiving, however, as Ranck describes it as "kind of an expansion pack." He elaborates: "We were just gonna add some tracks, beef up the boats, add a new set of boats, and things like that."

"[Jarvis] has figured it out where nobody else has," says Ranck. "Nobody's selling coin-op these days except for Eugene, and he's selling a lot of them. So he called me up, and he said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'Not a whole lot -- just hanging out here, writing some technology.' And he said, 'I have a project to talk to you about.' So I flew back to Chicago and saw his operation there. He said he's been really successful with what he's done, but he's getting a lot of requests from arcade operators for another boat racing game..."

In everything except the name, H2Overdrive is a sequel to Hydro Thunder. It's still all about boat racing, with a throttle to the right of the steering wheel, no pedals, gameplay focused on collecting boost power-ups, crazy jumps and courses, etc. -- even about half of the team at Specular worked with Ranck on the original back at Midway. When you sit down and play the game, you feel like you're playing Hydro Thunder brought up-to-date. I didn't have to think twice about picking up blue and red power-ups to gain boost power, holding down the button on the throttle to zoom forward, or aiming for ramps whenever possible.



That "up-to-date" part means you'll see plenty of new water physics effects, debris in the middle of courses that you can try to avoid or ram out of the way, and elaborate backgrounds that seem to be going for a Disneyland-style aesthetic. Compared to other games published by Raw Thrills, this is a big step forward visually. "Nobody's really seen a next-gen quality game in arcades for quite a while," says Ranck. If you slow down too much or look closely at a few of the screenshots, you can spot certain textures that prevent the game from competing evenly with top tier console driving games like MotorStorm, but that's not really a fair comparison given the budget allotted to new arcade games these days. A better match would be to think of it as Hydro Thunder HD, along the lines of what Sony did with WipeOut HD. And to keep that comparison going, the game will run at a consistent 60 frames-per-second, which helps a lot in making it look good.

H2Overdrive also adds a few gameplay features to the Hydro Thunder formula -- most notably, an upgrade system that allows players to take their boats from Level 1 to Level 40, earning new abilities along the way. Each time you race, you earn a certain number of "props" (usually over 100), and for every 100 props received, you move your boat of choice up one level. When you hit Level 2, you get the Superboost upgrade that lets you track down gold power-ups for double the speed of your typical boosts. Later on, you earn the ability to perform stunts in midair (which you control by moving the throttle back and forth quickly) along the lines of something you'd find in a Tony Hawk game.

If the name H2Overdrive sounds familiar, you're not crazy. It turns out Crave had a console game in development under that game awhile back. "It was cancelled and their trademark lapsed so we jumped on it," says Ranck, noting "this game has nothing to do with that." Click the image above to check out 20 H2Overdrive screens.

Much like some Atari arcade games towards the end of their run, each arcade cabinet will feature a phone keypad password entry system so you can store data for each of your boats. And though none of this will be customizable -- my Level 40 boat will look just like your Level 40 boat -- Ranck promises additional unlockables in the game outside of the level-up structure. I spotted one hidden shortcut when playing, so we can at least count on those.

Another bonus over Hydro Thunder is that H2Overdrive will support eight players at once. It'll probably be tough to find that many cabinets linked together outside of a tradeshow or the world's biggest Dave & Busters, but it's a nice bump up should any arcade be willing to take the plunge once the game starts hitting arcades in April.

If you happen to live in London, you'll be able to get a taste of the game when it makes its official public debut at the ATEI convention next week, which is appropriate since Hydro Thunder debuted at that same show exactly 10 years ago. Seems a bit too coincidental with all the other connections between the two games, no?


MORE SCREENS

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[IcBlUsCrN]

I'll take a home version please.

Hydro Thunder was one of the reasons to get a Dreamcast back in the day. At least it was for me...

And this is the reason i am on here after lurking for so long. I first had hydro thunder for ps1 then got it for the dreamcast that game is great. Ill have to play it when i get home.

[parallaxscroll]

I'd gladly take an Arctic Thunder sequel using the same engine as H2Overdrive. I played the sh*t out of that on Xbox.

[Sabz5150]

Eight track cassette player... no go!!!

[BHvrd]

I remember playing Hydro Thunder at a local amusement park when it first came out and damn it was fun!

Later got the Dreamcast version and couldn't believe how acurate it was and split screen too!

This version looks like a clone for sure, but the stage they showed isn't aw inspiring. Remember the Egyptian level on Hydro Thunder? Now that was a level! Looks like the gameplay is there, but not to excited overall.

[parallaxscroll]

Updated the big preview, all 3 gameplay vids are now linked.

[Steve W]

My local Ci-Ci's Pizza place has an H2Overdrive cab! And damn, it looks great in motion. I didn't get the chance to play it since I was on lunch break and had to get back to work, but I'll be going back there soon and give a quick capsule review.

The thing is, the last pizza place I went to (Mazzio's Pizza) has a Hydro Thunder cab that I played a couple times. I'm going to start associating video game powerboat racing with the smell of pepperoni soon!

[MachineGex]

Played this at Chucky Cheese with my son a few weeks back. Good game!

[BHvrd]

I've given this some extra thought and have really decided that current gen systems need a game like this, why haven't they ported it already?! GEEZ!

[dao2]

I've given this some extra thought and have really decided that current gen systems need a game like this, why haven't they ported it already?! GEEZ!

i think they said they dont have any plans to port to pc?

[Steve W]

I finally played the game today, after saving up quarters for a week or two. All I've got to say is Damn. The steering wheel on the cab I sat at was a little loose feeling, so the force feedback felt a bit sloppy, but everything else about the game was amazing. They even got the same announcer guy from Hydro Thunder! In fact, it's astounding how similar this game is to the original Hydro Thunder, but cranked up to 11. You can even put in a four digit PIN code and apparently save your data on the machine, I believe.

Gameplay-wise, it's even more fun than the original in my opinion. You get upgrades at the end of each race, and even if you suck at it (like me) dropping another 50¢ and playing another game keeps your upgrades intact, which makes it more likely you'll do better next track. It's a nice way of keeping you pouring in quarters. There's a whole lot more boat ramming than in the original, making the gameplay a little more hectic, and the graphics in the levels are absolutely beautiful. There seem to be a ton of shortcuts too, although I only found one or two. And like I said before, it's only 50¢ to play, so it's a really good bargain compared to some games in the past that cost $1 or more to play.

I don't care for Ci-Ci's Pizza, but I've got to go back some time soon and play that thing again. I've got to start saving more quarters up! It's always a good sign that your hands are shaking a bit once you've finished an arcade game. Thumbs up.

[Oobgarm]

Oh shit, I need to find one of these, now.

[diskoboy]

While I'll freely admit, that's one sexy looking game.

But this is why arcades are dead. They've flooded the market with racing games and light gun games. Creativity went out the window around 1992.

If this were coming to XBLA or PSN, I'd buy it because I could play it when I want to. But I'm not gonna blow $2 (yes, some of these new games cost $2 to play...) to play a game for probably all of 90 seconds. If (and thats a big 'if') I pay $2 to play a game, it better last alot longer than 5 minutes. Todays arcade games arent worth the price of 'admission'.

[Leo_A]

I'd say another great arcade racer is welcomed. It's the likes of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and a host of other fighters from companies like Capcom and SNK that killed off creativity in the arcade.

But I like sitdown arcade racers, so I'm biased. :)

I'd love to see this ported to the PS3 and Xbox 360. I'd even pay full retail for it (I'd prefer it in fact, I'd hate to just see this released as a download).

[kedawa]

Fighting games did nothing to stifle creativity. That's like saying shmups or music games ruined arcade games.
There were plenty of creative games in the 90's, you just weren't likely to see them because the arcade scene was on the decline.

[Steve W]

But I'm not gonna blow $2 (yes, some of these new games cost $2 to play...) to play a game for probably all of 90 seconds. If (and thats a big 'if') I pay $2 to play a game, it better last alot longer than 5 minutes. Todays arcade games arent worth the price of 'admission'.
That's one of the reasons I slowly stopped playing arcade games. They went from a quarter to 50¢, then 75¢, then $1 and so on. Some games were worth that price, but most weren't. And game genres started getting pared down until the arcades were filled with nothing but big budget, big spectacle games that totally didn't appeal to me. I miss the 25¢-a-go, pick-up-and-play instant gratification and crazy concepts of '80s arcade games.

[kedawa]

When I can rent better games for $1.99, it's hard to justify dropping $2 in a coin-op.

I'd gladly drop $.50 in this game, however.