[Crovon]

This is the game that I thought was remade into Wet.

Thankfully I was wrong and this is supposed to be out next month

Preview: Hydrophobia Hands-On Preview - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

[Tetlee]

It does look interesting this game, surely it can't be releasing next month though? Haven't read anything about it in ages!

Would be nice if it turns out to be a real sleeper hit.

[Crovon]

I have now found out that this is going to be released in 3 seperate chapters on xbox live arcade before the disc version which is due out in a years time

News: Hydrophobia XBLA to get disc release - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

Full-release-gone-XBLA-game, Hydrophobia will, in fact, eventually get a retail disc release.

That's according to the latest issue of Xbox World 360 Magazine, which reveals that the all three episodes of the download shooter will eventually appear in disc format a year from now.

The game - which has you battling terrorists on a gigantic, futuristic boat - is initially set for release on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and PC in the form of three five-hour episodes.

Impressively, considering how great the game looks, XBW reports that developer Dark Energy Digital has managed to squeeze the entire game to under 250MB - that's less than the Tour de France XBLA game.

[Crovon]

Xbox Preview: Hydrophobia Hands-On Preview Pt. 2 - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

[DJSigma]

This game was originally going to come out for PC, 360 and PS3 on disc, but now it's a 360 exclusive and it's going to be an episodic release on XBLA with a retail version coming later (possibly).

Here's a very early trailer showing the water effects: -

YouTube - Hydrophobia Trailer

Screenshot: -

Also, a teaser site has gone up here, with a countdown (currently at just over 4 days): -

Hydrophobia

Looks like yet another good XBLA game in the making, although the episodic nature of it may put some people off I guess.

[Tetlee]

Already a thread for this one Hydrophobia

Does look good, although the episodic nature does put me off as it'll end up as a pricey game that way I suspect, last I read I thought the devs confirmed it would also see a retail release though, if so I'll probably wait for that.

[Munkey Boy]

Originally Posted by Tetlee

Already a thread for this one Hydrophobia

Merged.

[reddevil63]

Some running footage of this on the latest SentUaMessage episode, water effects look good.

[kopchoir]

Thought i would give this a little bump i believe its out in the next week or two I actually found out a few weeks ago that my brother in law and his wife are actually doing the voices for this game.

[Andy58]

Eh? Is it going to be like a Scouse Waterworld?

[kopchoir]

Originally Posted by Andy58

Eh? Is it going to be like a Scouse Waterworld?

One may support the greatest team in england but one lives in manchester ssssshhhhhhhhhh

[DJSigma]

Gametrailers preview: -

Hydrophobia Video Game, Preview HD | Video Clip | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

This looks like it could be one of the best XBLA titles released to date.

[Tetlee]

Anyone know if they're still planning to release this game in full on a retail disc once all the XBLA episodes are out?

I know that was suggested by the devs some time ago and hopinh they haven't dropped the idea of a retail release, personally would prefer to buy it in full that way as value or not, 1200 points per episode(no idea how many there will be?) could work out expensive.

[samtman]

this is looking good. I hope it ends up good. out Sept 29th.

[Tetlee]

First review is already in.... and it isn't that good

Hydrophobia review: That sinking feeling | Joystiq

Sure, it's unconventional, but I actually really like the premise for Hydrophobia. The game? Not as much.

With Kate's boss "Scoot" guiding your progress over the radio, you're tasked with trudging (and often swimming) through room after room of nearly identical enemies, who are far better equipped than you for their job (their job is still murdering, by the way). This means being shot to death. Often.

Instead of real murder-type guns, Kate is equipped with an energy pistol that shatters, say, conveniently placed glass walls holding several hundred gallons of water next to an enemy. Using the environment to kill Malthusians is the central combat conceit of Hydrophobia, but it's not always an effective one.

For example, if an enemy is shot once by your energy gun, he'll collapse to the ground and be submersed in water -- sometimes he'll survive it and sometimes he won't. I shot guys in various levels of water and couldn't determine a standard for when their drop would be fatal or not. And if they're not near environmental hazards, your success becomes even murkier.

The water isn't even as impressive as you might expect. Though impressive rolling waves washed me from side to side, opening doors to dry rooms didn't change the water levels realistically, which means you can't necessarily expect waves to rush in from one room to put out a fire in another, for example. Normally, that might be a niggling complaint, but in a corridor-based game where drowning is a regular possibility, that really matters. At least guiding Kate under the water was relatively easy, as was expending bullets into swimming terrorists (because what's more terrifying than a doggie-paddling Neo-Malthusian?).

As the cliffhanger ending will attest, Hydrophobia is planned as a trilogy and -- even though this first outing is an interesting proof-of-concept that never quite shakes out -- it's one that I'm still interested in following. I hope Dark Energy Digital will make a more fully realized game that lives up to its premise next time around.

I'll definately be waiting for the full retail release now, if they're still planning on releasing it that way. Doesn't sound like a game I'll be willing to spend 3600 points(that's more than I spend on most retail games) on for the complete 3 parts. If they've moved away from the idea of an XBLA episodic, + a full retail release, I'll probably just pass.

[DJSigma]

I've just played through the demo and I'm not overly impressed. It seems OK, but the demo is too short and you don't even get to the stage where you have to face any enemies and there's only 1 section where you're actually in an area that's flooded with water. Graphically, it's not as impressive as I thought it might be, although the water effects are good.

Reviews are mixed for this too, although the majority are above average to very good, with only a couple being sub-4/10. Reading the reviews on Metacritic, one says that you get a lot of content for your cash, while another says that you don't get a lot of content for your cash. My instinct tells me not to buy this right now, but I'm gonna keep it on my hard drive in case I read a review or user opinions that change my mind, or if it appears as part of a deal of the week.

[ozzzy189]

eurogamer and edge (3) both caned it. i've not seen it, but wouldn't bother now, both those are pretty accurate reviewers.

[DJSigma]

The developers of this game seem to not be taking criticism very well: -

Jim Sterling writes for Destructoid, and he mentioned on Twitter that Hydrophobia was not his favorite game. Jones apparently saw this message, and did something odd—she called Samit Sarkar, the site's sports writer. She wanted to talk to Jim Sterling, right now.

"She was very forward, very pushy, and if you ask me, completely out of line," Nick Chester, the Editor in Chief of Destructoid, told Ars. "It's one thing to try to contact a writer or even that writer's superior to discuss content that's been run—it happens, usually in an attempt to do damage control—but it's another to bother someone's co-worker based on a tweet. We're not even talking about content we had run on the site at this point.

"She also said something to the effect of 'We've put three and a half years into this game, and you just don't get those kind of scores if the game is bad," in reference to one review—OXM, I believe—that gave it a high score and praise."

According to Chester, she demanded Jim's phone number, saying that if he was playing the game wrong she needed to correct it.

Full article on Ars Technica, HERE.

[noisecrime]

I had really high hopes for this, but having played the demo i'm not so sure now.

The graphics quality for the environments is rather poor, low resolution textures, aliased text, possibly low display resolution too, or maybe lacking AA.

The controls appear over sensitive, it was the first thing I noticed, with the camera spinning too fast (fixable I guess in the settings) but more importantly the player movment, she just sprints around, blindly running into the environment. Its strange as most games I find the player moves too slowly. Not overly convinced by the platform/jumping controls either.

Then the water effects themselves, didn't seem as impressive as the videos. The wave motions are nice, but other than that it just looks murky and dull.

Initially I found the voices overs original with their British accents, but by the end I found them rather grating, not sure I'd enjoy the whole game with them.

Level design was basic and limited to corridors, I wonder if there are ever any larger areas in the full game to explore?

Not sure if the demo really sells the game, its very short, doesn't feature any combat, which has received criticism, so would really have liked to see for myself before buying the full game. Then there is the price, for 1200MSP for a third of the game doesn't seem that great a value (assuming we get all three episodes). Had it been the full game, I might be more tempted.

Think i'm going to wait on this, maybe for a price drop week.

[DJSigma]

I dunno if anyone bought this, but the developers posted on Twitter "we have listened and are ready to act" along with a link to this countdown site: -

Hydrophobia

Dunno what it is - a free update or add-on for the game maybe? Anyway, check it out if you bought it.