Keith Stuart has been looking at Hydrophobia - Blade Interactive’s watery adventure game. Part one of this feature fills you in on what the game is all about and why it’s looking so promising. Parts two and three will be an interview with Pete Jones, one of Blade Interactive’s MDs, and Rob Hewson, the game’s designer…
One of the cult stars of this year’s largely disappointing E3 was a futuristic adventure, created by a UK developer best know for, well, snooker sims. Hydrophobia is the latest project from Blade Interactive, previously responsible for the solid, if not exactly epoch-shattering likes of World Snooker Championship 2007. But anyone who saw the company’s brief yet scintillating E3 tech demo will know this game is about as far from Steve Davis as human comprehension can deal with. “We often say that Hydrophobia is Die Hard meets, Titanic, meets the Abyss, meets Deep Blue Sea, meets Under Siege,” says joint MD, Pete Jones. Which is a lengthy description, but by the looks of things, extremely accurate.
Set in a nightmarish near-future where rising water levels have sunk most of mankind, Hydrophobia is based aboard a lavish floating city, the last bastion of civilisation on a planet rapidly going to the dogfish. At the beginning of the game, the craft is bombed by a group of terrorists known as the Malthusians – named after political economist Thomas Malthus who predicted that population growth would one day outpace agricultural production, returning society to a subsistence level of existence. Yep, like Bioshock, this is a game with quiet socio-political pretensions. While 2K Boston‘s epic studied the barmy objectivism of Ayn Rand, Hydrophobia is a sort of philosophical eco-thriller, operating at the end of Earth’s ability to sustain human life. Which is a bit more interesting than Nazis and space monsters.
As security officer Kate Wilson, you must escape the stricken vessel while battling the vengeful eco warriors. But as the tech demo suggests, this isn’t just a standard corridor-based blast-‘em-up. Hydrophobia features a real-time fluid dynamics engine, pitching the player against a new enemy; water. The stuff is everywhere, flooding compartments, blowing out doors, submerging key items and providing a neat way to get rid of enemies. See that room full of bad guys? Chuck a floating grenade into the flooded chamber next door and boom, the wall collapses and they’re under 10,000 gallons of gushing brine.
To have a look at just how good the fluid dynamics are, click here to check out some in-game footage…
“We often say that Hydrophobia is Die Hard meets, Titanic, meets the Abyss, meets Deep Blue Sea, meets Under Siege,…”
…but without Erika Eleniak & the ‘cake’ scene.
Pity
Seriously, though, it is sounding somewhat like the PS2/Xbox/PC Ubisoft title, “Cold Fear”.
The “fluid” physics do look impressive in the sample video… shame it wasn’t longer… but maybe that is so the audience don’t have the uncontrollable urge to visit the smallest room of the house (unless you are a ‘Rockstar’ similar to
Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger).
I’m still hoping that the character Rubi in upcoming Sierra title “Wet” has some fluid encounters.
(Make of that what you willy)
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Sep 5, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
Pretty impressive physics and dynamics!
But why haven’t I heard anything about this title before?
It’s “interesting” to notice that the “Press” section on their website only has preview comments from Xbox magazines…
Is anybody been sleeping on the PS3 field camp?
Comment by Ricardo — Sep 5, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
These kind of games that make me pee a litle in glee….i’m an absolute sucker for pretty water effects
Comment by JohnSketch — Sep 5, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
At least you’re not just going through the motions, John.
Comment by fanpages — Sep 5, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
I know these guys. This game is going to be amazing
Comment by katamari-ball — Sep 5, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
I heard the name before, but never seen anything of the game before…
I am now intrigued…
(just like Legendary)
@JSketch
I would put some sort of padding down before you take a crack at Bioshock then…
(if you never tried the PC/360 version yet)
Comment by Mr. Monkey — Sep 5, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
[...] week our friends over at Three Speech ran a comprehensive three part piece with Blade Interactive where Game Designer Rob Hewson and Managing Director Pete Jones [...]
Pingback by Hydrophobia’s Queen of the World Revealed — Sep 15, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
[...] our friends over at ThreeSpeech posted their three part exposé on next year’s survival-on-a-ship adventure Hydrophobia we here at PS3 Attitude [...]
Pingback by Hydrophobia sequel revealed - Blade Interview Part 1 — Sep 22, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
“Which is a bit more interesting than Nazis and space monsters.”
NUH UH!
Comment by shesbar — Sep 23, 2008 @ 3:14 am
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment