Hydro Thunder Hurricane includes 8 brand new "theme park" environments, each set in a different location around the globe.  Each world is packed with animated surprises, destructible objects, and special events that players trigger in-game. New game modes include Ring Master, a series of slalom-style challenges with progressive difficulties;Gauntlet, an explosive new take on time trial; and a series of multi-event Championships. Fan favorite speedboats from the original Hydro Thunder also make a return like Razorback, Cutthroat, and the flying saucer shaped Rad Hazard with beautifully redesigned models, multiple unlockable skins, and articulated boost animations with massive rockets folding out from hidden compartments.  Each boat features unique handling characteristics.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane introduces support for 8-player online racing on Xbox LIVE..  The game also allows for local split screen multiplayer with up to 4 players -- or any combination of local and online play.   In addition to races, players can team up in the new Rubber Ducky game mode.

Ralf Knoesel, Vector Unit’s Technical Director and the programming visionary behind Hydro Thunder Hurricane’s cutting-edge interactive water, said the team is thrilled to be included as part of the Summer of Arcade.  “We know there were a lot of quality titles vying to be a part of Summer of Arcade, and it’s really a testament to the team’s hard work and creative energy that HTH made the cut.”

 “Our goal with Hurricane was to deliver tons of new content with the kind of polish and depth you expect to find in a full retail game,” said Knoesel.  “It takes hours to unlock everything in the single player mode, and once you’ve done that you still have multiplayer, which I think is where the game really shines.”

At the heart of all this new content, though, the game stays true to the spirit that made the original title an enduring fan favorite, attests Matt Small, Creative Director.  “The feedback from Hydro Thunder fans has been overwhelmingly positive.  When you put a controller into the hands of a hard core fan, and he nods and grins the first time he goes off some 800 foot jump or nails a shortcut and says something like ‘Oh yeah, this is how I remember it’ – that tells me we pulled it off.”

 “On top of everything else, Hydro Thunder Hurricane  is perfect for Summer of Arcade.   What’s the first thing people think about when it’s summertime?  Sun, fun, splashing around in the water, driving a speedboat at 200 mph, jumping off gigantic cliffs, and dodging dinosaurs.  Right?”

Game modes:

• Ring Master
  A slalom-style event, Ring Master challenges players to race through a series of rings and compete for best time. Every track environment in HTH features three unique Ring Master layouts, which ramp up in difficulty from Novice to Pro to Expert. Novice courses feature larger gates, and are designed to introduce players to the basic mechanics of each level. Pro and Expert courses feature smaller rings, and the layouts are more challenging – they also introduce players to alternate routes and shortcuts in each level.
• Gauntlet
  Time trial with an explosive twist: every course is peppered with exploding barrels. The barrels are generally placed off the primary racing line, on the outsides of corners and such, to encourage players to use the fastest racing line possible. However in spots they are also placed in the center of the track, requiring players to dodge between them or hop over them using the Boost Jump mechanic.
• Leaderboard Opponents
  Single Player Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet events all support asynchronous racing with your Xbox LIVE Friends through a feature we call “Leaderboard Opponents”. When you begin an event, we grab your next-best-Friend’s time and display split times at every checkpoint so you can compare your time to theirs as you’re racing. If you’re the best of all your friends, we pull times from the global Leaderboards.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points.