Hydrophobia Prophecy

Hydrophobia Prophecy – Early Impressions

Hydrophobia Prophecy was available on PSN+ for free so i really had no excuse not to download it. The extent of my Hydrophobia experience before this came from a demo on Xbox Live many months ago. Hydrophobia Prophecy supposedly has better graphics and supports Move motion controls. Its suppose to be the definitive version of the game. Hydrophobia Prophecy is a horror action adventure game developed and published by Dark Energy Digital.  It released as a PSN arcade downloadable title November 1, 2011.

The main menu screen featured sub-menus of New Game, Load Game, Challenge Room and Leaderboards. The default button via Duel Shock 3: LS-move, D-pad-flashlight, waypoint, open MAVI, ammo select, tools menu, L1-zoom, L2-hydro kinetic power, RS-camera, Square-reload, stealth takedown, use/interact, X-jump/climb, Triangle-roll, R1-fire weapon, R2-detonate remote device. The controls are average. Hydrophobia Prophecy seems as if it has too many controls that aren’t used. At least early on that is the case.

Kate Wilson is the protagonist and a graduate with an engineering degree from Oxford University. She is an avid mountain climber who has anxiety induced nightmares. Hydrophobia takes place on a massive cyber punk city ship called the Queen of the World. The ship’s purpose is to help humanity succeed, in what i have no idea. The game does have a rich sci-fi setting with some cyber punk art mixed in. Early in the game the Queen of the World is attacked by a fanatic terrorist group hell bent on genocide. A huge explosion rocks the ship. As one of the chief engineers on ship, Kate Wilson gets involved right in the thick of things. Early in the game you learn of a woman named Mila and her role in the bombing.

Hydrophobia Prophecy is a third person action adventure game. The gameplay is composed of hacking using the LS+RS to line up waves that unlock security hubs. After you perform your first hack successfully the Tinker trophy unlocks. There is also platforming that is pretty decent. You have a holographic ipad called MAVI that you can use to decipher invisible messages with. Collectibles include replicas of the Queen of the World.

There are also documents and journals to collect that helps you learn more about the in-game story. 72 collectibles in all that you can find in the game. There is gunplay as well. However the star of Hydrophobia is the water. The atmosphere and much of the presentation revolves around water. Wether your swimming or trying not to drown from a flood. The water effects are easily the most impressive visual aspect of Hydrophobia Prophecy.

Now for the some negatives. Hydrophobia prophecy screams low quality. From the visuals, animations and especially the voice actors. The controls at times feels awkward while climbing and swimming. The terrorists are dressed like clowns practically which makes me not to what to take them serious. What offsets the latter is the atmosphere and gameplay. I always say gameplay trumps graphics and Hydrophobia Prophecy so far proves that i’m right. Its not a bad game at all, so far. Thanks for reading.