Hydrophobia dev teases revamp
"We have listened."
Poor Xbox Live Arcade game Hydrophobia could be in for a revamp after its creators teased a Monday announcement.
"Dark Energy is a community of gamers, and we want those that play our game to enjoy the experience," Pete Jones, joint creative director of Dark Energy Digital said.
"We'd like to thank everybody who has taken the time to produce feedback on our game. We've poured over the data from community feedback and analysed every review, comment or blog we could find.
"Nearly 250 reviews of the game were published, either in physical media or on the net. Some of them made good reading, while others were painful to read. However, to actively listen to the community, we cannot be selective in those we listen to, and there is no point in listening unless we are prepared to act. We have the purest of motivations and we will be announcing our detailed response at 11am GMT on Monday, so we'll be sending a press release your way then."
Simon Parkin came up for air with a 4/10 in Eurogamer's Hydrophobia review.
"The systems beneath the ebb and flow of its technical accomplishment are archaic and, without exception, lack finesse," Parkin wrote. "Arguments that this is a downloadable title, and as such expectations should be suitably lowered, are irrelevant. The game fails to match its ambition, and, in its cumulative small failings, drags the player down into infuriation. By the moment you break the surface of the game's ending, much like its lead character, the abiding feeling is one of relief not enjoyment."
The Manchester-based studio defended the game to Eurogamer after launch, insisting reviewers had missed the point.
"We set out not to produce a third-person shooter," Jones said. "When you're talking about the spread of some of the reviews, some people tried to shoehorn it into the way they perceive a third-person shooter to react.
"This is not a third-person shooter. It's a survival adventure, and the player is using the environment as the prime weapon. That's what they're using to kill the enemy and to get through the game.
"We threw away the rulebook."