Hydrophobia

Frantically running through dark, oppressive corridors that are rapidly filling with water was enough to nearly induce a mini-panic attack during our hands-on time with Hydrophobia on the PAX East show floor. The team at Dark Energy Digital has managed to capture the untamed energy of the ocean and turn it into a truly malevolent force to be feared. Hydrophobia is a game about the killing potential of water as much as it is about an overpopulated world being set upon by terrorists. We dig that....

By the year 2051, the world’s population will have hit a staggering total of 9.8 billion. Mankind’s resources will be unable to cope with the demands. Clean water will be hard to source. Food supplies are projected to be even tougher to maintain. Space shortages will give rise to housing problems.

When youre dealing with a convoluted plot in which scientists want to perform nano-experiments to purify water on a “molecular level” aboard a ship the size of a city thats about to get taken over by socio-environmental terrorists as it floats in the Indian Ocean; youd be right to reach for that klaxon marked “bullshit.” We do know that the terrorists who want to disrupt the experiments follow the teachings of 19th century political economist Thomas Malthus who

Were loving Hydrophobia, and not because of the jaw-dropping, mighty-real water effects, but because Blaze reckons their new engine can do some other clever stuff too. One of the most oft-cited complaints surrounding city-sim founder GTA is that you cant go into enough buildings. With the technical limitations of previous generations, that was never a realistic aim, and even in the next-gen its a massive task - Saints Row hardly bucked the trend. But Blade has developed a generating system

According to Blade Interactives Pete Jones, “games have got to be done differently, its got to change. People are looking at next generation like last generation, but we need a different way of thinking. Weve got to show gamers something different.” Not the words youd necessarily expect to come from the head of a studio whose biggest hit has been a Snooker simulator. But Blade Interactives latest project - Hydrophobia - aims high. Recruiting talent whove worked on Splinter Cell and