Hydro Thunder Hurricane is an excellent arcade-style racing game on its own, but it had room to grow. The Tempest Pack, weighing in at around 100 megabytes and 400 Microsoft Points/$5 USD, provides just that as it adds three new courses, two genuinely new boats, and a few �X-type� (Expert class) refits of older boats. That may not sound like much, but bear in mind the original game only had around eight courses and perhaps a dozen boats to begin with, so this is a pretty good chunk of new content for a $15 game.
The new courses are Atlantis which features several narrow lanes and rapid short turns joined by a �classic mythological architecture� motif, Castle Von Boom which also has several narrow areas and quick turns, but also has racers going back the way they came in order to complete a lap; have fun dodging oncoming traffic and cannon balls, and Bermuda Triangle which alternates between a storm-tossed, open sea with bouncy waves along with short bursts of other course styles which makes for a varied and exciting track. These are honestly the major draw of the Tempest Pack, and each one offers a different yet fun experience. You can expect to unlock these in around the 30K to 49K point range.
With new levels come new boats, and they�re also pretty interesting additions to the game. The two genuinely new boats are the Whiplash which is a mostly �balanced type� Expert boat; not as user-friendly as Cutthroat but still staying away from extremes in performance, and the Psyclone which is hard to control (though not as difficult as the Rad Hazard) yet very fast and has great air control; it too is an Expert boat. They tend to be unlocked in the same point range as the new levels, and add some nice variety to the Expert class. Around the 100K range you�ll begin unlocking �X-type� refits of some of the older boats, bringing their appearance and shape with them but having new Expert class stats. My only serious complaints are that the X-type boats may take a while to unlock unless you�ve been very active with the game, and the Novice and Pro classes didn�t get much love here; it�s all Expert-oriented and that�s a pity.
All of the stages and boats can be used in each mode, so you should have enough to keep you busy for a while. Repetition will certainly set in sooner or later, but by then you�ve probably had your $5 worth of fun (and then some) with the Tempest Pack. With the only real issues being a lack of content for the lower boat classes and that you may have to spend some time unlocking the new content, this DLC set does just fine. Three tracks and two new boats (along with quick �refits� of a few others) for $5 is about in proportion with the amount of content you got from the main $15 game, so this is a fair price for what you get. If you still enjoy Hydro Thunder Hurricane and would like more content to keep things fresh, definitely pick up the Tempest Pack.
