Previous Next

Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no river wide enough it would seem, to keep Hydra from delivering the goods!. Yes, if you've ever wondered what all those sinister looking bike couriers do in their spare time then Hydra may provide a few answers.

As driver of the Hydra-mobile it's your job to deliver a variety of highly sensitive cargoes intact, to their respective destinations. Naturally, in the process you must knock off a few baddies as well, but its not all mindless violence, there's a lot of driving skill involved too, so sharpen those reflexes!

There are eight missions to complete, each in a different part of the world, and each with its own obstacles and enemies, e.g. when in Germany you must avoid trees which litter the road. The most common enemies are Dalek like creatures but watch out also for mines and vehicles which appear to throw roofing tiles at you. The score builds up by killing these enemies but the primary objective is to get that cargo home safely, for which you receive payment. This allows you to get more weapons to use on the next level. Each time Hydra crashes or gets shot up the cargo gets stolen, and must be recovered or you won't get any end of level dosh, so there!.

When you do get some money go spend it in Ziggy's weapon shoppe, special offers today include homing missiles, an uzi, some nuclear bombs, a flame thrower and a shield. Some of these are quite expensive and the shop doesn't take cheques, even if you've got a connect card!, lets face it, Ziggy isn't just ugly, he's mean as well.

The graphics on the opening screens are really colourful but take on a more familiar look during the game. There is quite a lot of scenery though. Alongside the main screen there are gauges which show score, money and fuel levels, weapons etc, these all operate simultaneously. The sound is good throughout with a dangerous sounding Depeche Modey backing track and explosions to keep all you violence loving critters happy.

Hydra is not really an original game format, but does add a new concept to the genre, that of the international courier, hurrah!. It's about time these lads got some recognition. Although you may recognise Hydro immediately it has enough good gameplay, graphics and sound to make it worthwhile.

Label: Domark Memory: 48K/128K Price: £10.99 Tape, £17.99 Disk Reviewer: Alan Dykes

Hydra's nice little touches - warp gates, weapons shops and nicely scrolling landscapes mean if you've got spare cash and a feel for the open road - it's worth a quick blast!