I had a lot of high hopes for Hydrophobia: Prophecy. The character design, unintentionally funny dialogue and voice acting, basic military shooter story, low review scores, and gimmick of water physics manipulation really checked every box of what I look for in my firth person shooter games.

The only box it didn't check though was it being actually fun to play. Most of the game is spent scanning way points on walls with a scan pad, then doing Batman Arkham City style wavelength puzzles, and finally doing a bit of Uncharted style scripted climbing sequences, finished off with a little underwater swimming sections. The first 2 chapters (out of 3) have very same-y environments, filled with a lot of elevator shafts and air vent crawling.

When you do get to do shooting, combat feels very bad with your starter charge pistol ammo being the best in the game. I had no incentive or reason to use any other ammunition until the final (and only) boss which suddenly asks the player to use the electric ammo. You also don't even get your water powers until the last 10 minutes of the 3 hour campaign.

I didn't like this one very much... But I will say the water physics are very impressive. The way the amount remains consistent when filling a room up or emptying it out into an adjacent room does showcase some quality engineering.

The gameplay is repetitive, the story pacing is sloppy, and the fluid mechanics add essentially nothing to the game. I found myself yawning often while fast paced music attempted to keep me awake. I don't usually regret buying games but this is one of those rare moments where I wished I had done some research beforehand.

I played a fair amount, enough to give me a very good idea of how excited I'll probably be if I decided to beat it. Obviously it wasn't a lot of excitement, because I decided to write this review instead of finishing the game.

Don't bother with this game unless you need to take the express train to Snoresville.