Players can collect boost powerups throughout a course which are used to increase the speed of the boat, jump over obstacles, or unlock shortcuts.

Critics generally praised the varied qualities of the different boats, the diverse arcade-style courses, and the game's overall replay value.

As with Hydro Thunder, players can collect boost powerups throughout a course which physically transform the boat into a more aggressive-looking form.

[3] The game's eight tracks are (in order): Lake Powell, Storming Asgard, Monster Island, Tsunami Bowl, Lost Babylon, Paris Sewers, Seoul Stream, and Area 51.

These credits serve as points which automatically unlock additional gameplay elements, such as boats, skins, new courses and game modes.

[citation needed] Hydro Thunder Hurricane was released as part of the third annual Xbox Live Summer of Arcade along with titles such as Monday Night Combat and Limbo.

Fresnel reflections, normal mapping, ray-traced depth fogging and depth-based foam and an adaptive LOD system were built to handle the visuals.

[12] Vector Unit co-founders Matt Small and Ralf Knoesel had both previously worked on Blood Wake, a boat combat title for the original Xbox.

[7] They took lessons from Blood Wake, altering and updating the physics to be not only realistic, but to "make a game which a Novice player can easily pick up and learn".

[14] According to Vector Unit: "The basic idea was speedboats meets Supercross in a futuristic post-global-warming flooded Earth".

Co-founder and Lead Programmer Ralf Knoesel created a plugin which integrated with Maya that allowed artists to see what the boat would look like in-game.

During the development process Vector Unit maintained a PC build of the game which allowed artists and other team members to test their assets in-game without moving to an Xbox 360 Debug Kit.

They felt that given they would have to update all of the assets and that they had already built the water system, the decision was made to continue building the title from the ground up.

[12] The boats and environments were redesigned, taking cues from the original, but accommodating the new physics system and updated graphics engine.

[12] The developers contemplated things such as boat customization and user-generated tracks, but "ultimately we felt that it was more important to present an accessible, hand-crafted experience that players can just jump into and have fun with".

[19] Vector Unit held a contest from August 14 to 23, 2010 allowing consumers to design a skin for their favorite boat.

As a consolation prize, everyone who entered a design was notified that they would receive a code to download the content for free once released.

[23] Players who have not purchased the pack could download a free add-on that would enable them to see the new boats in multiplayer, and view any races on new tracks as a spectator.

[25] Vector Unit stated that if sales of Hydro Thunder Hurricane and the Tempest Pack are high enough there may be additional downloadable content:[19] "We'd love to do more; we have all kinds of ideas for new boats, new tracks, the whole shebang.

1Up.com's Bob Mackey called it "a perfect match for Xbox Live Arcade"[43] and the reviewer from GameTrailers said the game "looks sharp for a $15 release".

[34] Ludwig Kietzmann of Joystiq called it a "dynamite download"[38] and Dakota Grabowski of GameZone stated it is "the must-have arcade racer of 2010".

[44] The reviewer from Edge praised the game's small touches, including the fast load times, ability to choose between mph and km/h units, inclusion of a useful instant recovery button, support for online splitscreen and "how your rival's times flash up in-race to add just that extra dash of spice".

[43] In its preview of the game at PAX East, the reporter from Critical Gamer called the course design "really smart" and said that there were a "good balance of safe paths, risky shortcuts, and chains of boost power-ups".

[37] Criticizing the game's presentation, Gies claimed that Hurricane is "plagued by convoluted menus and awful load times".

[37] Simon Parkin of Eurogamer also stated the game had an "absence of personality and flourish", which "perhaps comes from a general lack of nuance or innovation".

Jim Cook of Gamers Daily News praised the new course design, stating that it was a major draw for Hurricane players.