Aquaria

Aquaria a pretty game, to be sure - the graphics leave little to be desired, especially the animations of the various different creatures that inhabit the cavernous depths of the ocean. The voiceover work isn't terribly convincing, but that, too, is a minor quibble. I thought this game seemed promising in the extreme - the graphics look lovely in the stills and the mechanics appear both innovative and intuitive. Unfortunately, there's just not much "there" there. The story does not especially compel me to play further (thinking about it, I would actually perhaps attribute that to the lacklustre voice acting - at least in part), and the gameplay mechanics are competent but ultimately shallow. (The cooking mini-game is particularly guilty of this: no matter the ingredients I've mixed, all I've ever successfully managed to create is a sense of tedium and ennui in myself.) In some ways, it seems that the developers have attempted to create something of a mixture of one of the earlier Legend of Zelda games alongside one of the Metroid games - the free-roaming style is there, as is the requirement to attain certain items (or, as the case may be, learn certain melodies) in order to advance into previously unreachable areas. Unfortunately, although that has been proven again and again to be a sound premise for a videogame, and although the visuals are quite lovely, the game pales in comparison to both its apparent inspirations. I tried very hard to enjoy its style of play, but more and more I'm viewing it less as a game and more as a particularly interactive and certainly gorgeous virtual aquarium ready for my very intermittent explorations - the story, the part of a game which would normally be the draw for me much more than visuals, audio, and on some occasions even gameplay, falls sadly flat in Aquaria, and I regret to say I do not see myself ever completing this game.