Name of Game : Aqua
Developers : Emerald Imaging
Author : Kelly Samel
Type of game : Adventure
Disk : CD (1)
Requirements : Amiga with AGA or RTG display OS3.x 68020 or higher 8 meg of Ram, CD-ROM and Harddrive
Playable from: CD or Harddrive
Now just in case some of you have NOT seen or tried "MYST" perhaps
a small explanation of the style of the game should help. "MYST" and "AQUA" are not point and click adventures (Similar to
the Monkey Island Style) The game is viewed through the players
eyes (You do not control a small figure and direct them across
the screen). In MYST or AQUA you click the mouse to go forward and
the game moves on to a new scene ..It's almost like a series of
screen shots with very little actual animations.
AQUA can be played directly from the CD ...A nice touch if you are
still operating with a small harddrive. Installation to hardrive
requires approximately 200 megs of free space. Needless to say the
game runs a lot quicker if installed to HD. Emerald Imaging have
released updated sounds for AQUA ...Again to use these updates you
need to have AQUA Installed to your drive.
Somewhere in the Atlantic... A dark storm is raging. The sky is in
turmoil the greyed clouds moving swiftly overhead. Waves sway
wretchedly in agony as if to spew forth the sea's contents from
the very bowels of the earth. A sole shape sits in this great
whirlwind of waves. An off-shore oilrig that stands stubbornly
against the deafening blow of the wind. Suddenly from high above
comes a fist of lighting followed by a thundering so intense that
everything around seems to pause for a moment, eyes wide,
wondering. The billowing wind and boiling sea slowly recover from
the attack and continue their own assault on the rig. What happens
next is not quite clear, another flash, a sound, a haze, a
whirling unseen force. The sky calms, the clouds slow, and the
waves roll more softly. Where once a solid structure stood there
is nothing. Only a barren sea and slumping sky is left. The wind
cries. The next day... You have heard of the mysterious sinking of the oilrig and,
always being the opportunist, decide that there could be valuable
salvage left from the crash. Valuable salvage that could be worth
a lot! You must find a way to explore the abandoned crash site.
Scuba gear won't do; the wreckage would be too deep beneath the
waves. There has to be a way! You finally rent a mini-sub from a
poor researcher that needs the money to continue his work. Always
the opportunist. Soon afterwards... You are now standing on the dock leading to the vessel, ready to
begin your grand treasure hunt. Unbeknown to you a secret lies
deep beneath the cold waves of the sea. A secret that will lead
you on the journey of your life. A journey into a world unknown
to mankind. A world filled with magic, beauty, wonder, enigma,
and a destructive force that rules over all it's kingdoms.
Hardship, intrigue and great rewards await the one brave enough
to take the challenge. Are you up to it? It is now time for you to write the remaining chapters of this
story, chapters that will be shaped by the events that follow in
your path. Go Forth!
When you first run AQUA ..You are presented with an animation
sequence showing the fate of the oilrig in the tempest. Shortly
after this you find your self on a pier facing your rented
submarine ...Time for the adventures to begin. Manoeuvring your self around AQUA is simplicity its self ...Move
your mouse to the left of the screen (A small hand appears
pointing to the left) Click and you are presented with the view on
your lefthand side. Reviewing adventure type games is quite difficult, Trying to
explain the things you might encounter or explaining events,
Without trying to give the solutions to puzzles can become quite a
nightmare. However in this review I will attempt to describe the
first few screens. Standing on the pier ...Click to go Forward (Mouse pointer to the
top of the screen and left click). This brings you next to the
silver submarine. Now click on the Sub to open it (You will see
the cockpit) ..a simple click takes you into the chair of the Sub.
In the Pilots chair you see a box to your left (Click on the box
to open it) inside is .... Charts of the ocean and marked on this
is recent sightings of Whales (The team you rented the Sub from
studied these Whales). There is also a small voice recorder
containing Whale Songs (3 of them) and a piece of paper explaining
that each Whale Song represents the Whales giving each other
directions. The Submarine controls are basic and easy to pperate. Use the On
Switch to start your Sub. You have then 3 buttons that you can set
to the Various Co ordinates (V) Vertical (H) Horizontal (D) Depth. Your Ocean Chart also has the V & H markings and the Depth is
Colour Coded. This makes typing in your settings and manoeuvring
your Submarine very easy. The only other control available is the
Grappling hook. Which you will of course require to lift Items
from the Ocean floor. Now you are faced with your first problem ... Where to go? You can
Do as I did and randomly roam about the Ocean bed until you get
totally frustrated, going around and round in circles and getting
nowhere! Perhaps I will be accused of giving a little of the game away
...However ..I do consider myself to be somewhat of an adventure
game freak ...And realise that very often players that get stuck
in the very beginning of a game can get frustrated and give up. MY problem was that :- I assumed that I was looking for the Sunken
Oilrig ... This Oilrig was not on the charts in the SUB ..And I
ended up going in circles. OK! here's a secret...You don't look for the RIG ..Try to find the
Whales ... The areas that whales have been sited in are on the
charts .. But remember that Whales swim around ...So check the
surrounding areas carefully. Once you have found the Whales ...Listen very carefully to the
Song they sing .... Match this up with one of the 3 songs in the
Voice Recorder ....This will give you new settings for (V) (H) &
(D). Keep doing this until you see something ;) ...On the Ocean floor. Try to recover this object and you are dragged into the World of
AQUA.
The in game graphics of AQUA are in general quite Impressive. It
does bill itself against "MYST" ...And I am sure most know of
the superb screenshots of that game. AQUA does not quite reach
that high standards, However the graphics are quite outstanding in
some areas and slightly less impressive in others. I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed with the "Garish"
graphic used as the backdrop for the Inventory Screen, It
certainly did not match up with some of the superb outdoor
screenshots. However this was a minor point. Just on the subject of graphics ...While testing the game ..First
by running it from the CD ... When entering one of the lifts and
using the switch .. I actually thought I had crashed the game. When you use the lift switch ...The lights go off and it seemed to
take a good few seconds for the lift to move ..Thus giving the
impression that the game had crashed ...This will not happen when
running from the HD. A point worth remembering when you decide
whether or not to install AQUA.
Atmospheric and apt for this type of game. Again you must decide
when you install AQUA ...Is the saving of hard disk space worth
the trade off ..In sound quality. The sound effects when playing
from the CD are reasonable but do take a second or two to catch up
with the screens. This doesn't effect the playability or enjoyment
in AQUA ...But if you want the game at its best ...Install the 200
meg to your HD.
Are YOU an experienced Adventurer? ... Have you completed
Monkey/Valhalla/MYST ...If so then AQUA will provide a challenge
to keep you playing for quite some time. As in all adventure games ...The puzzles solved suddenly become
quite easy and obvious ... However if you find yourself stuck, you
can be pulling your hair out by the handful. AQUA is not an easy game ...Non experienced adventure game
players will find this one very difficult indeed. Part of the
problem is that no description of objects you find is available.
WHAT IS that funny looking thing in your Inventory ...If you don't
know what it is ...How do you know what to use it for? This is definitely not a game that you combine a "Bent pin, Piece
of String and a Stick" To produce a fishing rod. Experienced adventurers will rise to the challenge, and get value
for money from this game.
Certainly if you enjoy a good adventure game, If you enjoy pitting your wits against the computer and love solving the puzzles. Then for £16 AQUA is real value for money.
Emerald Imaging have produced an interesting game here, with a unique storyline. I certainly have enjoyed my time playing the game, even although I cursed them quite a bit in doing so :)