Aqua for Xbox 360 Reviewed

The critics have not been kind to this Xbox Live release. If you look up other reviews, they've mostly panned Aqua for a variety of reasons, but here you have a lifelong gamer telling you otherwise. This title from Games Distillery has managed a double whammy of a feat, basing itself around two gaming conventions I personally have little fondness of, yet succeeding in spite of that.

First off, Aqua's a thumb shooter much like Geometry Wars, except it has a steampunk naval theme. Thumb shooters can get frustrating real fast and I've never really gotten into them - until this one. Aqua, when set on easy, still offers a worthy challenge, but it's always on the right side of playable. There are a couple of frustrating boss battles that could get overwhelming for some, but overall the difficulty is toned down and is just on the dot. Secondly, much of the action revolves around escort missions, the most hated type of mission there is in gaming, and still, Aqua doesn't frustrate too much and retains its playable demeanor. That it accomplishes these two is quite a pleasant surprise from a relatively obscure release.

The action in Aqua centers on its story, which is quite deep, no pun intended. The protagonists are a warship captain (Grey) and his voluptuous chief engineer, the young and attractive Edison. They're caught in a war between their side, the Empereans, and the dastardly Gotheans, who seem very much like the Soviet Union. The story is told via nice hand drawn comic book-style sequences, and the voice acting, although a tad hammy, is at the same time good. Overall, Aqua has a lot more story and sense than you'd expect, plus the campaign is lengthy as the protagonists take on an assortment of missions.

There are three ship types, and all told dozens of different upgrades and weapons, from gatlings to heavy guns, flamers , torpedoes and mines. Opponents come in different shapes and sizes, too, so it's sometimes important to pick the right tool, although the differences between ships aren't night and day.

In addition to the single player campaign, there's a two player co-op mode of sorts, but Aqua's mostly about the single player experience, so don't get your multiplayer hopes up.

A lot of fun can be had with Aqua, and it's a decent value even at the release price of $10. The only real problems with it reside on the graphics side of things. While there's a unique flavor here, it's mostly confined to cutscenes and menus, because in-game visuals leave much to be desired. They're overly polygonal in nature, and often merely functional. Some of the texture work surprises in its blandness, and an even bigger surprise comes in the form of noticeable screen tearing. None of this detracts from the fun experience, but it could have definitely been better.

Those looking to sink their teeth into a cool shooter download could do a lot worse than setting sail for Aqua's frigid seascape, so avast there and full flank speed ahead.