Aquanaut (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
64Aquanaut is an open level Cybernoid-type of game, where you use a bank of weapons to progress, and explore a huge level. We played this in the SuperLeague win 2021, where I played it for the first time. This was recorded a long time after the League, where I was just trying to rush it for the review.
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Production Notes:
SuperLeague: Round 14 November 2016
Captured: 9th January 2023 (same date as Motorhead)
Narrated: 22nd November 2023
Completed: 29th November 2023 (V1)
I remember being introduced to this in the Mystery Round of the SuperLeague back in 2016. I think it was the very first Mystery Round - which was an idea I had to shake up the votes, but allowing games with 75 votes or less on lemon. It was a wild bunch of votes, including Locomotion (which we reviewed back then, and STILL has not come up to be played in the compo), and Lollypop - which we reviewed this series.
https://www.lemonamiga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=13892
The game impressed me massively, because the moment the player thinks they are in full control, something will happen to mess that up, unless they play it stealthily and tactically. So this was put on the list to review. Fast forward to 2023, and it was about time to play it. Our PD selection this year was already taken up by Sneech, so this went in as a Licenseware special (yes, there is always some method to this madness!). But as soon as the game started, I felt compelled to rush it like a veteran. This was a mistake because I half-forgot where all the computer terminals were, and it was a long time before I finally found a map. With the boss fights, I normally just stay in the top corner and launch bouncers all over the place. But for some reason the adrenaline was pumping, and I tried to take on the bosses the proper way. This is risky, and it means I couldn't show the other two levels of this 4 level game. Which is a shame. But as always, I never like to give out the endings just in case players want to, you know, actually PLAY!! these games. I'm not just doing this each year for my benefit, I want to share and introduce players to games which are often more fun than some modern FPDS.
During the edit, I got the idea to include the Cybernoid music, as music is the only thing which is missing from the game. I was convinced there was some loading music and title music for both cybernoid 1 and 2, but I could only find the two tracks online, so I missed at least one somehow. Cybernoid 1 was loaded up in WinVICE, but the loading and title music sounded the same as the two tracks I already had?
Danscore:
Back in the 1970's and 80's, video games were largely developed around playability, and not so much around fancy graphics and sound. Playing this game instantly reminded me of the style of some horizontal shooters on the ZX spectrum, with their monochromatic graphics and inch forward playing style. The simplicity is where the core of the game lies. The player gets to explore a huge map with full 8 way movement, a bit like Mr. Heli. The 'caverns' are nicely laid out with a fairly linear route, and lots of interesting items and details scattered around, to act as waypoints, so the player rarely gets lost. The in-game map feature means there is a way to set some targets and goals, and the lack of a time limit means the player is never frantically trying to battle their way to the next Time pickup or against a deadline. If damage is taken, the player knows why it was their own fault, and the game never robs health away by crashing into any part of the scenery. The safety bubble means players have full control, and a sense that given enough time, they could beat the level. However, newbies will be instantly lost, and probably wont know about the weapons. There is no starting map to orientate the player, and show the given objectives, so newbies wander blindly about and shoot stuff, without much of a clue. There is no in-game music, and the sound effects are only functional, rather than awesome, but they are befitting to the game. Given the low price point of this rare gem, I'd say it is worth 8 out of 10. There is nothing here which is pushing the limits of the machine except for the massive block-tile map, but there is still a lot of game packed in to that one floppy disk.