Aquaman: Battle For Atlantis
What should be a good game for a low price turns out to be all wet
Tags: Aquaman: Battle For Atlantis Categories: Game Cube Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Sep 8th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquaman: Battle For Atlantis (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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When first announced, the idea of taking the King of Atlantis and making an interactive adventure of his exploits sounded like a good idea. Aquaman has never quite gotten his due in the comic world, and having him star in his first videogame seemed like a good place to help change public opinion.
Recent revisions to the character – a somewhat harder, angrier, less friendly version of the classic character, seem to have been well received. Taking this newer version of Aquaman, TDK Mediactive announced in October of 2001 that is had secured the license, with plans to release a game in 2002 – not much time for development.
Since being delayed until mid-2003, the game has slipped underneath the radar, and for good reason. This is a budget title, in almost every respect. It may not cost a lot to pick the game up, but what you get is definitely not value for your dollar.
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There is a “comic book” style presentation, which should work, but only comes across as cheap. There are virtually no cut-scenes whatsoever in the game, which should be a good thing with comic book panels telling the story. Unfortunately, these panels look like stills from a poorly done cut-scene with word balloons instead of voice acting.
Graphically, Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis comes up a bit short as well. While the game may be a budget title, there are certain issues that shouldn’t ever come up. While in a submarine, it is virtually impossible to tell which direction you are being fired upon from. Collision detection seems unfinished in areas, and the character models are flat (not to mention the environments).
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Where the graphics fall short, one could expect the gameplay to pick up – but it doesn’t. There isn’t a lot here. Primarily, Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis is a fighting game, with a few levels of submarine battle action. The fighting is pretty basic, with Aquaman swimming to an area with enemies, fighting, swimming to the next area, etc.
Sure, the enemies are cool (some of the absolute classic Aquaman villains are here), but the story behind it all is haphazard and doesn’t make much sense. Characters are either not used to their potential or get lost in the simplistic gameplay.
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There really isn’t much in the way of exploration or puzzle solving here – it’s fairly simple and rudimentary. There are combos that are acquired over time, but it serves to be somewhat too little, too late.
With overly simplistic gameplay and lackluster presentation, Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis just isn’t the game to bring widespread recognition to the King of Atlantis. An extra 6 months of polish and raising the price $5 would have done this game a world of good.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| It's Aquaman, he swims | 1.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
| Virtually everything else unfortunately | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| You really have to be a diehard Aquafan to get this. | |
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Tags: Aquaman: Battle For Atlantis
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Sep 8th, 2003 and is filed under Game Cube Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
