In the beginning was the word... and the word was Tetris and it was good.
Well, I say 'beginning', but it was more like the beginning of the 1990s rather
than creation itself and it has gone on to spawn many a variant on just about
every platform available, the latest offspring being Aqua Aqua, the
sequel to the water-based Wetrix.
For this brain-teasing game, you must save the Aquas in a number of different timezones
by building mud blocks, constructed from Tetris-style shapes, into lake surrounds which will
then be filled with water. Be careful though because under no circumstances must you leave
gaps in the walls otherwise water will leak out and you will have failed your task.
If that wasn't enough, bombs will appear to break up the land, wreaking havoc unless you can
plug the gaps with more mud blocks and fireballs can be directed to dry out parts of the land
which have become too waterlogged or are leaking.
You'll need to hang on during earthquakes and you will encounter the only type of uppers and
downers that are not prescribed by a doctor, i.e. those blocks which build land up and those
which decrease the height, the latter allowing you to blend lakes together when necessary.
The graphics are extremely colourful and fun, which aid the fast pace of the game. As
the blocks fall into place, or the other elements drop down, the isometric 3D square piece
of land reacts by tilting slightly in the required direction, as if the Earth really was flat
and Christopher Columbus was wrong after all. Whatever touches base, it causes the joypad
to rumble appropriately.
An ethereal ambient soundtrack beats along in the background, accompanied by not-so-subtle
"crash bang wallop" effects - best heard with a surround sound system, while a squeaky
Japanese-like voice screams 'Game on', 'Game Over' and other words that make Joe
Pasquale sound like Mr. Deep-Voice.
It has to be said though, that while the above AV presentation suits the game, it doesn't
exactly push the PS2 to the limits.
Overall, fans of the original Wetrix will certainly want to take a look
at Aqua Aqua on the new console. I never played the first game, so coming to this
one as a 'Wetrix virgin', I was confused to say the least. I can see that the more water
that drips out causes a meter to rise and once it's full then the game has ended, but,
personally, I don't really have the patience because it's so frustrating.
On the other hand, between the time when this game arrived and me writing this review,
my other half has barely stopped playing it. She told me that she scored a million points.
My highest score? Well, let's not talk about that :)
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
In the beginning was the word... and the word was Tetris and it was good.
If that wasn't enough, bombs will appear to break up the land, wreaking havoc unless you can
plug the gaps with more mud blocks and fireballs can be directed to dry out parts of the land
which have become too waterlogged or are leaking.
The graphics are extremely colourful and fun, which aid the fast pace of the game. As
the blocks fall into place, or the other elements drop down, the isometric 3D square piece
of land reacts by tilting slightly in the required direction, as if the Earth really was flat
and Christopher Columbus was wrong after all. Whatever touches base, it causes the joypad
to rumble appropriately.
Overall, fans of the original Wetrix will certainly want to take a look
at Aqua Aqua on the new console. I never played the first game, so coming to this
one as a 'Wetrix virgin', I was confused to say the least. I can see that the more water
that drips out causes a meter to rise and once it's full then the game has ended, but,
personally, I don't really have the patience because it's so frustrating.
