Aquaventura
| Developer: Psygnosis | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Psygnosis | Sound: |
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| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Shoot’em up | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
5/10 | |
I’ve never been a Psygnosis fanatic. Sure, they had a knack for crafting unparalleled worlds – sometimes fantastical and gloomy, sometimes coldly sci-fi – clearly inspired by Roger Dean’s work, whose illustrations adorned many of their most iconic game boxes: Shadow of the Beast, Barbarian, Obliterator, and Terrorpods (the latter being a prime example of artistic chaos that defies comprehension). But beneath the lavish presentation (and equally stellar soundtracks), you’d often find dull games – lacking inspiration or even basic “recreational” qualities like pace, variety, or usability.
Aquaventura is no exception. A stunning intro and atmospheric music weave a mysterious vibe … yet beneath the polish lies a mediocre 3D shooter: slow, repetitive, and interrupted by inter-level segments in 3D tunnels, which are interesting enough, though the core gameplay remains, to me, basic and boring.
Note: “F1” to “F10” adjust speed, “S” displays the reticle, “Right Shift” locks onto a target (won’t work if your emulator maps the keyboard arrows to the joystick), “Enter” fires a missile, and “Space” activates an electric arc that destroys nearby enemies at the cost of a small amount of energy.
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