Aqua Panic is a weird game. On one hand, I want to enjoy it. Its mix of cute Lemmings-like gameplay and pastel-shaded aesthetics should result in something special, but it just doesn’t get me involved as much as Lemmings. Let’s back up a little bit and explain Aqua Panic. Essentially, you have to modify and change a 2D environment in order to get your fish from the top of the screen to their goal at the bottom. To do this, you get stuff like explosives, harpoons and other such tools. There are also in-level elements such as snails that allow fish to go throw and drop out under them.
These may sound all well and good, but the game is very restrictive on the resources it gives you. This is odd as the art style denotes a casual game, but the gameplay is very hardcore thanks to these restrictions. It also means that levels are very linear and restrictive, which is disappointing as the gameplay is good and you can restart again instantly, but there is not a way to rectify a bad situation during the level. Many levels start off with looking across the level, deciding where to use each tool and then using them when the level begins. After that, you just sit and wait to see if your emplacements were right or wrong. Games like these shouldn’t play like a tower defence title.
Coupled with that, the look and style of the game really doesn’t match the difficulty and target audience of the game. As mentioned before, the “cute” art style feels out of place. There isn’t really anything here that the casual audience could play. It’s difficult, fiddly and weird to play. What’s more, the music is also annoyingly struggling for the casual market it hurts. The haunting theme tune will annoy you at every opportunity, especially after failing one of the more difficult levels. The in-level music is wonky and doesn’t match what’s going on, and neither do the weird stuttering slow-down starts to levels.
However, you do technically get a nice amount for your money. There are lots of modes and such but the main one everyone will go for when trying the game for the first time is Adventure Mode. Adventure Mode has a lot of levels (with some neat tips during loading, but you will soon tire of seeing these between every single level) but there isn’t anything “adventurey” about it. You just keep on going through levels, one after the other without any sign of progression or the game actually saving your progress. There’s just a level indicator at the beginning of a level and after that you’re left hoping that it’s all saved and you’re progressing well.
The thing is about this game is that there really isn’t any reason to play it. Once you’ve tried it and done a few levels, there’s no compelling reason to continue. There’s no feeling of characterisation and empathy between you and what’s happening on-screen. This is all thanks to the wayward design and wonky game mechanics. It’s a shame, as the basic idea is solid enough, but there isn’t really much here that actually needs to be played, especially with so much other stuff to play and other distractions nowadays.
Verdict: A game that is not for normal people. Most regular folk will get so frustrated that their controller will not survive its torment. There isn’t much to see or do here, but if you’re into genocide-prevention sims there isn’t much else to play nowadays. Everyone else won’t be missing much.
