Exploring the Underwater Digital Ocean

When it comes to game genres, underwater exploration games are near the bottom of the popularity chain… in fact, it wasn’t until Nintendo’s Endless Ocean has the genre had any sort of mainstream appreciation at all. Here’s some history to the obscure genre, and a little bit about the three main games of this type released in the Western market.

Aquanaut's Holiday (PSX)

Chances are, you’ve never heard of this game. Like Tail of the Sun, also published by Sony, this is one of those titles that basically appealed to no one. However, years later it is interesting to look back on Aquanaut’s Holiday just because of how unique it is. Released in 1996 during the original Playstation’s early life, this game starred a marine explorer who explored an underwater ocean. In this title you also had to attract fish to achieve your goal of filling up your fish meter. Although the graphics are rather archaic now, it is one of those intriguing niche titles that looks to be worth tracking down simply because there’s not much else out there like it.

Everblue 2 (PS2)
Capcom really gave this title no chance of survival in the U.S. Combine absolutely no advertising with a micro-sized print run, and you have a title that was destined for commercial failure from the start. A sequel to Everblue, a game exclusive to Europe and Japan, Everblue 2 had you exploring the Caribbean as – you guessed it – a scuba diver. There was more of a plot here than Aquanaut’s Holiday, but the game play, similarly, had you searching around for items and interesting sights beneath the ocean. I am still trying to track down a copy of Everblue 2, but I have yet to find one in any game store I’ve visited, near or far.

Endless Ocean (Wii)
Nintendo’s Endless Ocean was the first title in this genre to appeal to a mass market audience. Developed by Arika, the very same company responsible for the creation of Everblue 2, Endless Ocean had a larger budget, more advertising, and way more critical acclaim than the two titles previously mentioned. A relaxing and gorgeous experience, Endless Ocean appears to be a solid title for those who are sick of online FPS death matches.

Game Ads Guaranteed to Win Your Attention

Regardless of how dull or worthless the actual product displayed may be, a controversial, eye-catching ad will always win your attention. Many game publishers have used this age-old technique over the years, often for lackluster titles that, without an “edgy” ad with shock-value (often depicting violence and sex), you would have just flipped right past. Here are three ads that you’ll definitely garner more attention to than the typical, generic gaming advertisements commonly found in magazines.

Daikatana (PC, Nintendo 64)

This was a highly over hyped and severely disappointing shooter. Produced by John Romero (lead producer of such legendary first-person shooters like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Quake), Daikatana had a troubled development life and was universally panned by critics.

Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix (PSX)

All right, so Fear Effect 2's supposed to be pretty damn good. Unfortunately, more people seemed to be talking about the controversial lesbian ads around the time of release than the game itself. Notice that this ad features absolutely no game play screen shots - who needs 'em anyway?

Spawn: the Eternal (PSX)












Spawn titles have had a history of failing to live up to their source material, and The Eternal is no exception. Just forget about this horrendous action title and lookit that bloody arm! This advertisement is most likely the only memorable quality about this otherwise unworthy product.

Tail of the Sun - The Best Damn Caveman Simulator Ever!

Numerous game concepts have been beaten to death - namely, WWII shooters and GTA-inspired titles. However, here's an idea you don't see pop up often: a game based upon the life of a caveman. Yup, it's true - in 1996 Sony released Tail of the Sun, a caveman simulator on their ever-popular Playstation game console.

The game flopped both commercially and critically. Unlike many other titles that receive this dreaded fate, however, Tail of the Sun lacked a hardcore cult following as well.

Maybe when you view this Youtube video you'll understand why:





But hey, at least it's unique - right? If I ever found a copy if in the bargain bin somewhere I'd surely snap it up...

Tenchu Is Back! Wait... Where Did Everyone Go? Anyone Care?

Tenchu Z, the next title in the Japanese-developed stealth-action franchise is soon to be released. Published by Microsoft Game Studios and developed by From Software, this could be another attempt by Microsoft to try to get the Eastern market interested in the Xbox 360. However, save for a few Xbox-exclusive hits with Japanese flavor (The cult-classic Phantom Dust on the original Xbox, for example), Microsoft’s attempts to get the Japanese market to plunk down the cash for their systems have failed.

It’s not to see why, either. Although some of the Japanese games published by them were decent, titles like Blinx: The Time Sweeper aren’t exactly what most would consider system sellers (let’s also forget about half-baked released like Whacked! and the ill-fated Kakuto Chojin, shall we?). Titles like Blue Dragon, which recently helped move some 360’s from Japanese shelves are a step in the right direction, but are people really excited about a new Tenchu?

While I’m actually moderately eager to play it (I have fond memories of the original game back on the Playstation), the Tenchu games haven’t exactly made great strides to modernize themselves. Although this may have been acceptable for the last two generations, now that we’re in the next-gen people aren’t going to overlook many of the problems the series has had in the past, such as the dim-witted A.I. and clunky controls. Sadly, it seems as if the developers have not bothered fixing these problems, because a Japanese demo was recently found on Xbox Live Marketplace and it has been garnering much criticism for problems that the series should have fixed long ago.

To add injury to insult, the Tenchu series has been receiving worse and worse reviews every title, with last year’s DS-exclusive title Tenchu: Dark Secret earning an abominable 39.2% average from GameRankings. Well, Tenchu Z will be hitting U.S. shores shortly (June 12^th, to be exact), and while I hope it turns out decent I have my doubts. In the meantime, here’s a breakdown of how the Tenchu games have been rated through the years (look at how the ratings have progressively slid downhill)

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins - 83%

Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins - 79%

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven - 79%

Tenchu: Return From Darkness - 70%

Tenchu: Fatal Shadows - 60%

Tenchu: Dark Secret - 39%

Ratings are based off of GameRankings. The source for the Tenchu ratings can be found here

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Although this only happens once in a blue moon, game publishers will sometimes change the covers of games that were already released. Sometimes it’s necessary – legal rights might prevent a certain athlete from appearing on the cover of a sports title, but in most cases it’s a total mystery. Here are some games that received unique covers after already being released for awhile (note: the original release is on the left, while later releases are on the right):

Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox)

NHL 2004 (multi platform - pictured: PC)

Street Fighter Collection (PSX)

Sly Cooper (PS2)

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Nintendo DS)



And there are plenty more that exist, but they are not pictured because I either don't know about them or pictures of them were excruciatingly tough to come by.