While the Nintendo DS has no shortage of match the like-colored gem or object titles, the genre is lacking originality. Bermuda Triangle: Saving the Coral aims to set itself apart from the crowd by using an object no one would have thought to use before while also becoming Green Peace’s inevitable Game of the Year. How do you win over anti-whaling groups and gamers on the go alike? You simply make an addictive puzzler centered around nourishing aquatic life, that’s how.
As you may have gathered either by the intro or from previous screenshots, Saving the Coral is a new spin on the old link the colors game. Think of bejeweled and you’ll start to get the idea. But the originality here doesn’t end at using coral in place of jewels. The gameplay is far from what many casual puzzlers may be used to. For example the coral (colored orbs) floats at the top of the playfield instead of succumbing to gravity and falling downward. That’s because, as you may have guessed, the playfield itself is water. You distribute new game pieces, various coral, by launching them off your boat that sits above the field of play. Here’s where things get interesting. Instead of the predictable 90 degree options of movement that most titles in this genre are limited to, pieces already in play can be pushed in a variety of directions. So instead of just dropping down or moving to the left or right, you have the added difficulty of unpredictable movements at 45 degree angles.
The additional challenge of your colored objects moving in more directions may be initially off-putting for the traditionalists out there, but should quickly suck them in. Coral can also be rendered locked, meaning you can’t remove it from the field of play, barring a set amount of time or movement of the game piece. For example, aquatic life like squid may appear and coat a piece(s) of coral in ink which then can’t be linked up or “popped” until a set amount of time has passed and the ink dissipates. Other obstacles include your coral getting encased in air bubbles which, similar to the ink, blocks that piece from being removed until reaching the surface. Of course, there are weapons at your disposal to help combat these obstacles. Being an environmentally friendly title, these “weapons” range from water cannons to your ship’s anchor. The actual gameplay is fun, challenging and certainly helped along by the strategy added by the obstacles.
Visually Bermuda Triangle: Saving the Coral is on par with the rest of the puzzle titles on the DS. The originality of using ships, water, and coral does lend itself to providing a very colorful game that is pleasing to the eyes and fun to look at. While not pushing the hardware to its limits by any means, everything is rendered nicely and looks good. The sound in the game is packed with cutesy tunes that will drift into the background as you play, but still does a fine job of backing up the rest of the title.
Overall this game will shock many who pick it up. The idea of chaining together colorful pods may not be new, but the story laid out in the background of this title is enough to warrant checking it out. To the best of my knowledge, there isn’t another game on the market where the goal is to provide nutrients to grow and sustain a coral reef.
Graphics | Audio | Gameplay | Replay | Genre | Final |
