Go Fanboy - Everyone Has A Favorite

Aqua is your usual dual-analog shooter most similar to the Assault Heroes series of games. Rather than being a car or spacecraft however, you play as a speedboat (hence 'Aqua'). The game will cost you 800MSP ($10), but whether it's worth that or not is debatable. Aqua included a large amount of enjoyable moments, with an almost equal quantity of frustrating parts.

At its core, Aqua does have a relatively nice gameplay system. Boats speed through the water smoothly, and contain numerous attack powers. Initially your boat is equipped with only a plain-jane machine gun. Progressing through the campaign will unlock you several new weapons ranging from flamethrowers to high-powered cannons. Torpedoes and mines can also be used, with various types of torpedoes available. Only three 'guns' can be chosen at a time (You always have torpedoes and mines) so what you have equipped is entirely up for you to decide. Three ships are available, basically covering the Weak&Fast, Balanced, and Strong&Slow norms in terms of strength and speed. Also, hidden 'Upgrades' can be discovered which when equipped apply bonuses like increased strength, rate of fire, and damage. Finally, each ship has a Super-Power which when available for use, kills just about everyone on screen.

I found customization to be a generally well-done feature. There exists a modest number of weapons and upgrades, and most are fun to experiment with. Especially when combined with your group of followers that can be altered to suit various role types (Gunner, Artillery, Recon and Medic). Sadly, the downfall of customization is that unlocking the various guns and bonuses do not carry back to previous levels. So while you may go on a treasure-hunt for guns; you unlock everything no-matter-what come the end of the game. The level you are on dictates which upgrades are available. Once I found this out I quit searching for bonuses, and carried on with whatever was given to me. You can argue this is for difficulty curve and balancing; I found it to be absurd and ruining.

Speaking of difficulty, it's inconsistent to a remarkably confusing level. I was able to speed through nearly half of the game, only to be halted by a frustrating boss opponent. Had I chosen a stronger ship, this would have been a cake-walk. But with no GunShop around, I refused to start an entire level over just to possibly make my life easier. I also hope 'protection' and 'escort' missions are up your alley. As it seems you will be doing more of that than anything else. Sad, considering the rest of the game was varied to such a high degree that I never felt I was doing anything twice. Except missions tasking me to protect someone. Now that's all I can remember.

While I loved Aqua's steampunk theme and slightly gritty atmosphere, none of it was really explained. The universe the gamer is exposed to is a vague and unexplained pile of nothing. Who is this main character really? What is this war even about? Who are my enemy? How come sharks can damage a freaking battleship? Some interesting cutscenes were included, though most just told me where I was going next and a brief theory on why that is. The art at first seemed pretty, but later appeared kind of bland and weird. Facial expressions seemed to exist in only two variations, that are expected to cover each emotion a human can possibly convey. Accompanying this was voice-work that pulled off a somewhat 'campy' mood; though other times I just wanted to mute the TV.

Aqua's campaign will last you a couple hours. Afterwords you *can* go through again on a higher difficulty, or possibly find the remaining collectibles (for an Achievement, not new weapons/upgrades). Multiplayer exists, but it's a sad affair. No Xbox Live support is available, and the modes which can be done in splitscreen aren't worth playing.

In the end, I suppose Aqua is just a little too 'Average' for my tastes. While I can honestly say I did enjoy myself for about half the game, the overall impression was of blandness. The level design was fantastic, as were the water modeling. I also love my new Avatar Awards; which are easily unlocked and quite stylish. Aside from that, I constantly witnessed horrid screen-clipping that rendered the game ugly and gave me a headache. Aqua feels awkward more often than brilliant, and is only really worth it to gamers heavy on Dual-Analog shooters who need a new game to blaze through.