You can imagine our surprise upon loading Sea Blast, described in both the blurb and the video (that’s after the cut, vid fans) as “a fast paced shooter” to discover that there was a certain untruth being told in that statement. What it should have read was “a rather turgid paced shooter where you can idly take out static enemies for a few levels with bullets that are awkward to avoid due to slightly crappy controls before finally facing off against some enemies which move only to discover that the pace still doesn’t up and you feel the onset of a coma descending upon you”. Hey, it may not be the best advertising blurb ever, but at least it’s honest.
There’s some rather nice terrain and swimming against the tide is a fairly interesting thing to throw into a game that’s otherwise shamed by Combat for the 2600 (ok, that’s unfair – a lot of deathmatch games are *still* shamed by Combat for the 2600) but when the core game is so fundamentally dull in its current state, our excitement-o-meter unfortunately slipped into the negatives.
Video after the jump
Sea Blast is 200 points and you will remember its name. Mainly because it flashes a splash screen at you so often it’ll probably be burnt into your television after a few plays.
This title was 200 Points at the time of writing this review but has since been reduced to 80 Points.
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I think this game could’ve been fun if it was polished. It sure looks good and the gameplay is not that uninspired like many games before. But the bad controls keep me from enjoying the game. It never feels like shots are going where I’m firing at. However the AI can anticipate shots and hits almost always. I think this game would work if you were playing a pinniped and had to escape some sharks by fighting/using currents.
I gotta say though, the price looks to be a bargain, and I can’t say that about a lot of XBCG games. Some games like Weapon of Choice should be 800pts (currently 400) and are underpriced, but the great majority of games are simply over-priced. This game looks to be worth 400 when I compare it (in terms of polish, content, scope) most other XBCG titles. So the 200pt tag has to be commended IMO.
Of course, if you aren’t having fun with it, you may even want to pass on a free title. I’m just saying that the price is very reasonable when most XBCG titles don’t seem to be.