A Fantastic Game with an Aquascape of Amazing Proportions!
-Aquaria is huge
-Aquaria looks gorgeous
-Aquaria sounds beautiful
-Aquaria is fun
Aquaria was created by Bit-Blot, an independent game studio consisting of two people. Over the last two years, the developers have poured their lives into the creation of this game, and it definitely shows.
Aquaria follows the adventures of Naija, an inhabitant of the vast world of Aquaria. Throughout her adventures you will explore an incredibly huge world filled with beautiful hand-drawn art. You'll listen to an amazing soundtrack comprised of some 50+ tunes. You'll hear Naija speak to you and uncover the game's mysterious plot as you progress...
Aquaria is a game of discovery. You'll need to solve puzzles, fight your way through ancient ruins, and have a little bit of cunning to get very far. To do this you can use one of many control options. The mouse, mouse+keyboard, or a gamepad. I use the mouse+keyboard, but all of the control options are highly responsive and rewarding. The game rewards exploration with power-ups and new abilities which you can use to progress to new areas in the game. Abilities can also be used to go back to an old area and open up a secret or go somewhere you couldn't have before. There's a strong sense of, "hey, there was this one place in the last area I couldn't get to...I wonder if I can now!" all throughout Aquaria. It makes the game amazingly addictive and very rewarding.
The abilities you gain can be accessed through a unique singing system. Each ability is assigned a series of notes, which can be played simply by clicking your right mouse button and "drawing" the appropriate tune on a circle of notes. Naija will then respond to whatever ability you played! It isn't difficult at all and to me, it's a very satisfying system, but to some it may feel cumbersome since you must "draw" with your mouse. Aquaria addresses this potential nuisance by allowing you to use the number keys on your keyboard to quickly access another ability -- a necessity when you're attempting to kill a boss hundreds of times your size!
Another unique element of Aquaria is the cooking system. Throughout your adventures, both plants and enemies will drop cooking ingredients which allow you to create different foods. These foods can be used to gain health, speed, defense, or possibly cure many ailments that may befall you. I found that about half the fun of exploration came from discovering new ingredients and new recipes. The foods you gain from the cooking system are invaluable in your adventures, so it's wise to stock up on ingredients!
During your exploration of Aquaria, you'll fight hundreds of enemies using several different tactics. To explain these tactics would spoil some of the game, but suffice it to say that you'll be shooting beams of energy quite often. Later in the game, when it becomes necessary to backtrack, these enemies respawn -- which can make traveling in this huge world a bit of a nuisance. I'll call this a minor gripe, since the enemies often drop ingredients required for cooking and the game also gives you abilities that make it much easier to bypass them.
Bosses also play a very large part in Aquaria. Each boss is unique in both their looks and the abilities they use to try and put an end to Naija's life. I'd consider myself an average to above average-gamer, and the boss difficulty scales from easy to VERY difficult. You will die. Several times. Once you figure out how to kill a certain boss, though, it's only a matter of time before you succeed. Which brings me to my next point:
Save points. The save points in Aquaria are, for the most part, few and far between. This is not by any means a game breaking issue for me since I understand that it affects the game's difficulty and alters your style of play. It really hits home, though, when you're attempting to defeat a boss that kills you several times. You're required to retrace your steps to the boss from your last save point. This can become very frustrating, especially when you have to do it multiple times on a very difficult boss. Luckily, the issue mostly comes up during boss fights and not in the normal course of play.
Overall I am HIGHLY satisfied with my purchase of Aquaria, and it's worth every penny of the $30 I paid. The minor issues I have with the game are just that -- minor issues. The game is a work of art with an amazing soundtrack and most of all, it's fun. If you like the demo, you will probably love the full game. After the demo areas it really does open up. I recommend the game to anyone who enjoys rewarding exploration, an ocean setting, beautiful art, entertaining combat, gorgeous music, a mysterious plot, and challenging boss fights. Two thumbs way up!