James Pond: Underwater Agent

James Pond: Underwater Agent is a 2D action...swimmer? on the Sega Genesis. Obviously the title and much of the favor text for the game plays off of puns from the James Bond series. However, this is no Goldeneye. Playing Mr. Pond, you swim around the water, blowing bubbles to capture and "pop" enemies (like Bubble Bobble) to defeat them. You can also be a literal fish out of water and hop your way around land (this is limited by you ability to stay out of water). However, the game is really marred by a boring mission structure (they all seem to be find object A, take to place B or escort missions) and frustrating enemies. The enemies are frustrating because you'll encounter invisible ones that you need a special item to see...but you also can't use that item and carry a needed mission objective item at the same time, not to mention the one-hit kill missiles and bombs. The way this game registers hits is also annoying...you don't have the typical get hit, small invincibility frame to prevent multi-hits. Instead the game just rapidly saps your health as long as you touch enemies, which feels cheap especially when coupled with the invisible enemies you can't see. On a good note, I thought I did enjoy the James Bond puns (although I'm a sucker for that type of humor) and I thought the music and visuals were appropriate for the younger audience this targets. Overall, I'd recommend most stay away from this though, the frustration outweighs the fun here. You can consider this stirred rather than shaken.