A Scuba Diving Brawl!
First, let's start with the visuals. SAD is visually stunning for a FPS on XBLIG. The visuals are smooth and actually look beautiful. The game didn't just include the basics of the scuba divers and sharks but also adds stingrays, turtles, fish, and eels to liven up the theme. You cannot interact with or shoot these creatures but it's a bonus none the less. The scenery as well is nice with sunken ships, a crashed plane, rocks, and what looks like and temple. There is also a screensaver feature that displays the ocean and the creatures as well as the time and date. I personally only looked at this once and though why would I use this but its just a little added bonus to the game.
Next, let's discuss the game play. SAD has two game modes: survival and deathmatch. Survival pits you against the sharks in an attempt to see how many sharks you can kill before they kill you. This game mode is not actually that much fun. It is singplayer and just sort of boring. The game keeps track of your high score on each of the two maps. One map even features zombie sharks. Why? Because zombies sell I guess. They aren't any different than regular sharks except in appearance. Now where this game truly shines is in the deathmatch mode. Deathmatch is played online with up to four people on the two maps from the survival mode. Players can choose the color of their tank and fins and either host or join a match. Now having a game on XBLIG feature online multiplayer is always dangerous because not that many people play Indie games. However I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of which I could find a match in SAD. I even found matches at three in the morning. Now matches run for ten minutes and features free-for-all combat between the four players and sharks if the host has sharks turned on. Players gains points by killing other players but will lose points when killed by other players or by sharks or by drowning. Players are armed with a spear gun, knife, and a flash bang. When players or sharks are shot they bleed which alerts other sharks to come attack. Players must also watch their oxygen levels while fighting in order to not drown. Some players may feel that aiming is off but you must simply learn how to lead your shots. Players can level and earn killstreaks that increase experience. Finally headsets are use utilized allowing players to talk while playing.
Overall SAD is a pretty good game for XBLIG. The multiplayer portion is a lot of fun to play and at a mere 80 msp ($1) the game is a steal.