Undertow lacks any form of a great story, but its frantic gameplay makes it pretty fun to play.
Undertow looks like a side-scrolling shooter set underwater. While it has a 2D level design, the modeling of the environments and the graphic effects give it a nice 3D look to the background of the game. In the game you will navigate through a barrage of bombs and enemy gun fire, weed through seaweed and Atlantis-like pillars, and swim through caves, ruins and deep valleys.
The gameplay is fairly simplistic. Your objective is to take control of five control points that are spaced out in various locations across the level. You capture a control point by having one or more of your team members close to a point. The enemy is also vying for these control points so, naturally, battles will break out over these control points. You can also capture enemy points, but it will take longer to capture them, making it more difficult to keep hold of them.
Each control point is displayed as a dot on the screen. Each dot will either be blue, orange or grey. A blue dot signals a control point under your control, an orange dot is an enemy position, and a grey dot is a neutral position. The winner of the game is decided when a team lowers the other team's points to zero. This can be done by controlling control points which will deplete the score every couple of seconds. A team can also get an automatic victory by controlling all the control points in a game which eliminates the other team.
The action in the game can be pretty crazy, with control points constantly changing possession. You will take over one point, only to notice that you are losing one to your opponent. There is also a lot of death and constant respawn in the game so don't be afraid of taking some risks. You can only respawn at control points that are in you possession so you may find that it is a long trek back to an enemy control point.
There are four different units that you can play as in the game which you can alternate among while playing. One is a small and fast Marine, which looks like a scuba diver with a gun, one is an armored and powerful Destroyer that is like a Marine but looks like a Big Daddy from BioShock. There is also heavier underwater craft available that are slow firing but their missiles will cause terrifying damage. Each unit can be ultilised to suit any need. A faster unit can be used to dart around the level and alternate among points, whereas the heavier units a can be used to take out multiple enemies at a time.
You also have the ability to upgrade your unit. You get points for destroying enemies and for capturing control points. By spending these points you can upgrade your unit to Level 2, and eventually, Level 3. These upgrades will give you more hit points, better armour and more powerful weaponry to your unit so you have a better chance of not dying as much.
The control scheme for the game is extremely simple. You move with the Left Thumbstick and you fire you weapon by moving the Right Thumbstick in the direction that you want the bullets to go. The controls become easy to pick up and soon you will be doing it will skill.
The singleplayer storyline is a bit naff and over-the-top but it is not essential to follow the story to enjoy the game, and it can be quirky at times. Chair is also a rare breed of developers that has added the ability to skip cutsecenes or replay them from the pause menu. Even though the story is a bit boring, the game can be enjoyed without following it.
For a Arcade game, Undertow is one of the best looking arcade games to date. The game has dazzling explosions, and very detailed underwater effects to match. Details like bubbles ripping through the water and shock waves splinting through water when you move make the game look really nice to watch. The audio also does a good job of supporting the pretty graphics with explosions and water effects that sound relatively believable.
A lot of Undertow's enjoyment is derived from its multiplayer. The game supports up to 16 players split among two teams. There are two modes in multiplayer: the Conquest mode that is the same as singleplayer games; and a Team Deathmatch free-for-all. You can also play the campaign with somebody else on Co-Op which is great when playing with a friend, and is probably a bit easier to complete the game on harder modes.
While Undertow is free at the time of writing this review, it proves that Chair has a promising future making games. Despite a lacking storyline, the frantic gameplay and entertaining multiplayer make the game a lot of fun to play with or without friends.