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System:
Nintendo 64
Genre:
Puzzle
Publisher:
Ocean
Developer:
Zed Two Limited
Players:
1
Release date/year:
05/31/1998
Other systems:
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- Wetrix
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1998 Zed Two Limited - Ocean - N64
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Well, this game isn’t quite what I had expected. When I had seen some of the pictures, and read some of the reviews for this game, I was expecting something great. Instead, I got an original, but quite mediocre game. It is a puzzle game, it is original, but it isn’t really very good overall. In fact, the originality isn’t really that great either. It is an interesting concept, but it is basically Tetris with water. For more amazing seifer opinions, lets jump into the Wetrix review!
- {~~Main Scores~~}
BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 8
Sound: 7
Enjoyability: 6
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Gameplay
All that I have heard about the gameplay is that it is great. I have heard so many good things about this game, that I guess it is the reason I was set up for such a disappointment. I knew it was going to be fun at first, which it was. I knew it was going to have a nice concept, which it did. But what I wasn’t aware of is that this game would get so boring so fast. You do the same thing over and over. Then, if you lose, you start over. It gets extremely agitating, and eventually it just becomes boring and agitating to play.
Like I have said, this game is basically Tetris with water. You are placed on a floating island. You have the power to control where all of the mountains and features of the island go, by placing them. Then, every once in a while, a huge pile of surprisingly perfectly shaped water drops down on to your island. You need to contain it, and have it land in the little enclosed areas. Basically, you make lakes. You form your land, and then you strategically place the water when it comes, just like Tetris.
This is the really hard part. The land needs to be formed so fast, and the water comes so fast that it can be crazy. Then, if some water happens to fall outside of a lake, or if it leaks, your island slowly floods, and you lose. If water gets out, and you don’t contain it fast, you lose. That is the premise of the game. Not too bad, but when you do lose, you have to start over at the beginning of the levels, I didn’t like that. I think it would be better if you perhaps had some lives for other tries, or maybe if they start you over at the level you just lost on.
As you get to a certain amount of points, from making lakes, you move on to the next level. Each lake gives different point scores, it is a variable. So, getting to the next level can be hard. Once you do move on, things get harder. The water starts falling a lot faster. The land needs to be made a lot faster. Floods everywhere!! AHHGGGHHH!!!
As you can tell, this game gets very annoying. Then, at times, little bombs drop down on you instead of water or land. These bombs are not good things. If they land in a bad place, they can blow open a lake, basically causing instant death. But, the bombs can occasionally be good too. If you make one side of a formation bigger than another, or there is a pointless piece of land, the bombs can take care of it. Unfortunately, the times where they have a chance to do good come a lot less often than the times that they just drive you insane.
Overall, the gameplay is good, but not great. The idea is great, and it could have been made a lot better if it just wasn’t so hard. Perhaps I am just being finicky over the challenge. But, it’s not the only thing that is bringing the overall score down. This game can get quite boring over time. The difficulty can drive you to the point of wanting to turn it off, but you will play anyway. But then, over time, you just have enough of this game, and you will stop. Good job, I guess...
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Graphics
The graphics are perhaps the best part of the game. They were put together very nicely. The display the true capabilities of the Nintendo 64. Everything is three dimensional. That is what I liked the most. The island is floating above the weird background, and you can see it all. It is flat, and squared, and you can tell. You can see it all, in a full form. Then, the landforms of the lakes and other things are great to. They give the effect of sticking right out of the flat ground below. hey are actual lumps on the land. I liked that part of it.
In the area of a background we have an interesting idea. The island, as I have mentioned, is floating. What is it floating above, I have to idea. But, in behind it, we have some psychedelic colors. There are some truly good designs back there. But, you wont be noticing them very much, because they are always moving down. They are just a blur of sorts moving down really fast. It gives the effect that the land is moving upwards at a very rapid rate. It’s a nice idea, and it does look nice, but it as well as the other things can be a bit annoying.
The other thing that is nice in the area of the sound is the water, and the bombs. When the fall they are just transparent so that you can move them while still seeing the island below. But, once you lay the water, it looks very nice. You can see the fluctuations, and the waves in it. The bombs make a good explosion visual too, it may not be a good thing to have one of them go off, but at least they can make it look good. Those two things made the graphics much better.
Overall, the graphics were done very well. Everything looks up the quality of the N64. But, they could of still been better. The background didn’t have to be so fast. The land didn’t have to be flat. Some of the other things could have been better as well, but most of those are fairly trivial. Not too bad here, better than the gameplay at least.
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Sound
The sound is a fairly well done area as well., but it isn’t really as good as it should have been. I am very critical when writing about the sound, because I think it should be as good as it can be. Sound is one of the most important areas of a game to me. If a game doesn’t have good sound, it make the game itself that much worse. In the case of this game it did make it that much worse.
The music is okay, but not great, seems to be the theme of this game doesn’t it? It creates a nice mood, which, in the case of this game, is very fast paced and hyper. I think it did a good job in that area. But, the sound could have been less synthesized and more orchestral. Even in a game of this type, I think some fast orchestral music would have helped. Perhaps I am just being a bit biased. Even with that though I think the sound could have been better. I suppose I don’t mind the type of music used too much, but if they were to use that type of music, they could have made it of higher quality. Perhaps a good way of describing it is that it is two bit. It didn’t seem like they really put a lot of effort into it.
The sound effects, much like the music, the graphics, the gameplay, and most everything here, is not great, but okay. At leas the sound effects are one of the better areas. They used a nice compute regenerated sound. Everything sounded good. The main sound effects you will get is the sound when you place land, the sound of water falling, and the panic sound of the water leaking and you losing the game.
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Enjoyability
The enjoyability is fairly low. I think I have a good reason for it. It is enjoyable, but not really enjoyable. Everything could have been taken a step up. All of the areas mentioned above weren’t as good as they could have been. It is like they put a half-assed effort into it. I think the makers of this game should have done better, for shame.
The other area that brought the enjoyability down is what happens once you play it for a long time. By that I mean the challenge and the boredom factor. This game can just get annoying after a while. You will basically have had enough of it. For the time you will play it, you will like it, but after a while, you will basically have had enough, no more.
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{~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: Low
Once you play this all the way through, if you even manage to play it all he way through, you wont be playing it for a whole lot more. In my opinion, this game is what I like to call a one-timer. You play it for a while, you enjoy it. Then, all of a sudden, you just start to not like it. The enjoyability goes downhill, the addictiveness disintegrates, the urge to play is just gone. Good to play once, not much more.
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Challenge: Very Hard
As I have mentioned in the past, this game is very hard to play. Keeping the constant water that is falling in the lakes is quite a task. Building the walls of the reservoirs for the water is even harder. The land falls, you have to rotate it, and then get it in to the right place. All of this game be very hard, because the things start falling very close to the island, and you don’t have a whole lot of time to do things. The challenge is too much really, it brings the game down, instead of up.
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Buy Or Rent: Rent
This game is probably a rent in my humble opinion. As I have said, this game is a one-timer. Play it, enjoy it, but not much more. I don’t think most will ant to play this a whole lot. Of course, opinions change from person to person. But, in that case I just say, rent first, then buy. I at the least strongly suggest trying it first. It is the type of game to at least do that. Remember, this is just a seifer projected opinion, do as you so wish, but stand warned.
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GOOD POINTS
-Three Dimensional Graphics
-Sound Effects
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NOT AS GOOD POINTS
-Music
-Gameplay
-Backgrounds
-Creativity
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POOR POINTS
-Challenge
-Replay Value
-Buyability
This game doesn’t get a Seifer Guarantee. Good game, but I like to be accurate, and this just doesn’t deserve one.
6/10
//Seifer psx
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