Insaniquarium

Name: Insaniquarium
Platform: Computer.

Introduction

I'm just going to take a wild swing in the dark and guess that pretty much none of you have heard of this game have you? Insaniquarium is a PC not like other games, as in you won't find it on store shelves. This game was made by a company called Pop Cap Games and you can only buy it online through either their website or a selective few others (I got it through Hewlett Packard) for about $20. Rather than go on with my life story, I shall jump right into the review and tell you all about the game.

Gameplay

This game is pretty simple, what you have to do is raise fish in you're tank. Every level, you start with a couple in your tank which you must feed and raise to adult hood. Once you have raised the first 2, you will be able to buy more of them. As the fish get older, they will start dropping coins which you can collect to buy new things such as new food, upgrades and fish. Seems simple yes? Well that is where the simplicity stops. Every once is a while, an alarm will sound and an alien creature will storm your fish tank and kill your fish, you must repeatedly click on the alien to kill them before they cause to much damage. To advance to the next level, you must buy 3 egg shards from the store. Also once you buy all 3 shards, the egg will hatch into a new pet which each help in a various amount of ways from supplying your fish with food to protecting them from the aliens. You can only take up to 3 pets into the next level so make sure you pick a good combination. Every 5 levels you beat, you will be rewarded a bonus level where you can collect shells. What do shells do? I will explain that later.

Game Modes.

Apart from the adventure mode which is where you raise fish and collect the 3 egg shards as mentioned above, there are a couple other half decent modes. Time Trail Mode is a race against the clock to see how much cash you can rack up while playing the normal game, which rewards you with shells if you do a good job. I think however my favourite mode is the Virtual Tank, which sees you raise a bunch of fish ranging in colour in an alien free fish tank. You know how 1 paragraph ago I mentioned shells? Well this is what they do. There is a shop here where you can buy different fish and things for your virtual tank and make it look nice, fish that you buy you can even name. The main reason of course that I like this mode is because you can set your Virtual Tank as your computers screen saver, having your fish tank start up automatically whenever you leave the computer alone for however minutes.

Graphics.

Insaniquarium uses 3D sprites similar to that seen in the Donkey Kong Country series. The images in the game are bright and colourful. All the backgrounds, aliens and the fish all use incredible detail which gives the game a nice clean feel. I also noticed on my PC that there was no slowdown evident when there were a lot of fish/action on the screen.

Sound.

This game uses cartoon sound effects and original music which suit the game perfectly. The music changes depending on what level you are doing and the sound effects never get old. You have the gargle noises fish make then they die, the roars of the aliens that crash your tank and of course many other entertaining tunes you'd need to play the game to experience properly.

Longevity.

I personally love these sorts of games where you must think before you spend money and make sure you are ready to destroy the aliens that come to eat your fish. the story mode is reasonably long, but after you beat it you have the Challenge Mode which I have yet to play for I haven't yet beaten the Adventure Mode completely :blush:, the Time Trail Modes and of course the Virtual Tank where you pretty much create your own fishy screen saver. This game won't die fast, and it only costs $20.

Conclusion.

If you are a fan of easy to learn PC games and/or aquarium screen savers then this game is for you. If you are interested in checking this game out, a Free Trail Version is available HERE if you want to play it to see what I mean. If you like the game (and have access to a credit card), then you may consider buying it. Unfortunately, I was told that this game is not available in stores only online. Do give the Trail a shot anyway, the game is surprisingly addictive and fun:D! I might also add while I was playing this game, I couldn't help buy think about how perfectly a game like this would suit the WiiWare Shop Channel in the future! :D

Gameplay: 4/5 - Incredibly simple to learn and very fun and addictive, may get a little repetitive.

Game Modes: 3/5 - Not an awful lot there, but it's enough to keep you going for a while.

Graphics: 5/5 - Very colourful environments and characters and very smooth 3D sprites.

Sound: 5/5 - Nice collection of entertaining cartoon sound effects and nice catchy tunes aswell.

Longevity: 4/5 - You will be coming back solely to buy more things for your Virtual Tank and unlock everything in Adventure Mode.

OVERALL: 21/25