Clockwork Acquario Review (Switch)

Written by Dan Gill

Many argue over what should be considered the golden age of gaming. Some would say the 80s since it spawned so many classics, while others may praise the pinnacle of the 16-bit era for its refinement of 2D gaming, others, the late 90s for the absorption of gaming by the mainstream, and the dawn of the Playstation. Each camp has its points, but then there are the gaps between generations, the transition period where some titles won’t quite fit the zeitgeist. That window narrows as each console generation moves on, but in the early 90s the shift from 2D to 3D left casualties.

Wonderboy developer Westone was working on Clockwork Acquario around the time people were being wowed by Virtua Racer and the like, and the game was never finished. By 2020 ININ games had managed to acquire the unfinished game from Sega, and managed to complete it with the help of some of the original development team, and in 2021 – almost 30 years later – it's finally being released.

CA is an arcade game, and it shows. It’s all about linear progression as opposed to Wonderboy’s backtracking, and it channels some aspects of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Mario and Alex Kidd, but it doesn’t feel like a tribute act. The chunky, colourful sprites look great, there’s a choice of three characters to pick from, and there’s the option for another player to join in for some co-op.

Attacking enemies consists of jumping on them, hitting them from below or smacking them. This leads to them being stunned which allows them to be picked up, and then thrown at other enemies, helping you to rack up a higher score (especially if you “bank-shot” multiple bad guys). Once the system clicks, you’ll find yourself looking for the best route to a high score. It’s a satisfying hook, and requires the player to understand it in order to take on the boss battles throughout.

Each of the three characters offer no noticeable difference in playstyle (or at least if they do, those differences are subtle). There’s plenty of personality in their sprites though, and the enemy design is shot through with anime cuteness. The graphics on the whole are nice, kind of like a Mega Drive game but beefed up, which is to be expected of a game originally designed for Sega arcade hardware.

Unfortunately, the level design is a bit lacklustre. While we have no problem with the linear level progression, the layout of each stage is pedestrian, but the backgrounds are nice enough. The focus here is on combat over platforming – which is fine – but more imaginative level layouts would’ve been nice.

Minor gripes aside, Clockwork Acquario is a charming game. It’s not the most ground-breaking and most likely won’t be as highly regarded as the big names of the genre, but it is an enjoyable game. The combat mechanic is thoroughly enjoyable and will entice you back for more, the boss battles are fun, and the co-op is a great way to have a friend join in with the retro arcade fun (scuffed pool table and stale cigarette smoke optional). It’s great to see Clockwork Acquario finished and released after all these years, and perhaps it could only feasibly be released in the time of digital downloads and an appreciative retro gaming audience. Maybe we’re in the golden age of gaming right now.

8/10

 

A Gremlin in the Works Review

Recently, we looked at The Secret History of Mac Gaming which was a passion project dedicated to an often overlooked section of gaming history. A Gremlin in the Works follows hot on its heels and again falls very much into the passion project category. This time Mark James Hardisty has untaken the mammoth task of compiling over five hundred pages on one of the corner stones of the British gaming scene – Gremlin Graphics.

As always with Bitmap productions great attention is always spent on the covers. This one comes with a bright green cover adorned with the Gremlin logo that will be familiar to gamers of a certain age. It’s another example of a well-judged design intended to fire up nostalgic memories.

The content of the book is almost exclusively interviews with the key figures of the company and games. As a result it can be a little hard to get into. We would have ideally liked more of a mix of commentary on the games, historical writing and interviews but at least you know everything you are reading is coming first hand from the source. Think of it as a massively extended section of the team interviews you used to get in gaming mags of the time. It is a bit of a shame though when it comes to the games themselves as we would have loved even more screenshots and more context with regards to how the games have aged and the influence they have had – outside of the interviews about them.

But there’s no arguing that the interviews here are extensive, insightful and entertaining. The book presents first-hand accounts right from the start of the company as a computer shop all the way up to the much later Sumo Digital days. All of the major game releases are also well covered with insightful and interesting input from developers and programmers who worked on them. If you’ve ever wanted the inside scoop on ‘Thing on a Spring’ or even ‘Actua Soccer’ then look no further.

The other thing that really stands out is the connection Gremlin had to other historical events that where happening at the time. As the shop and company where based in Sheffield there’s some interesting commentary on the environment around the place during touchstone moments such as the miners strikes and the fact that this turn of events led to Monty Mole becoming a miner himself and Scargill being set up as the last boss of the game.

Overall, A Gremlin in the Works is a well-researched and detailed account of one of the most iconic companies in the micro-computer era told by those who were there. While it may not be as instantly accessible as the visual compendiums and box art table books it will be of interest to those who want to dig into the fine detail of gaming history. It’s commendable that someone has put this much effort into recording such an important time in the industry and as such it should be respected and recognised as the important document it is.

Click here for store link. 

*picture from Bitmap Books.

Cotton 100% (Switch Review)

 

Written by Dan Gill

Ratalaika is on a mission at the moment. It seems the publisher is determined to bring a load of 16-bit era shooters to modern platforms, and this can only be a good thing, even if some of the games themselves aren’t exactly classics, it’s nice to have some sense of preservation. Their recent releases of Cotton titles are appreciated, being the series never had a widespread release back in the 90s, and copies of the original carts fetch silly money these days.

Cotton 100% is the second game in the series about the eponymous witch. A side scrolling shooter with some light RPG elements, the game’s design is very much of the Parodius and Pop ‘n Twinbee camp, favouring bright, fantasy themed levels and cute character designs over the usual sci-fi fare that normally defines the genre. It looks good, too. The bright backgrounds and characters offer a refreshing change from the futuristic theme of most SCHMUPs, and even though things can get busy on screen, the backdrop never causes things in the fore to be missed. When things get really busy on screen, there is noticeable slowdown sadly, and it’s a shame this couldn’t have been fixed in the port.

The gameplay itself is pretty standard, but enjoyable enough. Cotton earns power ups (the type can be changed by shooting it repeatedly), and experience is earned through destroying enemies. If you manage to avoid losing lives, this ends up making Cotton death on broom. As such, the game can feel a little easy compared to other examples of the genre, and the power up system is a little simple when compared with Parodius’ Gradius-aping approach.

Along with the original game, there are some modern improvements as you’d expect of almost any reissue these days (screen filters, cheats, rewind and the like), but as with Panorama Cotton there’s no English script. Each level is preceded by a brief anime style intro relaying the story with Japanese text. It’s a shame an English translation is missing, as it would elevate the game from a decent port to something that feels more like a labour of love.

As it stands, with the removal of the usual barriers of the cost of an original copy of the game (or the moral dilemma of venturing down the emulation route), this is still a welcome release. The game - while different to most in the broader shoot ‘em up genre – isn't one that stands out than others in its niche field of cutesy shooters. It’s an enjoyable, pretty romp through what I’m sure is a fun story, and is worth a look, just expect to be charmed rather than challenged.

7/10

Arcade Tycoon Review (Steam)

 

Written by Thomas Sharpe

During a hot summer, somewhere in Normandy, and in a water park I was electrocuted by a pinball machine. Amidst rickety flumes and gravel pathways that pricked your feet, an attendant shrugged this off stating to my parents that I should have been wearing Wellington boots. Perhaps this was some sort of Napoleonic call-back; that I was vulnerable without the plastic namesakes, or perhaps the attendant honestly did not care about health and safety that much. Either way, I was brought back, like Proust, to this moment in a quiet corner of France, by Arcade Tycoon.

Nostalgia is the name of the game with this title. It is a kind-hearted reminiscence of arcades of pop-culture. I have no such memories of the sort of arcades this game is trying to engage. These are the arcades of America, with John Hughes and ‘80s stuff. Kids leaning against cabinets and Space Invaders and those sit-down two-person Pac-Man tables with their bleary glass. What we get in Arcade Tycoon is this, with the game structure probably widely received as Theme Hospital, but I was far more reminded of violent pizzeria simulator Pizza Tycoon.

The game looks good, and obvious love has been poured by the small team into the cheerful aesthetics that you can populate your arcade. In a well-structured tutorial, you can get to grips with the basics (placing cabinets, managing power, hiring staff, upgrades, amenities, and so on) and then you’re let out into other locations, each with their own challenges. There are few surprises in the fundamentals; buy some cabinets and manage how much they cost; place down some vending machines to keep people refreshed; hire some staff to fix stuff, and a Roomba cleaning robot thing to funnel up trash. Customers come in, hang out, drop litter, play games, and give you their cash and feedback on what sucks and what un-sucks. Paint the walls, place up decals that sort of look like things from famous games, but don’t because copyright probably. I recommend the skeleton decorations.

This side of Arcade Tycoon is functional and mildly fun, but sadly, the surrounding management part (i.e., the Tycoon bit), I felt, was unbalanced and clunky. The user-interface is the first thing that got on my goat, as it looks the part, but is lacking in clarity and sense. From the way windows block others to symbols and organisation, it just felt a bit like an obstacle after a while. Further, there is a system of upgrading and unlocking new options for developing your arcade. You gain stars as a secondary currency by accepting and completing challenges that appear on a list, and these stars can be spent on upgrades. The upside of this is that the challenges can sometimes be fun and push you to do interesting things with your arcade. Other times, it requires you to undo your hard work and undermine your efforts. I can see the crazy appeal of this, and maybe I play far too much of much more po-faced serious management games, but I just didn’t want to work against myself to get much needed upgrades.

Despite there being a vast array of assets, the visual style is busy. Be prepared for your eyes to be bombarded with authentically jarring art. Personally, I liked it, but I do think there could be a few more types of customers. Feels like the clone farm sometimes.

I really wanted to like this more than I did, as I believe it is created from a fun and cheerful place, but the management aspects were all over the shop. The world, however much it is somewhere I’d like to spend more time in, reflects little sense back out to me, and so I got little from it to scratch a fun-casual management game itch.

Overall 5/10