2:55pm Tuesday 19th January 2010
By Simon Bull
When diving into the App Store to pick up a new game for your iPhone or iPod you are just as likely to find a shipwreck as you are some sunken treasure.
Mission: Deep Sea is definitely more treasure than junk, being a highly original and beautifully presented adventure game.
There are no other games in which you get to control a turtle in a futuristic world where these creatures are used for humanitarian assignments.
Unfortunately the first release of Mission: Deep Sea didn't sparkle as brightly at the bottom of the blue ocean as it might.
The trouble was the game was too hard. It was impossible to unlock the undoubted enjoyment contained within because of a severe time limit which prevented me even completing the first level or getting to grips with the controls.
Luckily developer Hiccup Studios listened to players' grumbles and made some changes in an update. The time limit has been removed, an easier control method introduced and the overall experience is better.
It’s not perfect yet, as I’ll get to later, but it’s improving.
The big selling point for this game is it’s totally different to anything else you will have played so far on your iPhone or iPod.
In case you thought I was joking about the concept of Mission: Deep Sea, it really is set in a near-future world in which turtles are used by humans to perform important underwater tasks.
These aren't cartoony talking teenage ninja mutant turtles. These are proper ocean-faring turtles which scientists have discovered can be remotely controlled.
The game and its accompanying blurb are vague about how the human-turtle bond works but it seems some sort of ‘somatic nervous system chip’ has been developed by 2016 which allows the human controller (you, the player) to see through your sea turtle partner’s eyes and direct him throughout various non-combat assignments.
The first operation is to locate three barrels of biological waste and attach buoys to them so they float to the surface.
Locating the barrels is easy enough using the on-screen radar and recovering them is just a case of bopping each one with your turtle’s head.
Without the time limit that made this mission fiendishly difficult before it’s pretty simple to complete now.
The second assignment involves the pursuit of a giant manta as you attempt to deploy a GPS tracker on its back.
And so the game continues in a similar vein, with other quests coming your way. There are instructions to follow and objectives to complete.
If your master the controls for your turtle then half the battle is won.
There are two control methods available in the game.
The simpler of them is tilt control, in which you use the iPhone/iPod’s accelerometer to steer your turtle and move him up or down.
The second control method is touch, which remains from the first version of the game. This involves various swipe gestures across the screen to propel your turtle in the desired direction.
The touch controls are very responsive but for me they’re too fiddly and not quite intuitive enough. I’m pleased tilt controls have been introduced in the updated game.
With no time limit anymore there is plenty of chance to roam the vast 3D underwater environments, and beautiful they are too.
Life under the sea feels dark and claustrophobic yet the game evokes a sense of freedom and exploration.
Draw distance are short but that’s what you would expect in a murky underwater world.
Sounds give the game an eerie atmosphere and nicely convey how you are deep, deep below the waves.
It’s great that the game has been improved upon from its initial release but there are still some more kinks to iron out.
For one thing with only five missions the game is very short.
Apparently this is the first episode in a series with more content to come, and certainly adding more substance to the game should be a priority.
The second problem is that while swimming around such gorgeous sub-aqua scenes is a delight at first the novelty value does wear off and I’ve found the game gets slightly boring after a while.
There are not enough items for Buddy, your turtle, to interact with. It seems that extra points might be awarded for running into jellyfish but otherwise there isn’t a lot else to do and the missions aren’t compelling enough on their own.
In the third mission my objective was to scour the seabed for five missiles from a crashed plane, but I needed up aimlessly swimming about the somewhat empty environment wishing I had other things to do.
Leaderboards are supposed to increase the game’s replay value but I don’t really find these enough of an incentive for playing through the levels again after completing them.
Hopefully improvements will continue to be made to this game, with more levels and more engaging tasks.
Mission: Deep Sea, published by Chillingo, deserves great credit for its originality and presentation. I really want to like it more in the future but for now its entertainment value is slightly limited.
Verdict: 7 out of 10 – A highly inventive game which is fun for a while but Mission: Deep Sea reveals itself to be slightly too shallow.
Meet your turtle and watch a Mission: Deep Sea preview video:
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