Oh no, you’ll be able to’t skip the tutorial
Wetrix was an simply missed little puzzler. Launched in 1998 for the N64 earlier than getting ported to PC and Dreamcast, it was unconventional, to say the least. Whereas the identify might be alleged to remind you of Tetris, there’s much more to it than making an attempt to wipe out a wall of tetrominoes. The objective is to wall up areas to carry water, and doing job rewards you with geese. I believe we will all agree that geese are a fairly nice reward. They’re like chill geese that gained’t drag your baby away.
If Wetrix was simply missed, its 2000 sequel blended in with the carpeting. Regardless of having fun with the unique and figuring out the existence of a follow-up, I solely not too long ago bought round to making an attempt it. That’s as a result of it’s not named Wetrix 2 in North America. It’s Aqua Aqua.
Uppers, downers, lefters, righters
To be clear, it’s solely Aqua Aqua in North America. In Europe, it was Aqua Aqua: Wetrix 2.0, which will get the purpose lots clearer. Alternatively, Japan had the stylized Aquaqua, which is barely extra enjoyable to say. “A-kwa-kwa.”
The field artwork was additionally terrible in North America. If the identify wasn’t unrecognizable sufficient, the duvet appears to be like prefer it belongs on the backside of a discount bin. The sport, alternatively, doesn’t belong there. I imply, so long as you want Wetrix, it doesn’t. And it’s best to.
I outlined the fundamentals above, and that largely stays correct. In actual fact, I’m scouring my mind for any main variations between Wetrix and Aqua Aqua, and I’m developing with bupkiss. You make ponds. Aside from this time, your reward varies relying on the board you’re enjoying on. Generally it’s dinosaurs, and dinosaurs are almost as superior as geese.
You’re given a sq. of land to construct on, and also you create your swimming pools by setting varied block shapes on it that fall from the sky. These “uppers” aren’t the one issues that drop on you, nonetheless. There are additionally “downers,” bombs, hearth, water, and ice. It’s a must to handle all these varied terrain movers to create the largest, deepest swimming pools in your dinosaurs.
Rainbow!
Truly, saying “largest, deepest,” swimming pools may be a bit inaccurate. Scoring is a little bit of a thriller in Aqua Aqua, even after enjoying the tutorial. Basically, factors are scored for many actions you are taking, whether or not it’s fixing a gap within the panorama or dropping sufficient uppers. To get increased scores, you might want to construct your multiplier, and there’s a slew of how to do that.
One of the vital apparent is just by having extra lakes. Whereas having one large physique of water has its benefits, extra lakes will improve your multiplier. Having a specific amount of depth in certainly one of these lakes can even entice the aforementioned “lake mates” like dinosaurs. They’re multipliers too. If in case you have sufficient water in your board, a rainbow will stretch throughout; that’s one other multiplier. Lastly, clearing water by dropping hearth on it would land you with an merchandise in your bingo board. Finishing strains will do varied issues like… improve you multiplier.
Aqua Aqua is extra of an artwork than a science. It’s laborious to be precise with it, however the primary consider deciding your success just isn’t spilling a whole lot of water. As you spill water, a gauge fills, and when it’s at most, the spherical is over. The gauge additionally depletes, so dropping a little bit of liquid isn’t the top of the world.
Geese and Dinosaurs
One of many primary new additions to Aqua Aqua is a narrative mode. Effectively, “Story” is a bit of beneficiant, nevertheless it provides you a sequence of ranges to play via. 4 to be precise, which isn’t lots and gained’t take you very lengthy offered the fundamentals of how one can play. The fundamentals are one thing you have to know going into the story mode as a result of it’s not unlocked till you play via an excruciating tutorial. Nonetheless, there may be motivation to pursue increased scores on every of the phases.
The primary wrinkle right here is twofold. First, the matches aren’t countless. Survive for sufficient time, and it ends. Second, there are monsters who will sometimes bombard your panorama. By getting sufficient factors within the time earlier than they present up, you’ll be able to block their assaults, however even when they do hit you, it isn’t the top of the match. Often, it’s going to simply jazz up your panorama a bit.
Watch out, nonetheless, in case your aquascaping will get a bit too undulating, you’ll set off an earthquake. Whereas these are survivable, they’re fairly devastating. You’ll must pop some downers to forestall your board from changing into too bumpy. It’s a fairly good mechanic that rounds out the ability you’ll must maintain water held in.
One other Wetrix
Aqua Aqua, and by extension, Wetrix, isn’t my favourite puzzle recreation, nevertheless it’s a pleasant deviation from block stacking and bit matching. There’s an absence of precision in a whole lot of its mechanics, nevertheless it’s easy-going sufficient to make up for these. Constructing ponds isn’t precisely as stress-free because it sounds, nevertheless it’s enjoyable, particularly when you’ve got a second participant to affix in.
Alternatively, Aqua Aqua doesn’t actually make a lot of a case for being a sequel. There have been some new options deliberate, like the flexibility to develop the dimensions of your board, nevertheless it was scrapped, and nothing was actually dropped rather than it. There are these disgusting goblin issues that roam across the display screen, however they’re higher off ignored. As a substitute, it’s principally simply Wetrix once more, which is okay as a result of it’s a fairly respectable recreation. I want there have been nicer, extra feature-packed fashionable ports, however Aqua Aqua was the final we’d see of the sequence.
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Zoey Handley
Workers Author – Zoey is a gaming gadabout. She bought her begin running a blog with the neighborhood in 2018 and hit the entrance web page quickly after. Usually discovered exploring indie experiments and retro libraries, she does her greatest to stay chronically uncool.
