Seaman

"It's not a game, it's a diversion."

One admirable fact about Seaman is that the developers have not set out to make it the ultimate time-waster, and they have not set out to make anything particularly epic. They're not trying for gaming's end-all be-all crowdpleaser. They aren't truly even trying to make a game, with its set goals and progression driven totally by the player. It's... something else, shall we say?

The game follows the progression of Seaman from a baby to an adult. Early on, not much can be done with the baby aside from basic care, however, when he gets older you can have conversations with him.

It's a virtual pet game, to be brief about it. However, it's very different from say the stress-inducer egg that you carry around, for example. For one thing, the game does not go the Tamagotchi route of requiring your attention at all times. The only requirement is that you play daily and at least leave Seaman in a comfortable position by turning up the heater in his tank and pumping in a breatheable amount of air. Aside from that five-minute process, there is no goal, and you can play as much or as little as you like.

From what I have seen, the conversations play a big part in the game, as one would expect for a game that comes with a microphone. Seaman, in his adult form, will ask you questions about yourself, including your job, age, parents, and the like. However, the voice recognition is rather shaky. You have to repeat things pretty often for them to come out, and your statements must be very short to be understood. This has to be done, obviously due to limits in technology, however it makes conversation less natural and more of another switch to be flipped. And may I add, my Seaman has ended up being quite a bit more docile than Sega's advertising and a lot of reviews have reported. He is not a malicious fellow.

The pacing on this game is extremely slow [for example, you won't have an adult for about a week], and one could either say it cripples the game or that this is what makes it what it is. I believe the latter. The game does not intend, as I stated, to suck you in and make you not want to stop. It wants to be a momentary diversion that works its way into your mind when you're not playing. The suspense works for it. In the early stages, you want to see how Seaman wil grow. In the later stages, you want to know what Seaman is going to talk about tomorrow. It's good to see a game that only gives itself out in portions, and after marathonning Chrono Chross.... I'm grateful.

Overall, this is an excellent game specifically built around the assumption that you are not going to play it 24 hours a day, or even in periods of time passing an hour. It's refreshing to see that, and I recommend it on that fact alone.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/00, Updated 09/01/00