Deep Fighter: The Tsunami Offense

"Beware! The jellyfish are coming!"

As is often the case, some terrible disaster has occurred which has caused the Earth's populace to move to below the surface of the ocean and into huge colonies. This, ahem, water world, is fraught with danger, what with being infested with nasty Shadowkin pirates, giant Sea Spiders and worst of all... the JELLYFISH THREAT. Hilariously clichéd set-up aside, Deep Fighter sees players take the role of newly qualified cadet Moray 2, who must pilot submarines (little shuttle-like ones, not huge things, don't worry) around many varying missions.

And it must be said that the missions are rather varied. To begin with you'll be doing nice easy tasks like collecting thorium (some kind of radioactive mineral used by the good guys to build their mothership) and gathering Yellowfish for the fish farm. However whilst completing on of these menial early tasks, an impromptu Shadowkin attack takes place and by blowing them out of the water (literally - you have torpedoes!) you'll start to get a reputation and get more exciting missions. Of course it's all linear and by failing the mission you just restart it, instead of being kept on as the errand boy, but it's a nice way to ease players in. Generally the missions are pretty interesting and the variation means that the gameplay refrains from becoming too repetitive.

Graphically speaking DF is rather nice without being overly spectacular. The rippling effects from the sun on the seabed remind you that you are in fact underwater and the environments seem suitably ''briny'', but there's nothing to really make you jump out of you seat and holler ''OH MY GOD'' at the top of your lungs. Another point to note is the use of, ulp, FMV. Whereas most developers, with the exception of Westwood, realised that FMV was awful, we are still subjected to these sequences featuring ''real actors''. Luckily their cheesiness is quite entertaining and they don't last too long. Sadly the voice acting remains during the missions which can get annoying. Aside from this though, the sound is generally of a high standard. The musical score is very cinematic and although the same track plays every time you are attacked, it all does sound very professional.

The difficulty curve is pretty much perfect. You're gradually eased in with the mining missions and although you may die a few times on certain missions, I never found myself getting to a point where I was utterly frustrated and didn't want to carry on. The game is of a decent size too. It comes on two disks (although this is largely to accommodate for the FMV - it's not *that* big) and it ought to take a week or two to beat. After that sadly there's little to come back for. A two player mode would probably have worked really well as the Descent-esque battles are very engaging, but alas one wasn't implemented.

Overall whilst there's nothing especially wrong with Deep Fighter, it simply doesn't really excel in any particular area. Sure it does create a good atmosphere and you genuinely feel like you're part of the team who is trying to build the mothership, but it just seems to be lacking a certain something - perhaps it's just because there's nothing you haven't seen here before (the game is extremely like PC oldie Sub Culture). All in all though, whilst Deep Fighter was never going to be a must-have title, it is very solid and enjoyable and since most DC games are now a fiver, you could do a lot worse.

GRAPHICS - 7/10

Very good frame rate and passable environments. Sadly some of the creatures (particularly the spiders) look kind of awful really. All in all, workmanlike and solid, but nothing spectacular.

SOUND - 7/10

Whilst the in game voice acting can get annoying (apart from the Captain guy, who appears to have some degree of acting ability), the sound effects and score are very good. Shame the same incidental music occurs over and over again though.

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

Interesting and varied missions, decent controls and some nice general ideas. However you never reach a point where you're utterly gripped and just have to carry on.

LIFESPAN - 7/10

50-odd missions and sub-missions set across two disks mean it's not going to be a ''18 Wheeler 30 minute job'', but a disappointing lack of multi-player support means it hasn't got anything in the way of replayability once you complete it.

OVERALL - 7/10

It speaks volumes that I've scored it 7 for each area - it's just one of those games which although solid and enjoyable, never really excels in any field or gives you the Wow! factor. A good game by all means, but sadly not a fantastic one.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/02, Updated 11/17/02