On loading up an early Alpha of Aquanox I was confronted with a mission briefing all in German. "Huzzah!" I thought "I knew my High School German classes would prove useful at some point!" Cracking my knuckles I leant closer to the screen and prepared to translate what I was being tasked with. However it quickly became apparent that the pending mission didn't involve asking a German for directions to the nearest Caf so I just had to fumble my way around the three missions offer after all, generally by shooting anything that moved.
If the name Aquanox doesn't ring a bell, maybe its unofficial sub title will; "That pretty underwater Descent-like game that nVidia like showing off the GeForce 3 with". It's no wonder nVidia are using it as such either, Aquanox isn't exactly short on visuals as you can probably tell even from just squinting at the thumbnails on the left. The explosions and weapon effects are big and bright as well as being satisfyingly loud. Developers Massive have also used the features of the GeForce 3 in a refreshingly different way. Instead of just making things shiny and bumpy or cleaning up graphical rough edges with anti-aliasing they've instead done things like added beams of sunlight streaming in from the surface of the water, added a rippling light effect to the sea bed and included countless small bubbles that flow past you to give you a stronger sense of speed. Aside from these unique uses of the GeForce 3s features, what's also refreshing is that they also work on older cards like the GeForce 2, albeit through a less elegant or speedy emulation system. I'm sure GeForce 3 owners will argue it looks better on their cards, but at a glance I couldn't tell the difference to be honest.
Of course, any game that nVidia picks to show off its cards is usually lumped in the category "Tech Demo with Minimal Gameplay" by many before it's even released. Sadly I can't yet argue the point either way because three missions, in which I didn't even know what to do besides shoot things, isn't quite enough to judge gameplay by. If the developers are aiming for mindless but fun action then they look to be on the way there with their satisfying weapons and their meaty sounds and effects, but at the same time the slow turning speed and momentum that's there due to the water slows the pace down a bit and has the potential to even frustrate. Even though I couldn't read the translations it quickly became obvious that the missions only involved shooting different targets, and this has the potential to become tiresome too. As this is early code that only contains three preview missions I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now though.
All that I can really conclude about Aquanox from playing the early version is that yes, it's show-off-to-your-mates-to-impress-them gorgeous but the gameplay doesn't promise as much depth as the underwater location does. I think the most you can already expect from the game is a distractingly entertaining action blast if you're lucky. Not that I'm one to put down a good pure-action title, I'm just saying that if that's not your thing, it's pretty certain you can turn your attention away from this game already. If nothing gets the adrenaline coursing through your games better than gazing at gorgeous locations and enemies before blasting them apart though, keep an eye on Aquanox, it could be what you're after, but the jury's still out on any final decision.
