A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a video of a game and after a bit of research discovered a few others on Nico Nico Douga, as well as the site of the developer. Not much else was to be found, yet the site promised a trial version to be released in due time, whose release I hotly anticipated. Today I somehow felt compelled to look again, and to my joy there was a new tutorial video on NND and a site for the game, which hosted a demo:
http://www.neoaq.net/Excited like a little kid on Christmas Eve I immediately began playing, and goodness gracious it did not disappoint, at all. After a few rounds I immediately searched for a working screen recorder and after a while had finally found one and started recording, here's the two videos I uploaded to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN840kqvb_Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6o1878tzdYNow as to the game itself. Neo Aquarium simulates a tranquil underwater world presented in humble 3D. You select to play as one of currently 5 crustaceans, including a cancer, a lobster, and a hermit crab. Once you have chosen your maritime avatar, you set out to swim and wander around the sea floor until you encounter another of the characters. You thus engage in battle with it, which involves using your claws to strike them,
shooting bullets all over the place,
FIRING LASER BEAMS FROM YOUR PINCERS THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVERThe game seems to be tailored to joypad controls, primarily PS2 ones. I personally used a 360 controller and it worked very well. I can't say anything about the optional keyboard consoles as I never tried them. Nonetheless, let me explain how you play the game.
I shall use the in-game button names, you can assign to them which ever button on your controller you'd like.
The B button lets your animal swim, quite simply. Hold it down to keep ascending, tap it to now sink but to move around at greater height.
The Y button launches long-range attacks. Single presses fire small and fats projectiles at the target, while holding it down will after about a second launch a continuous barrage of homing bullets from your legs.
The X button lets you use your claws for close-ranger combat in the form of scratching and bashing. I think you can also rgab your crusty foe.
If you hold this button down, optionally together with the Y button, you will charge a small bar of up to three levels, depending on how full your POW meter at the top is. Releasing it at any stage will unleash a special attack, which usually involve lasers spouting from your pincers or antennas which can do some hefty damage if they hit the opponent. Holding down both X and Y produces a different result usually more focused on projectile attacks.
The A key is used to lock on to targets, or to retract your focus on them.
Holding down this button will allow you to shed off your skin. This depletes your entire POW bar, but recovers lost limbs. More on this below.
Holding the R key and then pressing on either Y or X allows you to discard one of your legs or claws, respectively. This will also be mirrored in the white silhouette in the bottom right. Doing this makes your limbs serve as options, basically. Legs will stay in place and holding the Y button will make them shoot as usual, just from elsewhere. And hitting X allows you to send your detached claws after the enemy, which is useful because you can engage in close-range combat without needing to actually get close! Special moves still affect these limbs, so you can also fill the screen with lasers if you've distributed them well.
The L button when held down simply focuses the camera behind you.
That's about it. Enjoy!
