GamePro Arcade

Review: Undertow

May. 28 11:25 AM by Will Herring

Undertow is an arcade action-shooter with that places a strong emphasis on multiplayer. While there is a single-player section, it's composed of just over a dozen missions, which shouldn't take you more than two hours or so to complete. The single-player missions serve mainly as an extended tutorial for the multiplayer section of the game, introducing the basic mechanics of the game and the various units and abilities. While it has little room for replayability, the developers have included a much appreciated online capable cooperative mode for the single-player.

The real meat of the game then is in its multiplayer segment which is largely geared towards a gameplay mode that revolves around capturing spawn points on each underwater map. Each of these maps is quite astounding in its quality and is rather diverse, ranging from old Atlantis ruins to modern underwater bases, all of which have plenty of different options to take when looking to advance towards the next enemy spawn point.

Variations in each map also lend some interesting map specific strategies. For instance, on one level giant seaweed growths can mask your unit from detection, allowing you to set up ambushes. When you get into a game you get to choose from four units, from weak basic units like the Iron Marines scuba-divers with harpoon guns, to more powerful but slower Jules Verne inspired retro submarines for the underwater army of Nemo. Each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses, and none is overpowering against the others, which keeps the multiplayer fresh over a period of time and allows you to experiment without feeling as though you're significantly impaired. Prolonged usage of any class, moreover, results in its gradual strengthening. The net result of all this is a multiplayer mode that is a blast to play for long stretches at a time.

It's not often that you run across a good XBLA with flair all its own, but Undertow has it in spades. It may not be as fully developed as it could be from a single-player standpoint but those looking for a good multiplayer distraction can hardly do better.
- Andrew Dagley

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