When you see "worst of" lists for the Turbografx, DEEP BLUE is usually a central candidate, and that's a shame. Over the past week or so I've had the pleasure of really diving deep into this one and I'm hypnotized by the ambiance and addicted to the unique dodge-first gameplay. Even though it was an early Turbo game, I think the graphics are pretty exceptional, with layers of paralax scrolling and foregrounding that really create a sense of depth, and animated bubbles and distortion to give the effect of being underwater. Bosses and enemy sprites are all meticulously detailed and quite large. The simple, organ-sounding tunes, especially the Scene A music, really sets the tone and feels like it was birthed from the sea. At first I found the game punishingly difficult trying to play it with turbos on and high scores in my sights, but once I realized you could gain life by not shooting, that made it instantly easier and added much more strategy to what's typically a lock and load kind of genre. Considering the vastness of the sea, it seems fitting that the game asks you to hide from predators at times in the corners and pockets in each level for moments in time.
DEEP BLUE certainly isn't a perfect game, and the sad part is that it's really just hampered by small little gaffes that could have been easily diagnosed and fixed with a little play-testing first. Losing a speed or weapon power-up after one hit sounds fine for most shooters, but in this one, with how tough it can be to dodge (especially all those swarms of tiny little parasites in each level) it means that you'll hardly ever have a power-up for more than a twenty seconds at any point in the game. Simply changing the setting to something like when your ship eye changes color (that's usually after about 3 hits from regular enemies) would have made the game a lot more playable. Because the speed power-ups never last, the common complaint is that the ship is too slow, and it's true, it can be really frustrating (especially in the last level with the falling sea urchins) trying to dodge. I also have some qualms with the three different bullet types; there isn't a ton of variety there and the purple one is highly ineffective, even powered up. I'll turn that into a compliment though - again, I like how the game forces you to strategize rather than just trying to find power-ups and shoot everything in sight. With weapons, you have to be selective of which one you want to hold throughout the stages of each level - when there are tons of little enemies the pea shooter is the best, but when you have those never-ending crocodile looking things bombing down, the swirl shot is a lot more effective. If you're going to make it to the end of DEEP BLUE, you have to do it with smarts, and that's a rarity in games, especially for one as early into the videogaming lifecycle as this one.
Speaking of endings, has anyone ever completely finished the game? When you make it past the final level the game says "Next" and sends you back to the first stage with a prime beside it (Scene A`) and the difficulty is increased. I've made it halfway through Scene B` but get overpowered pretty quickly during the mid-level boss. Just wondering if it is worth trying to finish twice in hopes there's an actual finale. Please tell me there's a DEEP BLUE master here who's plumbed its depths.
All in all though, I really just love sinking into this one, letting the convincing underwater world wash over me as I duck and dodge swarms of mostly impartial enemies. Most of the enemies just seem to be going about their business rather than trying to kill you, and I really dig how in this game you're just, as the saying goes, another fish in the sea. For me, few games have captured the feeling of being underwater better than DEEP BLUE, and consider this my message in a bottle for others who may have left this one shipwrecked because of the generally negative reviews online and beyond.
Topic: Catch of the day: An ode to DEEP BLUE (Read 815 times)
