One of the biggest efforts being put forth in the gaming industry these days is to come up with releases that can be described as interactive movies. Game companies have tried several different approaches at this game style, with varying results. In Wing Commander III, Origin used a mix of cinematic sequences to tie together the various missions and made a great game. At the other end of the spectrum, Tsunami actually filmed an entire movie for the game Flash Traffic. The player's choices determined what appeared on the screen, and the end result was a poorly edited movie that bore little or no resemblance to an adventure game.
Now, New World Computing is giving this genre a go with Wetlands, a new title which opts for animation instead of live actors piecing together the action sequences. It was a great choice. The action sequences are really fun, but the movie section of Wetlands is what steals the show. How often does a game come out that people are as interested in, if not more interested in, watching the game rather than playing it? New World has made a game like that, bringing cinematics to a new level.
The storyline is set up by a small comic book section in the manual that chronicles the birth of the planet Wetlands. A scientist named Philip Nahj had developed a new type of nuclear weapon, but feared in early testing that it could adversely effect the Earth's weather patterns. The military ignored him, and you can probably guess what happened next. Full-scale testing of the weapon unleashed a storm that raged over the entire world. The military made Nahj the scapegoat, and he responded by refusing to divulge how to stop the storm.
The storm raged for years, until 98% of the Earth's surface was covered in water and 98% of the population had died. The few remaining survivors on what is now known as Wetlands retreated to the bottom of the ocean and built underwater colonies. As time went on, aliens discovered Earth, now with land area on which to colonize, but it became a safe haven for criminals from all across the galaxy.
The game begins a group of unknown commandos busting Nahj out of a maximum security prison. Their escape ship was tracked to Wetlands, and the galactic government responsible for Nahj has hired you, John Cole, to track him down and bring him back.
The storyline in Wetlands is an involving one, which is brought to life by the best cinematics I've ever seen in a game. The decision to not use live actors is something that I think will be followed by other game designers after they see the results in this game. The scenes of ships flying through space or under the water are done in rendered 3D fashion, but the scenes following Cole and his adventures are cel-animated, making it look like a cartoon. This is not a bad thing. The world of Wetlands is a very believable and fascinating place with its dark atmosphere and darker characters. Seldom have I ever seen a full-length animated movie that's as interesting as what's in Wetlands, I only wish that this could have been done years ago in time to get put into the movie HeavyMetal, where it would have fit in perfectly. It's all so well done, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wetlands novels and comics to come out in the future.
The action sequences are impressive as far as the graphics are concerned, but really serve as a means get to the next part of the story. Wetlands plays like Cyberia and parts of Rebel Assault, but is done far better. Most parts of the game are done in first person but you have no control over the direction you take. Instead, what you see is nailed to the rail as the computer moves you through the environment on a preset course as you use your mouse to move the targeting reticle onto the bad guys as they attack you. You just push the mouse button to fire and the bad guy blows up in a very impressive explosion or, in those parts of the game, the humans you shoot are snapped back like a twig as your laser cuts through them.
While the computer-rendered background for these sequences are as impressive as all get out, they are the same for every mission, and the bad guys attack from the same areas and in the same order every time you play. The game relies on its visual beauty through these parts of the game since the interactivity is extremely limited, and you'd think that would make it awful to play, but Wetlands IS so impressive visually, even during these limited action sequences it still remains fun.
There are other modes besides first-person, like an overhead view of an underwater probe you use to blast sonar stations. But for some strange reason, the designers change how the mouse works during these parts of the game. During the other sections of the game, the mouse moves the targeting reticle just like any other mouse cursor: you move the mouse, the reticle moves in that same direction. But in this overhead mode, the mouse works like an accelerator, so whichever direction you move your mouse, the probe will ACCELERATE in that direction. After playing mission after mission where your mouse was used for positioning the cursor, this drastic change is extremely confusing, not to mention impossibly hard to use in accomplishing the mission.
There was a joystick option, so I decided to see how the joystick works in this part of the game. Sure enough, the control was a lot more precise, but the fire buttons didn't function correctly. The game randomly recognized when you were pressing the fire button, making your ability to fire directly on a target an iffy thing at best. A call to the New World tech department revealed that this wasn't just a problem with my system, but that other owners have experienced the same glitch. Hopefully by the time you read this a patch will have come out fixing this problem, but you might want to scan some on-line services about this problem before you buy this title.
Other than that joystick problem, Wetlands is a very impressive game. I'm really hoping that New World will release a version of the game that will let you view the entire movie from beginning to end without having to play the action sequences. For now, I recommend that when you first start out, choose the easiest difficulty setting so you can get through the cinematic sequences with a minimum of fuss, since they are the most impressive part of the game. It's not very complicated, but if you've had a hard day at work and just want to blow things up, Wetlands can be a nice way to wind down. It's extremely low on replayability, but it's extremely enjoyable getting to the end.
