The Xbox Live Arcade sometimes offers very refreshing titles, despite their relatively low popularity (compared to the standard titles for the Xbox consoles). Aqua – Naval Warfare is a small, yet very entertaining game with a unique theme and setting and interesting gameplay. And even though it doesn’t really innovate in any aspect of its gameplay, it still combines the already-established concepts well enough to create a captivating game.

Gameplay

In Aqua, you’re given control of a battle ship roaming across the seas, exploring new territories and disposing of enemies along the way. You can choose from a variety of weapons to arm your ship with, and the game will give you plenty of opportunity to explore different combinations for dealing with your enemies most effectively. Speaking of which, you’ll face all kinds of opposition in Aqua, and you should expect them to grow progressively tougher as you move through the game’s campaign.

At some later points of the game, you’re bound to encounter difficulty with some of the more advanced ships you’ll be dealing with. In those situations, remember that you’re given the option of deploying a small fleet of your own, controlled by the computer – even though you can’t directly order them around, you can still give them general tasks like attacking or defending, so that you can concentrate on taking down the tougher enemies yourself. Sadly, there’s no multiplayer option in the game, unless you’re satisfied with playing with your friends on the same console – beyond that, there’s no online functionality.

Graphics and System Requirements

The game is set in a unique environment, incorporating elements from the popular steampunk theme – that is, a fantasy world close to modern day where steam technology is widely used for everything. You’re going to see richly detailed ships and environments, and if you keep exploring the more isolated parts of the world, you can find some truly unique places to gaze your eyes upon.

Despite looking good and having a consistent art style, Aqua could still have used more polish in some of its assets, such as some of the water textures and the models for some of the enemies you encounter later on. It gives the impression that development was rushed at a later point and not as much effort was put into creating some of those things.

Other

The local multiplayer which we mentioned above can be quite fun if you get a friend to play with you – you can compete against each other in two different modes, either fighting for points or racing through a pre-set track trying to gain advantage of your opponent in distance. It can feel slightly buggy at times, though there aren’t any game-breaking problems with it.

Conclusion

Aqua – Naval Warfare may not be on par with some of the current hits in the commercial scene of the game industry, but it’s still a surprisingly fun experience that will give you a few hours of good entertainment.