Earth Atlantis

Space may be the final frontier, but I'll confess that I'm equally interested in what's happening at the bottom of the ocean. I'm a big fan games like In the Hunt, Aqua Kitty and The Aquatic Adventures of the Last Human, shooters that take us out of the stars and send us deep underwater. Earth Atlantis is a brand new game that not only sends us to the deepest, darkest depths, but also throws in dozens of exciting boss fights. It's an action-packed shooter on a console that is in desperate need of this type of game.

Set in a future where all of our cities, buildings and monuments have been destroyed in an apocalyptic event known as "The Great Climate Shift," Earth Atlantis sends us underwater to fight off the giant mechanical sea life and explore the remnants of the once-thriving planet. We're told that there are hunters lost in the West sea, so it's up to us to set out on an adventure to save the stranded and kill the monsters.

We do this in a dinky submarine that hardly seems up for the job. The goal is to explore the surroundings and locate crates filled with helpful items, all while we kill enemies and power-up our weapons. Once we have maxed out the submarine's stats and snagged a powerful secondary attack, it's off to fight more than two dozen massive boss encounters and find the missing hunters. It may not be the most original formula, but Earth Atlantis proves to be a surprisingly deep shoot 'em up with loads of content.

What I like about this type of underwater shooter is that the pacing is often a little slower that what we normally see from the genre. Our little submarine is agile enough to dodge bullets and stay out of trouble, but it kind of lumbers around and takes its time turning positions. I ended up really liking the pace and speed. It's hard to call any shoot 'em up relaxing, but Earth Atlantis isn't as in-your-face intense as some bullet hell shooters. There's a nice mix of exploration and explosive action.

I also loved the look of the world. The unique "old sketching" visual style is the first thing you notice, obviously, but I ended up loving the ruined landscape that sit just out of reach in the background. It's a beautiful, yet lonely landscape where everybody's hopes and dreams have sunk to the bottom of the ocean to never be seen again. We see destroyed buildings, iconic monuments and all the trappings of civilization we take for granted. All this would have been captivating even without the stylish art design, but that certainly helps set it apart from all the other shooters on the market.

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Unfortunately, the art design ends up being something that annoyed me over time. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of the game, but the style felt like it held the graphics back from being more diverse. There's a real sameness that permeates this entire game, and it started to get to me after extended plays. That said, the backgrounds look amazing and I like that this doesn't look like most games, but it's also hard to see a lot of the white bullets with this art style.

This is a game built around one exciting boss fight after another, and it mostly gets that right. I had a great time with a large majority of these battles, but there are a few I never play to play again. The problem comes when you run into one of the bosses that can kill you in a single, unexpected hit. This is counter to the way the rest of the game plays, and losing 100% of your health out of nowhere is beyond frustrating. It's even worse when you are forced to spend 10 or 15 minutes regaining your lost powers and tracking down hidden crates. The repetition of powering up is slow and boring, and it's easily the worst part of the game. It's a shame there's not a way to quickly replay those especially difficult boss fights.

Despite a few frustrating boss battles, I liked exploring the underwater world of Earth Atlantis. This is a surprisingly long shooter with a striking visual style and all kinds of ships to unlock. Best of all, there are two unique modes that will keep you coming back long after you've hunted every last monster. This is yet another exciting game that reminds us that submarine shoot 'em ups are almost always great.