Best of XBLA:Undertow Review

This is a first of my Best of XBLA series. Enjoy!
Also hang out with the devs every Tuesday Night @ 7 Pacific




Undertow a original game by Chair Entertainment is a action packed underwater shooter a la battlefield for XBLA. Gameplay is handled in 2d, but the animations are all motion-captured 3d, and the visuals are stunning. Considering this game costs 800 MS points(10$), its truly incredible. The game is, like many games these days, powered by the versatile Unreal Engine, and the results are truly incredible when missiles are smashing into rocks, players being blown into pieces, lighting flaring, and all the while fully animated backgrounds and water changing with the battle. But what good is a shiny gameplay without good gameplay? And undertow does not disappoint with its furious action that, as previously mentioned, parallels battlefield. In story mode, which is a short but sweet 16 level campaign, you must capture 5 points on the map. The points give you locations to spawn and if you lose them all, its game over. You can win by either draining your opponent of tickets(basically, shared lives by you and your A.I. teammates), or capturing all points.But as you kill enemies, and capture points, you gain, well points. But these points are of the score kind. You can then spend these points on upgrading one of the four classes in the game(infantry, heavy infantry, light vehicle, heavy vehicle, all which drastically change on the different factions.The game features three factions, each with 5 levels, and another...well interesting level that will make you want more. The game is playable via drop-in co-op, via live, system link, or splitscreen, and has three difficulty levels. There is a offline skirmish mode, and of course online multiplayer, which is the true heart of the game. In addition to conquest, there is deathmatch, which is well, deathmatch. Person, or team, to x points wins. The game features around 12 maps, with more to come(and possibly factions, developer promises dlc as long as it is played.) The action si great, and fun with friends. This game will keep you occupied for quite a while. But I have yet to get to the most astounding fact. the game is 49 MB. 49mb. And holy shit is that the most I have ever seen in 49 mb, and sure makes me wonder what they put in Gauntlet to make it 40mb. Must be some crappy coding. Give this a download, and try it for yourself. You'll wanna buy it.