Treasures Of The Deep

Overview

Namco has made their mark on the PSX by virtue of hot arcade-style titles. Treasures of the Deep is a drastic departure from anything you have seen from Namco in the past. Come to think of it, Treasures is a drastic departure from just about anything you have seen on the PSX, regardless of the publisher or developer.

The story has you playing as a retired Navy Seal that can't seem to stay out of the water. It has been rumored that the sea holds vast wealth. Jack (that's you) decides that since the water is his life, he will start out on a contract job gathering treasure underwater until he saves enough money to purchase his own ships and collect the riches for himself. It has been rumored that the waters are infested with underwater pirates as well as plenty of dangerous sea creatures. It is up to you to find your objective and make it out alive.

Gameplay

Treasures of the Deep is a truly original game that combines exploration, fighting, skill and luck. The game is a mission-based adventure that will have you battling divers, subs, sharks, and giant eels. You have the ability to equip your sub in any way you desire as long as the money holds out and you don't exceed the weight limit. It takes a very delicate balance of weapons and equipment to survive.

The first part of Treasures and your sub is equipped with an overhead map that shows where you have been and where you need to go. Your screen is also graced with a sonar. This shows the position of your objective, the direction you are heading, and any enemies that may be close by. These tools are used to help you find the level objective and make it out to safety.

Of course it would be way too easy if you could just go straight to the objective area and obtain your objective. Some times you are surrounded by hills the keep you from moving in certain directions. These hills usually only have only one pathway out, so you are forced to follow the path. Other levels have you searching through caves, fighting currents, and searching sunken ships. And you will spend a great portion of your time looking for things other than your objective: there are secrets scattered all throughout the levels. It is up to you to search out the wreckage, foliage, and underwater outcroppings to find all of these little goodies.

The second part to the game is the combat. You are constantly getting ambushed by a nasty diver, an enemy sub, and even the wild life. The divers are usually armed with only spear guns which cause little damage. You, on the other hand, are armed however you set yourself up at the beginning of the game. You have a standard semiautomatic weapon that has unlimited ammo. You can also equip yourself with torpedoes, mines, missiles, and sonic charges to name a few. All of this fire power adds up to giving you the ability to inflict some serious damage. One cool thing about the combat is that the people actually bleed. If you shoot a diver, he will be encased in a cloud of blood. Why is this cool? The waters are shark-infested and we all know that sharks love blood. Every time you kill somebody, it will inevitably attract the sharks. This was a great idea on the part of the game designers.

Since the game is mission-based, you will be diving all across the globe. You will be looking for treasures that range from the ancient Incas to stolen Nazi gold. Each of the environments you will encounter ranges from shallow water to deep water. Every decision you make while equipping your sub will have an effect on the mission.

My main complaint with this game is that it got a bit boring after playing for a while. Sure there was plenty to explore, and many different things to see, and secrets were abundant. But it was just a little slow-paced for my tastes. I think that if you prefer the faster, arcade style games, you may experience the same thing. This game would be an ideal PC port because PC gamers tend to be a bit more patient.

Graphics

This is where it is at. These graphics will rival some of the top games on the PSX. The sharks looked awesome. The fish looked awesome. Everything looked awesome. I knew that Namco had the polygon thing down with Tekken, but they took it to a whole different level. Also as a side note, the music is gripping and an excellent fit. Great job all the way around.

Bottom Line

If you like exploration with some action thrown in, you should really enjoy this game. It is stuffed full of secrets and hidden goodies that should keep you happy. If you are looking for a fast-paced shooter, you better look somewhere else because this is not it. Sure it does have the shooting element, but it can hardly be considered fast paced. I have one question though: why do the sharks explode after you shoot them?

Explore the depths of the sea as you search the bottom of the ocean in pursuit of your riches and gather lost underwater treasures. Your adventure takes you from the perils of the shark-infested waters of the Great Barrier Reef to the depths of the Mariana Trench.

The game is totally 3-D, and attempts to re-create a complete oceanic environment. Sharks, jellyfish, schools of fish all swim around, some harmlessly, while others are looking for lunch. Each mission has a goal, and that might consist of finding anything from a sword to diffusing a nuclear warhead. There are plenty of enemies such as subs, great white sharks and frogmen, but those can be taken care of with advanced weapons (such as missiles and torpedoes) that can be bought with your treasure. This game is a big departure for Namco, and for the action 3-D genre in general.

Treasures of the Deep isn't the normal fare you've come to expect from Namco On fact it's actually developed by Black Ops Entertainment). Even better, it's quite a departure from any game found on the PlayStation.

This watery 3-D game (whose atmosphere is reminiscent of 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea) puts you in control of an ex-Navy Seal who spans the globe looking for treasure in the most curious of locations. From his submerged home base, missions are selected and so is the appropriate equipment for the task on hand. There are many different ways to outfit your armament and tools.

In the Weapons Selection Screen anything from nets to plasma torpedoes to land mines can be had-for a price. Equipment such as sonars, flares and even an underwater torch can also he purchased. Once a large amount of money is in the bank, expensive fancy subs and watercraft can also be purchased. All of these things are financed through the treasure found on missions, so it is important to collect as much as possible on each one.

By spinning a 3-D globe, different missions can be selected. Usually there is only a choice between one or two. and as those missions are completed, new ones open up. The different tasks are quite diverse ranging from simply finding treasure within a sunken boat, to racing against time to deliver and place a time bomb that will destroy a path to-you guessed it-more treasure. As the game progresses, more "meaningful" missions are revealed, such as having lo defuse a nuclear warhead and retrieving a lost satellite.

Treasures of the Deep's gameplay is half exploration, half 3-D action. There are hordes of dangers in the water aside from the requisite hungry sharks (and watch out for those jellyfish too). Other divers are out to plunder the same bounty, and they'll kill you to get it. They also seemingly have a limitless amount of resources (maybe they've been treasure hunting a lot longer than you have) as the enemy scuba divers are often accompanied by squadrons of fancy subs and other high-tech weapons. When these subs are destroyed, their equipment and weapons can be plundered from the wreckage (the scuba guys die in a satisfying poof that attracts sharks).

The graphics and atmosphere in Treasures are quite impressive. The 3-D aquatic life (comprised of sharks, eels. fish, etc.) is very detailed, especially when it comes to re-creating the fluid movements you might expect from those fish. The worlds are colorful and detailed, garnished with lightsourcing and other effects. As the missions progress into more mysterious territory, the dark, foreboding graphics reveal monsters and other impressive objects such as a downed Space Shuttle (you can't be that).

Namcb's Treasures of the Deep is a fancy, new undersea game that looks like it has the gameplay and aesthetics to complement its very unique game concept.

Here's an early one. The Deep for the PlayStation looks like an underwater action/adventure title. The graphics are similar to AH-3 Thunder strike as far as the landscapes go. The game features a built-in radar/sonar along with multiple views. It seems there are also multiple items that can be selected.

A camera is attached to the bottom of the craft possibly to retrieve treasures. From the looks of The Deep, players can go way down into the ocean (or some body of water) and most likely come across some strange enemies or possibly ancient artifacts.

Think becoming a diver for hire is interesting? Namco's latest title, they bought from Black Ops. allows you to search the 75 percent of the world's surface that happens to be underwater in their politically correct title Treasures of the Deep. You start out small and build yourself (and your wallet) by completing various underwater jobs. Working, in turn, allows you to buy new and more advanced equipment like remote- controlled dive craft to take on more demanding tasks. Whether you want to dive under the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or the ice caves in the arctic circle. Treasures of the Deep has plenty of action and excitement to enjoy. Just don't target any endian.

Dive into adventure with Treasures of the Deep for the PlayStation, a single-player action game that skillfully combines first-person shooting with maze-like exploration in fantastic underwater settings. But beware--there are endless waves of enemy subs, divers, and sea predators out for your blood!

Ride on an underwater scooter or dismount for solo action as you attempt to complete numerous mission objectives, ranging from retrieving sunken treasure to finding and defusing a ticking bomb, all at exotic, international dive sites. To help you in your quest, an arsenal of high-tech equipment is at your disposal, ineluding remote-control drones and powerful weapons such as t torpedoes and plasma torches. You can also use the treasures you net to upgrade your weaponry for subsequent missions.

Sharp graphics and animation effectively create a free-roaming 3D ocean environment that's almost more fun to explore than carrying out your mission objectives. Once you immerse yourself in Treasures of the Deep, you may never want to resurface!

Graphics

The graphics are a pleasure to behold: Detailed art, ambient lighting, and fluid animation create lush 3D underwater worlds. The abundance of realistic marine life clinches the sub-sea effect.

Sound

The pivotal sound cues are very crisp, while the surrealistic new age soundtrack is ideal for this underwater adventure and a welcome change from the usual hard-rock action-gaming riffs.

Control

Once you get used to the underwater physics, such as swimming in currents, it's relatively easy to control your sub and diver. All weapon and equipment controls respond sharply to onscreen action.

Fun Factor

Treasures provides solid fun with a well-balanced mixture of exploration, adventure, shooting, and puzzle elements. Plus, it's just plain cool to battle it out with great whites and hammerheads!

If you've burned out your afterburners in the unfriendly skies of Agile Warrior and Top Gun, Treasures of the Deep splashes down for a fast-paced undersea assault.

Graphics & Sounds

The visuals shine with realistic detail, sleekly moving undersea life, and a true sensation of 3D depth. Appropriate underwater effects gurgle in the background to respectable shots and explosions. Both the graphics and sounds sport some rough edges at this very early stage, but Black Ops has plenty of time to clean them up.

Dive Gear

Treasures launches you into James Bond-like underwater combat in attack subs packed to the gills with torpedoes, spear guns, nets, mines, and other equipment. Battling enemy divers and subs, you hunt for treasure in ten dive sites across the world, including Antarctica, Mariana's Trench, the Barrier Reef, and the Cuban Coast. If the bad guys don't slow you down, the fearsome fins of hammerhead sharks and stingrays get in your face mask. Back on shore, you can upgrade to snazzier diving equipment and weapons with the money you earn from collecting treasure.

Underwater Action

Treasures' arcade-style shooter gameplay shows serious promise. Stalking enemies through schools of fish and murky trenches imbues the game with a novel feel, and sinking your enemies poses an enjoyable challenge. The controls respond smoothly even when the water's churning with torpedoes.

Hot on the heels of developing excellent air battles like Black Dawn and Agile Warrior, Black Ops is diving beneath the waves with what looks like the company's best game yet.

Graphics

Treasures already sports the best underwater graphics on the PlayStation. Beautifully rendered sharks, mantas, and more slice lethally through the water, moving with lifelike fluidity. The 3D underwater environments are jammed with sharp details, eye-catching lighting effects, and screen-rocking explosions. The action's clean and quick, too, with none of the draw-in problems that popped up in Black Dawn.

Features & Gameplay

Treasures of the Deep sends you scouting beneath the sea for gold, but this game is no wishy-washy Jacques Cousteau adventure. As a member of the Underwater Mercenary Agency, you face a long list of combat-laden missions like destroying the cargo of a sunken drug-smuggling vessel, recovering a satellite from a downed space shuttle, and battling a nefarious spy network. Along the way, of course, you score doubloons and other riches from sunken hoards.

Black Ops arms you well for the fray, loading you up with nets, torpedoes, welder's torches, Maverick missiles, plasma bombs, freezer bombs, and the like. You can also use the cash you earn from treasure hunting to upgrade your wet suit, sub, and more. Treasures is shaping up to be an adrenaline-ridden fight you won't want to miss.