Submarine Titans

Considering the design challenges of an aquatic environment, not to mention the physics, it's surprising that the idea of an RTS set underwater has never been wholeheartedly embraced until Submarine Titans.

In accordance with the secret RTS bible that says unless your name is Microsoft you're only allowed to have three sides to choose from, Submarine Titans offers you a choice between the White Sharks, the Black Octopi and the Silicons. Each side has its own ideology, history and, in theory, their own style of battle. Unfortunately, in reality they lack proper definition and the Sharks and Octopi are far too similar, both in unit style and gameplay.

It's left to the Silicons, an alien race marooned on earth, to bring in some much-needed variation with a highly technologically evolved side, that just wants to go home, bless 'em. Although it makes an obvious bid for the Stare raft devotees. Submarine Titans introduces some nice little touches of its own. These include levels of variable depths and computer assistants that are surprisingly useful, rather than being a gimmicky hindrance.

Ellipse Studios has had some fun devising the tech tree for the game, which includes quantum paralysers, vacuum bombs and the cute but deadly 'don't call me Flipper' cyber dolphins, which carry a powerful charge that can destroy submarines. This may make for a steep learning curve if you want to get an adequate understanding of each faction, but with toys like Polarized Plasma Pulsars, it's worth the effort. Submarine Titans is for the most part a solid, cod 'n' chips, 2D game, with a few fun features. Unfortunately it's easy to feel slightly cheated because it would have looked drop dead gorgeous in 3D. It's emerged (or should that be submerged) a couple of years too late and sadly it doesn't forward a genre that is badly in need of enlivening.