Depth Hunter ( 1 DVD )
But a
little sogginess won't stop Depth's team of underwater treasure hunters,
despite the danger posed by sharks. As a diver, you and your three
allies closely follow robot drone S.T.E.V.E. as it sluggishly moves from
area to area, pilfering rusted iron safes for loot. There are no safe
rooms offering asylum, and no checkpoints to break up rounds; all five
available maps are small, and progression only briefly halts in a room
or open area containing a safe--it is where your drone collects gold
while your team prepares for the inevitable attack.
Treasure
found scattered in the environment provides cash to trade for weapons
and gear for your team to use in defense. You can toss flares for
additional light, or place sonar buoys that highlight incoming threats.
But sometimes you can make a bigger statement by planting sea mines to
blow attacking sharks into fish sticks. Weapons consist of amphibious
rifles and pistols, as well as an assortment of spear guns. You can also
fill a weapon slot with other tools such as the DPV (diver propulsion
vehicle), which scans for nearby treasure and caches of ammo as it
provides a welcome boost in speed, or a net gun that temporarily binds
sharks in place.
But it's not just the sharks divers have
to watch out for; there are plenty of glitches eager to join the fight.
Clipping through objects is common, and nothing rips you out of the
experience like a large hunk of metal taking up the screen. Treasure
also has a nasty habit of clipping through mounds of sediment, buried
just deep enough to be out of reach. Even more irritating are
computer-controlled sharks that have a bad habit of occasionally
clipping through solid walls. Tapping sprint propels you forward in
short bursts, though you can only use this ability consecutively about
three times, after which you have to wait for a brief period--this must
be due to fatigue, but the HUD for the diver doesn't include a stamina
meter to display how much energy you can deplete before tiring. Boosts
also stop short far too often, freezing you in place even as you hold
forward. Getting stuck on walls and other objects is another constant
source of annoyance. And to be killed by a shark after getting snagged
by a corner or a frayed piece of metal is incredibly frustrating.
The
other team consists of two speedy sharks, each armed with razor-sharp
teeth. Unlike divers, who have the benefit of firepower, playing as a
shark means having to use guerilla tactics to plan moves and strike when
the moment is right. Attacks are limited to a short lunge and a long
dash, and any living thing caught in their jaws is destined to have a
bad day. Their attacks are limited to a short lunge and a long dash, and
any living thing caught in their jaws is destined to have a bad day. Of
course, you will have to suspend some disbelief, as Depth's sharks are
able to stop and float in place, as well as swim backwards--both of
which are physically impossible for sharks (I don't care what you saw in
Deep Blue Sea). Parts of the environment indicated by glowing cracks
can be destroyed by ramming into them, creating new openings and
opportunities in which to plot your attack; I only wish there was some
indication as to how much damage these objects can take, as some will
crumble at two hits, others three. More than once I thought a wall would
give way after three hits, only to watch as my second strike left me
floating in a room looking foolish and surrounded by trigger-happy
divers.
Playing
in third-person as a shark is more difficult than playing as a diver,
but practice yields deliciously grisly rewards. As your skills sharpen,
it becomes easier to sense the best time to pick a diver out of a room
before the other flippered meat-bags figure out what happened. Stalking
your prey and setting up an ambush at the opening of a passageway, or
diving down on unsuspecting enemies, is absolutely thrilling. Damaging
S.T.E.V.E. temporarily stops the drone, giving you time chase down seals
to replenish health, or regroup and plan the next attack. Special
abilities can be purchased as you rack up kills. Boosting the strength
of your ampullae of Lorenzini, for example, allows you detect the kind
of equipment the divers are using, and the hammerhead skill can bust
down destructible environments faster and put S.T.E.V.E. out of
commission for a longer stretch of time.
Playing
as a shark is just as buggy as a diver, though. It's all too easy to
get stuck on corners or objects just as frequently as a diver, if not
more so, while aiming the shark is incredibly unintuitive. Often you zip
past a diver just barely out of your reach, leaving you to guess where
best to direct those gnashing jaws.
Depth's distractions
are unfortunate, because when the game is running at full performance,
it hits all the right emotional notes: The sense of imposing dread as a
fleshy diver, and the excitement of the hunt as a bloodthirsty shark. As
a diver, your first indication of the growing danger is your heart,
which beats harder as a shark draws near. Huddling in a corner, the
faint sound of a tail swishing through the water nearby is enough for
panic to unsettle any confidence placed in your defenses. Hearing the
muffled scream of an ally as a streak of silver whips past to drag him
into the gloomy depths in an eruption of bubbles and blood is
terrifying, and more than enough to justify any level of galeophobia.
Thankfully, the shooting mechanics are solid, and a wide variety of
weapons and gear allows you to experiment and customize your diver as
you see fit. The same can be said for the sharks, whose special
abilities grant the freedom to create the predator of your dreams. I
actually found myself leaning toward the shark team the more I played.
The dominance you feel as you swim into the open sea with your prize in
tow after a successful hunt will leave you shaking with maniacal
laughter.
But
sadly it doesn't take long for that pleasure to fade. In its attempt to
mimic the mechanics and design of its famous peer, Depth fails to
parallel Left 4 Dead's endurance or charm. The maps include a sunken
ship and bleak caverns, but many lack features distinguishing enough to
make them truly memorable. Complicating the dilemma is how utterly dark
most of the maps are. The grim surroundings go far to offer fearful
situations in which a shark could attack from the shadows, but going
through multiple sections in levels where only a few shafts of light and
a part of a wall are visible makes for a drab experience--one that
peaks at around eight hours before becoming dull and repetitive. Don't
look to the divers to infuse much-needed color, though; any differences
between, say, Alejandro and Marissa stops at disparate model types.
Depth also looks incredibly dated; its murky water just barely obscures
the low-quality textures, and (even running maximum settings for
anti-aliasing) sharp, jagged edges that outline the details of character
models and objects threaten to slice straight through the screen.
The
maps also suffer from some balancing issues. Although a couple of
levels are fairly even, savoring both open and enclosed areas, others
favor one side or the other. Playing as a shark in a map filled with
rooms interconnected by narrow passageways is made even more difficult
when you get snagged on the myriad corners preventing you from escaping.
Another map ends with a long stretch of open water, barely illuminated
beyond the scope of the divers' flashlights. Sonar buoys have a limited
range, so creating even a modest guise of security requires that you
swim far outside the safety of your team. At that point you might as
well hang a sign around your neck that reads "shark bait."
It's
not without some semblance of irony that Depth ends up feeling shallow.
But it won't pass without at least demonstrating a working and
entertaining idea: sharks-versus-humans has been a theme to which video
games have occasionally returned. And so far, Depth is the closest I've
come to experiencing the kind of fear a game about killer sharks should
generate since my younger days of playing Jaws
on the NES. Future updates that clean up bugs and add new content could
help it breach the surface and approach greatness. Until then, however,
Depth floats listlessly in the ocean current.