Swimsanity! Review
The first fin-stick shooter
Swimsanity’s market is very clear from the offset. If you’re looking for a relatively basic party game to play with friends, this is sure to entertain you for a night or two. If you are looking for anything deeper, the oceans of Swimsanity are a little too shallow.
Swimanity tells you what exactly it is from something as innocuous as its visuals. They are pretty basic, feeling similar to a 2000s flash animation, but this downfall has a very distinct upside, it is very easy to run. A pretty mediocre laptop and a few Xbox controllers can promise a reasonably stable experience. Swimsanity feels utilitarian by its nature. The music is serviceable, visuals fine and gameplay rather stable but it doesn’t move outside of this limited bubble. The same can be said of the gameplay.
Outside of basic attacks and movement, you are granted a special attack determined by drops, teleports that work as a dodge, and super attacks determined by your character. Each character has an established role within a team or can prove to be a disruption to your enemies. The “Medic” heals, the “Harpoon” deals damage, the “Shock” freezes enemies, and the “Piranha” works both defensively and offensively. For the most part, you can plan around each character with well-timed special attacks and teleports. They are not entirely balanced with Piranha being the easiest to clear challenges and the Medic feeling like the most stable teammate to choose.
A little bass-ic
The first mode you might like to check out before slaughtering your friends and giving up for the night is Swimsanity’s co-op modes. Entitled “Adventure” Swimsanity offers five co-op levels to conquer with your friends and subsequent hard modes if you’re up for the challenge. These include a shark chase, piranha swarm and densely lit caves. It offers a brief but rewarding challenge for you and friends to defeat. They can also all be conquered solo, giving you bragging rights and not much more.
Speaking of bragging rights, Swimsanity has a level system and gold orb system. Each attempt or success gives you experience that allows you to level up. Every accomplishment, like beating a challenge or getting a certain amount of kills, awards you one of 300 gold orbs. These don’t affect the game basically at all and only works as a means of keeping track of stats. This is a shame as it only serves to point out the little progression Swimsanity really holds.
This lack of progression is only further enunciated when you move to the versus mode. Whilst there are a decent amount of game types within it, the basic gameplay lets down skill progression somewhat. The aim is not accurate, often hitting above where you’re firing, which can be somewhat annoying in a skill-based game. For natural feeling growth, you want to feel like mistakes are your own, but inaccurate gunplay and some unfortunate teleportation glitches get in the way of that experience. Relying on RNG to resolve tense combat often just feels hollow.
Ultimately shallow
Despite its faults, Swimsanity can still be great fun. Ultimately, this might come down to the power of friends, as cheesy as that sounds. While the progression is none existent, and the gameplay is occasionally frustrating, it knows just what makes these styles of games tick. Its visuals and music are a little lacking, but that ineffable, undefinable “fun factor” still exists. Swimsanity is a rather simple experience, but it manages to offer just enough content to stop it from being dead in the water.
[Reviewed on PC]