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I've been under the impression that water levels have and continue to be the bane of level design. I can recall games from the retro years though current gaming generations and remember many instances where the water areas were the hardest, slowest and most difficult levels as opposed to their landlocked brethren. Within the same vein, Undertow could be considered one huge water level, having the setting exclusively based under the sea. With so many negative stereotypes of gaming past to work around, Undertow has had its work cut out for it from the very beginning, but do any of the age-old problems saturate this experience to make it too soggy to enjoy?

The game's start and continued narration is somewhat unique for Xbox Live Arcade in the way that there is a story trying to be told through use of in game cinematics. The tale revolves around three different races all trying to vie for dominance in what is a post-apocalyptic world where the icecaps have completely melted and submerged the better part of the earth. The single player is thusly separated into three separate sections for each distinct race, these being the Iron Marines, Nemoidians and Atlantians, all with their separate motivations and main protagonists.

The gameplay featured is that of a uniquely disguised version of what would usually be found in a free-form 2D shooter, with tactical elements, otherwise known as capture the flag. The object of each scenario sets you with a varying amount of comrades and a handful of men, trying to capture as many control points as possible. The more control points you have, the more home bases you have to spawn reinforcements. If a single team captures all, the opposition can no longer continue for lack of an entry point, and thusly ends their failed conquest.

You will have access to various units, all specializing in different aspects, such as range, speed, power and armor. They can all be upgraded from points earned by kills and captures, and have two different upgradeable forms among the four separate classes spread across all three races. Each unit has its own race-specific qualities to add flare in variation, such as the Iron Marines having mechanical juggernaut submarines for use in armor, the Atlantians hammerhead for speed recon, and the Nemoidians foot soldiers for range department.

The visuals from level to level should be noted as being hypnotically noxious, as they try to hit a note between satisfyingly dank and elaborately homely, in a good way. The overall mood of post-apocalypticness is missed intentionally, as what lies beneath the surface is supposed to be a safe haven of sorts, conveying that the ocean has just as many gorgeous spots, as well as blemishes, as the surface once possessed. If you take a moment between blasting the crap out of the other team for two seconds, you will realize that the visual aesthetics are pretty nice for what could have been glazed over with a bunch of blue and black. The designers should feel proud of accomplishing something that could have been so easily left on the way side and looked over as a lesser detail to the action.

Unfortunately, the sound wasn't as lucky as the visuals, as many of the different noises generated seem way too muddied or overall underwhelming for the accompanying action on screen. Whether it be the unfortunate nature of what water is suppose to do for sound or not, the effects should have been given more emphasis to add a much-needed audible weight. The music was awkward mixes in between soothing and hectic and never finds where it wants to be between the two and stays there for the games duration.

My biggest complaint with audio were the in game cinematics; while maintaining a rather plain block of dialogue that does a fine job and well with visuals, you can barely understand the conversations between most of the people on screen. This could be attributed to the fact that everyone is wearing a 50-pound helmet made of stainless steel with no holes for sound to seep through! To simulate the same kind of noise generated, try to have a conversation with someone who has their head stuck in a tin bucket and is shouting while they try to eat their own hand. The subtitles help and are quite needed if you have the urge to begin to enjoy the cutscenes from, I don't know, a storytelling point of view.

The gameplay itself hinges on one main factor alone, and it's how many people you will have the opportunity to play with. The co-op is a perfect addition because of the friendly tactical nature of the game, and the death match and conquest mode in multiplayer are incredibly cool. Undertowis, in fact, the first game on XBLA to feature 16-person multiplayer, and does so admirably. The mad blitz of everyone trying to reach their favorite upgrades in unison to ultimately crush the other team is a lot of fun with a full room, and all the different niches the games levels have to offer give ample elbowroom for everyone to destroy each other. Though, the single player artificial intelligence is the biggest casualty here, as the aggravatingly stupid CPU-controlled teammates will never seem to help, even on the easiest settings, and become useless fodder on normal and ultra mode, leaving you to wonder why something as important as teammates in a tactical control game was the most overlooked aspect. Feelings generated by being that one-man army are always gratifying, but if you grant the players teammates, don't just try to make them look pretty — give them form and function as well, as to not cheapen the entire battlefield-like experience.

In this day and age, any new ideas are a warm welcome in this infinite sea of franchises and sequels. So having Undertow try to mash up a few different genres to give us something more or less untested is welcome. While the game ends up not escaping some of the more typical problems with fairing the underwater depths, the game should be given credit for creating a different kind of fun with the multiplayer and doing well overall (not including AI) on single player, despite not having the budget of a much larger and more popular title. Leaving out the computer controller partners and bizarre voiceovers, Undertow offers a nice alternative to the hyperactive shooters of new and old, with a more methodically strategic experience. Give the game a chance, and you might be surprised on how fun the depths really can be.