Aqua Aqua with Wetrix
When I first started playing Aqua Aqua, I was having the same experience @meauxdal described. The analog control moved so fast and the digital movement felt awkward on this isometric plane. The geometric simplicity of Tetris has been transformed into an ambiguous terrain and I can’t read when a drop will merge with another, creating a mountain or miss, creating a ravine. The tutorial is so demanding. It says, don’t let a single drop fall of the edge.
For a moment, I gave up. I downloaded the Windows version of Wetrix and played the game. I learned a terrifying truth: it’s not just the tutorial of Aqua Aqua that is difficult, it’s the whole game. A brutal onslaught of conditions rains down from the sky. Bombs poke holes in your platform, rain drips water everywhere, ice cubes freeze your lakes, and if you don’t manage your terrain well enough, you cause an earthquake. It wields the same chaotic energy of a Jeff Minter game while lifting some ideas from Populous. Did I mention that Aqua Aqua is our first English game in the series? Did I mention that the two brothers (?) who lead the development were also responsible for Plok?
I went back to Aqua Aqua. I tried the tutorial again and I was very careful. I made it. Unlike Wetrix, there is a story mode. Here you must earn a certain amount of points within a section of time or a monster will wreck your island. I kind of like this because even if you don’t get enough points, the attacks are survivable.
The more I play these games, the more I like them. I spent two hours my first night trying to get a handle on the game flow. I went to sleep and when I woke up, I beat the game. I think psychologists call this incubation. Like Tetris, these games ferment in the back of my mind. I hear the screw-like sound effect when I close my eyes. These game ideas deserve to be revisited. It’s such a satisfying concept not far from building sandcastles.