The Japanese have a word for "bad" video games: Kusoge. It is used to describe titles which, despite the best intentions of their creators, fall desperately short in terms of quality and contain many moments of (perhaps unintentional) humour and mirth. Ace Of Seafood most certainly feels like Kusoge; clearly produced on a small budget, it is littered with moments of downright hilarity which, you often assume, aren't always done for laughs – there are some amazing examples of 'Engrish' to be found here. However, it's not a total write-off, as is evidenced by the fact that Ace Of Seafood has attracted a cult following since its launch on Steam and PlayStation 4 last year.
The plot – for what it's worth – places you in the role of a sea creature in a world where humankind ceases to exist. The denizens of the ocean fight for supremacy by controlling the multitude of reefs which cover the seabed. From this thin premise, Ace of Seafood's gameplay hook emerges; while it looks like a simple 3D arcade shooter, the objective is to take over as many reefs as possible while collecting resources and harvesting DNA so you can breed other sea creatures and add them to your army.
You're not alone in Ace Of Seafood; you're surrounded by a team of up to five other creatures which act semi-independently. You can instruct them to assume a certain formation or protect you from incoming attacks; when you fire, they add their firepower to yours. As you might imagine, not all creatures in the ocean are equal – a shrimp is weaker than a shark, and is therefore given a higher 'points' score – so it's not possible to have a team made up of six super-strong units. You have to balance your squadron accordingly, mixing up stronger units with weaker ones (which cost less points) to ensure you have the right balance of firepower and speed.
Each sea creature has a series of shot types available to them, including lasers, homing shots and powerful broadsides – some even have the ability to create decoys of themselves or (in the case of crustaceans) regenerate lost limbs. Matching up your attacks and tactics to certain enemies is vital for success; creatures with protective shells can repel your lasers, for example, so you need to get in close and use melee attacks to flip them over and expose their weak underbellies. You might assume that this lends Ace Of Seafood a layer of incredible tactical depth but more often than not, the battles are too intense to reasonably manage, and a more sensible tactic is to issue orders to your team and hang back. As soon as the creature you control dies, you're sent back to the nearest reef and must regroup, so keeping yourself safe is of paramount importance.
Chances are you'll hit a brick wall the first few times you play Ace Of Seafood, as it's easy to approach enemies that are too strong for you to tackle (hilariously, one of the more deadly adversaries you'll face is a fleet of operational battleships stalking the surface, despite the lack of any humans to crew them) so some grinding is required to ensure steady progress. Every piece of DNA you acquire adds another potential ally to your team – or a creature to control yourself – and resources can be used to power-up your existing units or create new ones. Food is another resource which has to be managed, making the game more of a thoughtful experience than you might imagine. The temptation to strike out in all directions and grab as many reefs as possible is ever-present, but mindless expansion usually results in embarrassing defeat. In that regard, there's a lot of gameplay present here, and if you like the idea of slowly but surely expanding and improving your team, you'll have fun.
Sadly, the amount of fun in question is sure to be tempered by issues with Ace Of Seafood's mechanics and presentation. While the controls are functional enough and make good use of Switch's inputs, combat feels clunky and imprecise, and movement is hindered by the fact that your creature often gets stuck in scenery; to make matters worse, rotating the camera results it in clipping through solid objects, obscuring your view of the action. Another big issue is that the menus and UI are designed in such a way that you often feel like it's a matter of trial and error when it comes to selection the right choice – the painful use of English doesn't help, either. Some of the hints and descriptions make little sense, and the tutorial mission is littered with quizzical statements and suggestions.
Visually, Ace Of Seafood isn't exactly an attractive game. Sure, there's something bewitching about a screen packed with fish blasting one another with frickin' lasers, but the actual 3D models are painfully basic and the environments looks like they've been ripped straight out of a Wii game. Despite the primitive nature of the graphics there are moments of awe to be had; exploring the deeper trenches of the seabed can become a strangely atmospheric experience. The music is unfortunately terrible; the same repetitive techno tune plays over and over, and soon outstays its welcome, while the sound effects are functional rather than impressive.
Outside of the single-player experience there's also an online mode which enables you to create (or join) rooms and battle against other players. It sounds like a tantalising prospect – who doesn't want to prove they have the most powerful mackerel in the seven seas? – but the issues which impact the solo side of the game are naturally present here. Online is good for a few matches but won't secure your attention for long.
Conclusion
Ace Of Seafood is proof that even bad games can offer some entertainment value, and if you don't find the idea of massive, laser-shooting fish battling ghost battleships amusing, then you probably need to check your pulse. Beyond its utterly bonkers premise, it offers some surprisingly deep gameplay, with every battle presenting a different challenge and the need to constantly manage your resources adding a neat wrinkle to the arcade action. This fine balance between all-out blasting and tactical play makes this fishy game an intriguing prospect, but its myriad problems – which include poor production values, terrible interface design and awful music – suck some of the fun away. While we can't possibly recommend Ace of Seafood wholeheartedly, we also can't state categorically that you should avoid it; despite our frustrations we still had a surprisingly good time trying to rule its post-apocalyptic waters, and chances are you will, too.
Comments 40
The pretty low price point makes me tempted to grab this for the sheer ridiculousness of it. The trailer certainly gave me a good laugh the first time I watched it.
...and I still wanna buy it. What's wrong with me?
I'm reminded of Playstation and Giant Enemy Crab.
What in the world is going on in these screenshots??
Played this with a friend the other day. Such a surreal and freakish experience. It reminded me of an insane version of Endless Ocean.
This costs more then radiation island. I read a lot more complaints as you guys went into more detail. It’s more ridiculous so therefore it gets a better score. But, because Radiation island isn’t fallout 4 for $10, then it’s terrible and should not be played. Reviews like these are exactly why I play games that I want to play and not ones that reviewers tell me. I might even get this on sale someday because it strikes me as being star fox/deadly creatures but with seafood. It might actually be fun for $5.
@Shiryu Literally nothing.
I bought Vroom in the Night Sky day one!
A good name for that phenomenon would be the "AVGN-factor".
Essentially, if a game's bad, but entertainingly so, i'm gonna buy it!
I would love some examples of the bad English in this game. I love the "scaffold of warrior" in screen capture #5.
YES! Anything this interesting is worth a try. If I didn't blindly try these types of games I would have never stumbled on EDF or Deadly Premonition. Time to pick my fish..
@crackafreeze @SimonMKWii I played a ton of kusoge in my life and I have come to a point in my life where I must realize I will never get those hours back... but hey, if every game we played was a masterpiece, we would all be snobs who would be taking things for granted out our lives. I will continue to give this one a chance down the line... but we all know what other fish shooting game I would rather be playing on the Switch, aye?
hint:
Wow... I haven't seen this bad of a polygon count since PS1 days... what is with all the shovel ware coming to the switch.
This looks insane!
@thesilverbrick SOLD! 😂
@crackafreeze We also haven't been close to par for a while now. They should just remove the "/Canada" if they aren't going to put the respective price there. Probably be the easier route too.
@Shiryu I'd love the chance to play some of the best entries in the DARIUS series.
Aww i was hoping for a better score.
I haven't read the review yet, but I had this game on my wishlist until I saw the trailer almost 2 weeks ago. It looked awful.
This has been a must buy for me ever since seeing the trailer and online play. You guys could have given it a 2 and I'd still download, but this review definitely sealed the deal. I'm gonna check this out when I'm done exploring Radiation Island
6/10 - Not Bad
The Japanese have a word for "not bad" video games.
It's probably just 'Games'.
(Or ゲーム if you're collecting linguistic and/or weeb points. Now you can't tell me off about adding unnecessary plurals)
@Lroy Hamster has the rights to the original Darius, so fingers crossed...
I don't like a Battle or Feud among sea creatures.
It should be Peaceful and Relaxing to see different sea creatures from Scuba diving, like this game.
@chucknorris078 This is also on Ps4. What's Sony's excuse?
So, is this a rail shooter, or do you have free roam? Fish with frickin lasers sounds awesome if it's free roam. I can deal with poor camera control. That's an issue with most games anyway.
@Shiryu Really? That's good to know. I presumed these games would never come to Switch as they are usually played on arcade hardware with multiple monitors. I think there was a really well reviewed console exclusive one - perhaps for Sega Saturn or Dreamcast. I forget.
@Lroy Your either thinking of Darius Gaiden for Arcade/Saturn/Playstation or G-Darius for Arcade/Playstation. Both are excellent in their own 2D/2.5D way.
This game is mega tempting... I look at the premise, and I look at the scores, and it's exactly what I expect... 10/10, GOTY!
I just want a beautiful new HD Endless Ocean, or HD ports of the first two games in a single package.
Ace of Seafood seems amusing enough, but I doubt that it will hold my attention for more than 5 minutes.
@Shiryu DARIUS GAIDEN, that's the one: never played it but long wanted to.
@sillygostly Oh yes, I'd love ENDLESS OCEAN remaster for Switch.
What talking about music is sooo good!
And gameplay is fun and addictive plus game has online for such cheap pick up and play title.
Seriously your reviews suck!!!!!!
looks interesting. will add it on the wishlist.
@Lroy All the Silver Hawks including the one from Gaiden are playable on DARIUSBURST Chronicle Savious and each brings it's own unique gameplay and weapons. That is why it is such an incredible shmup: Its compiles the whole series into a single game.
@Shiryu Sounds amazing. What systems is it available for? There's even a huge arcade cab for this one isn't there?
I was waiting for this review and it’s basically what I expected.
@Lroy Sure is. There are several versions as is si its easy to get confused:
Dariusburst (PlayStation Portable)
Dariusburst: Another Chronicle (Arcade)
Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX (Arcade) which then went home and became:
Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours (Playstatuin 4, PlayStation Vita, Windows PC via Steam) aka Dariusburst: Prologue
Dariusburst: Second Prologue (iOS, Android)
But that is not all: The insane amount of DLC available allows you to further change up things by adding all sort of famous shmup spaceships/things that shoot along with their own unique gameplay twists, weapons and game of origin soundtracks. Case in point:
I kept the game on my Steam wish list for over an year, but eventually a sales meant I could pick the game and the entire DLC at a sensible price and it was probably the best Steam purchase I made in my life.
@Shiryu Thanks for all the info. Sadly, I very rarely use Steam these days but I'll try and remember to add it to my wishlist on there. Think I already have it on my Vita wishlist.
@Shiryu
exactly. it is the right kind of awful. endearing and earnest and it reminds me of Zone of the Enders
@Maxz
hilarious. much appreciated:)
They got me hook line and sinker with the trailer I went all in with a pre purchase probably from reading some many shark books in my youth lol it's not bad for a budget title. .
This game has been on the WiiU eShop forever, and I've been super curious about it, but from screenshots alone it was REALLY hard to tell what the game was all about. So I'm glad to finally get to read a review... though I was hoping it would get a higher rating. I may still give it a chance someday, though, just because the idea is so awesomely weird. Weirdly awesome?
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