The Switch is such a phenomenal platform for indie games right now. Over 7.63 million units have been reported to have been sold, making it one of the fastest growing consumer bases in the gaming world. This coming off the failure of the Wii U and the millions of Vita players that continues to show the viability of the handheld market, has created a perfect storm for Nintendo’s hybrid console that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. As I have said before, if I was an indie developer, I would be building with the Switch in mind. That’s where Earth Atlantis, an artistic arcade-feeling shooter, comes in. In a market that’s quickly filling up with amazing titles, how does Earth Atlantis fare?
Earth Atlantis had a rocky start. Before its most recent patches, the game was incredibly unbalanced, resulting in a ton of repetitive frustration. It’s this reason that I am just now coming around to writing this review, as I found the game unpleasant and struggled to get very far in it. It felt like I was just scratching the surface of what the game had to offer, but I struggled to break into its depths.
Thankfully, a lot of the issues I had with the game have been patched out. Although, the game that has floated to the surface is fairly lackluster, feeling as empty as the oceans players will explore.
This boss in particular was almost impossible for me, even on Easy Mode. Finally beat it after the patch though.
Earth Atlantis is a sepia-toned shooter that puts players at the helm of a submarine. Tasked with killing the ocean’s monsters, players will be swimming about shooting nautical creatures, gaining power-ups, and taking on challenging bosses. The game initially feels a bit like an underwater Metroidvania, but that quickly fades when the backtracking starts to set in. Even though the game feels large with its twisting paths and maze-like structure, the actual area is small. I found myself swimming through the same confusing areas, fighting off random enemies, just to get to a boss that has spawned there.
Mechanically, the game plays alright. The submarine has a little play to it when sitting still and piloting it does genuinely feel like being in water. The ship fires in front of it, but after a few power-ups it also shoots some weaker bullets behind it. Aside from moving and shooting, there is also a button dedicated to turning, making it feel quite a bit like classic Defender. The game does feel retro, so fans of retro shooters may have some fun with Earth Atlantis.
Bosses are the game’s major pull, as each of them are incredibly challenging and there is a checklist to keep track. Sadly, everything around the bosses is dull and can get repetitive and frustrating, even after patches made it more palatable. Taking hits loses power-ups and many of the bosses create bullet-hell scenarios, making it easy to get combo’d into oblivion. Not only that, but dying spawns the player back at the checkpoint, likely surrounded by tougher enemies. This leads to a boring, slow climb back up to full power, just to take a run at a boss that will likely win.
Enemies can sometimes flee into the background.
To be honest, Earth Atlantis is a giant boss rush mode, with dull nonsense in between each fight. I think it would have worked better with a more traditional bullet-hell level layout. If anything, it has a unique visual style that’s hard not to like. Backgrounds have giant whales floating around sunken architecture. The copper tones help ground the steampunk-esque themes. Certainly a lot is done with a little in the visuals.
Due to the copper filter though, everything blends together. Enemies will hide along walls, leaving to what feels like a lot of cheap hits. When things get really hectic its hard to keep track of everything. I think it would have been beneficial to color projectiles in a way that contrasted the backgrounds to make it easier for players to determine what’s dangerous. There were a lot of moments I crashed my sub, simply because I didn’t notice what was there.
Sound design is probably the weakest area of Earth Atlantis. There is a sore lack in variety, leaving most of the sounds to the faint boops of radar and the constant noise of shooting. I would have loved to hear some elegant music, but there really isn’t any music to be found. I found myself turning on a playlist just to have something to listen to while throwing myself at the bosses.
Backgrounds are really cool and often thought provoking, but going through the same areas gets boring.
Finishing a boss off doesn’t provide enough of a reward either. Most of them open up a path that usually just leads to another power-up and they typically drop a large health pickup. Beating a monster doesn’t feel fulfilling at all, as there are just more monsters to take down. There are some sub-weapons to pick up that can make things a bit easier and not having one can usually be rectified after a boss fight. There are other submarines to unlock, but I couldn’t bring myself to pursue them as it would just lead to more boring exploration and frustrating boss battles.
Earth Atlantis has some potential to be a unique shooter, but unfortunately there just isn’t enough there to keep players engaged.
For more information on Earth Atlantis, check out the official Nintendo listing. A digital copy was provided for this review.
For another Switch review, check out Adam’s thoughts on Axiom Verge.
