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The Granite Octopus Undertow Official Thread

S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
undertow_gaf_header.jpg

What is Undertow?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertow_(game)

Undertow is an original video game developed by Chair Entertainment for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. An aquatic alien race secretly launches a devastating attack on Earth which melts the polar ice caps. Water covers the planet.

Humanity is all but wiped out by this onslaught, but some of the remaining humans band together to take the planet back from the brink of chaos. Using existing technology, the Iron Marines take to the seas as they struggle to survive in this wet new world.

For over one hundred years, Captain Nemo and his followers have been living peacefully and quietly at the bottom of the ocean, sharing an uneasy truce with the highest officials in the British and American governments. In their secret utopia the Nemoidians have isolated themselves from the world and lived in peace – until now. Nemo is enraged at the disturbance to his oceans.

As the ice caps melted, the ancient city of Atlantis began to thaw. Trapped by the last ice age, this mighty civilization disappeared at the height of its power. Now free, the Atlantians will stop at nothing to reclaim the planet they once owned.

Having escaped from their cruel overlords, the fanatic Elect put their hope in the Ark – a massive city-sized space craft that could deliver their dying race to a new world. The fuel supply of the Ark had been nearly depleted when the aliens finally discovered Earth, a planet perfect for transformation into a new, oceanic home for the aliens...
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Release Date

http://xblarcade.com/node/1380

Dive Into Undertow on November 21st

Short and sweet: Chair Entertainment says their Unreal 3-powered, twin-stick, underwater shooter Undertow will arrive on XBLA on November 21st.

I guess October was just too much to hope for. Then again, this might be the most notice we've ever gotten for an XBLA game. And I am not complaining one bit.
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Previews

MTV
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1559068/20070508/index.jhtml

IGN XBOX 360
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/782/782282p1.html

1up.com
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3164318

Video Media

Gametrailers.com
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/4720.html?id=4720

IGN XBOX 360
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/901/901686/vids_1.h

Screenshots

undertow-20070711025058418.jpg


undertow-20070618110820417.jpg


undertow-20070618110821464.jpg


undertow-20070618110819214.jpg


undertow-20070711025105746.jpg


Achievements

Humanity’s Hope
10
Complete the Hope of Humanity campaign

Nemo’s Wrath
10
Complete the Nemo’s Wrath campaign

Atlantis Rising
10
Complete the Atlantis Rising campaign

Swim Pals
20
Complete each chapter in co-op mode

Navy of One
10
Take over 100 control points

Frenzy
30
Complete each chapter on the Ultra difficulty setting

Arsenal
10
Upgrade all units to level 3 in a single online match

Dive Master
10
Get 100 kills

Hydropwnage
20
Win an online Conquest match by taking all of the control points (get a shutout)

Deep 6
20
Get 1000 depth charge kills

Life Aquatic
15
Upgrade all units, all races to level 3

Lord of the Deep
35
Get 10,000 kills


Reviews:

Team Xbox: 8.8 Editor's Choice Award
http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1435/Undertow/p1/


IGN XBOX 360: 8.7 Editor's Choice Award
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/836/836872p1.html
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Here we are, the official Microsoft press release bit


"Undertow" redefines aquatic based shooters through a mix of high-definition graphics, intuitive controls and multiple modes of game play action. "Undertow" features a story driven single player campaign, on and offline co-op, and multiplayer for up to 16 players over Xbox LIVE. Players battle for control of the oceans as one of three selectable races, each with four unique, upgradeable units. "Undertow" will be available worldwide this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E10+.
• For more details on “Undertow,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/u/undertowxboxlivearcade/
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Also, we have a review of Undertow from TeamXbox.

http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1435/Undertow/p1/
 
nice op as always Shard, gona check out the demo now, impressions incoming,

IGN review comments peaked my interest.

So many games out at the mo hard for XBLA interest to hit, could this be the first non shitty release for the last couple of weeks?
 
Ok just completed the demo,

The in game graphics and sound are great, rumbley explosions and great effects.
(tho I have no idea how anyone could play this not in HD)


The controls well they are a little floaty (ba doom boom!), you can swim and dash around firing with the other stick tho I didnt quite get the feeling I was really tearing into anything with my guns.

Basically this game is a team terriorys game in the sea, you control a finite number of points on a map and for each point you control the ticker counts up (just like Battlefield).

You have a selection of 4 types of dude from suba guy to big slow missile firing sub. The sub guy is fast and get get through the maps nooks and crannys while the sub has to go a different route.

The demo is singleplayer only and 3 stages all the same tho some cut scenes try to tie it all together.

All the time I was playing I was thinking this could be a lot of fun in multi but the demo has no mulitplayer and looking at the leaderboards no friends have it yet so I havnt taken the plunge tho I almost did after firing it up as the polish of the game really stands out.

Also the leaderboards on this game do have a interesting feature for the nosey, they tell you how many people have (played) the game. So far they stand at a mighty 506 (it goes up a few every minute)

So tempted to buy just to check out the online & play with some real guys, maybe I'll wait till someone convinces me in this thread.
 
Gowans007 said:
Ok just completed the demo,
Click to expand...

Thanks for the impressions, I have had my eye on this game. I still have no idea what's going on after watching a bunch of videos about it, I'll have to wait until my internet comes back online later in the day before I can try it (grrr).

Anybody else?
 
PhlivoSong said:
Thanks for the impressions, I have had my eye on this game. I still have no idea what's going on after watching a bunch of videos about it, I'll have to wait until my internet comes back online later in the day before I can try it (grrr).

Anybody else?
Click to expand...

The online does have potential if it works 16 player and co-op option too, they really missed a trick with no online portion to the demo.



Also one thing I forgot to mention when I scribbled down my impressions earlier was some of the control points you need to capture aren't clear at all on the stages, I just found myself swimming around at random till the a button popped up at the bottom letting me know I was in one.
 
I just finished playing the demo. It's a side-scrolling dual analog stick shooter, by the way, for anyone who can't tell from screens.

Things I like:

-There are four classes and three races, so that's a nice diversity for how you want to play (i.e., slow and powerful or quick and weak). It's also neat how there are multiple paths through the stages that benefit smaller classes as only they can fit

-The graphics are nice for XBLA

-The audio is nice, especially the water noise

-I like how they took a side-scroller and successfully incorporated territorial control from the FPS genre

-It seems like this game would be an absolute blast in multiplayer

Things I don't like:

-It needs a radar badly; I never know where to go or where the next capture point is

-Controls are a little imprecise

-Certain classes seems overpowered when upgraded to full (Corsair especially)

Overall, I like what I played, but I definitely think it will shine in competitive matches over Live. I might pick it up when there's a slow XBLA week down the line as I just ordered Fire Pro Returns, so that comes first for me.
 
I didn't even finish the demo (have to go finish grocery shopping), but I bought. It looks great and gameplay seem like a lot of fun so far. I'll get back to it when I make some headway in ME.
 
I have the demo now.

I turn on the 360 with my wireless controller, which is assigned as player 1. I start the demo. I can't do shit on the main menu of the demo, only the guide button works. I have my Rock Band shit plugged in.

Anyone else have this happen?
 
this game totally rules. Dled the demo last night, was 'hooked' (lolz) within ten minutes so I splashed out for the full version. Game looks freaking great, addicting as hell and really nicely presented (depth charges look extra sexy). But yeah a triumph all round. Ludicrous story VA and characters add to the fun.

My Xbl tag is Sceneman if anyone wants to rock some co-op or vs. and score some achievements :D
 
This is a great game, too bad it's getting buried under a lot of the big releases in the last few weeks. Took a break from my continual Mass Effect marathons last night to give it a shot and ended up playing for 3 hours.

It really reminds me of many Dreamcast games, especially Bangai-o, or at least what I remember of it.
 
im really hoping this game is a success, chair could do amazing things with a full game

advent rising was a great game idea that was hindered by last gen hardware
 
Played the demo for a little bit, just the first level. It seemed like a decent shooter, but the "campaign" level felt like a MP level with lots of bots. Secure one base, go to the next, swim back to the other, then back again...

Not for me. But I can see the 16-player MP being really fun.
 
AdmiralViscen said:
I have the demo now.

I turn on the 360 with my wireless controller, which is assigned as player 1. I start the demo. I can't do shit on the main menu of the demo, only the guide button works. I have my Rock Band shit plugged in.

Anyone else have this happen?
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me and did have Rock Band stuff plugged in, havent tried with out.
 
VALIS said:
This is a great game, too bad it's getting buried under a lot of the big releases in the last few weeks. Took a break from my continual Mass Effect marathons last night to give it a shot and ended up playing for 3 hours.

It really reminds me of many Dreamcast games, especially Bangai-o, or at least what I remember of it.
Click to expand...
Any shooter as good as Bangai-o is an instant buy for me. I dl'd the demo but I'm so backlogged I probably won't get around to playing until next week.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Played the demo for a little bit, just the first level. It seemed like a decent shooter, but the "campaign" level felt like a MP level with lots of bots. Secure one base, go to the next, swim back to the other, then back again...

Not for me. But I can see the 16-player MP being really fun.
Click to expand...


Pretty much what I thought too. Didn't like it at all. Can you play local split screen multi? How about system link? It might be a fun party game, but I don't think I'd bother to play it online.
 
Maybe more people will pick this game up after they get done with ME or COD4 or H3 or.....hell theres to many good games out right now. Sad really this seems be to such an awesome game.
 
I think the regulars got so demoralized over the past few weeks that something completely unknown seems scary and painful now.
 
I played the demo but thought it was pretty lame. Plus since I'm on a 512 connection against Americans, Online play would be horrible for me :(
 
Shard said:
There have been a few people that have said as much for similarly vague reasons.
Click to expand...
To be less vague, the demo made it feel like it was a multiplayer game with a campaign tacked on to the same level, and with the same goals. I tend to play games primarily for the single-player content, so I was hoping for a more fleshed-out game than the demo showed. It looked like the campaign plays like a bots-only game of territories/pole grab, which sounds like a training mode for MP. I was hoping for something differed.
 
GhaleonEB said:
To be less vague, the demo made it feel like it was a multiplayer game with a campaign tacked on to the same level, and with the same goals. I tend to play games primarily for the single-player content, so a campaign that plays like a bots-only game of territories/pole grab didn't appeal to me.
Click to expand...


Yea, I got that impression as well, multi-player is certainly the focus in Undertow.
 
The Undertow devs host some matches every Tuesday, so if you are looking for some people online that might be the best time.

The XBox 360's awesome library of shooters is actually working against titles like Undertow right now. MS needs to do a temp price drop along with some heavy advertisement to get the numbers up for this game. It went unnoticed because of all the heavy hitters released this winter.
 
So this is free as of now yeah?

Guess I'll hit up the online when I get back from work as the online fills up,
hopefully it will be fun.
 
Gowans007 said:
So this is free as of now yeah?

Guess I'll hit up the online when I get back from work as the online fills up,
hopefully it will be fun.
Click to expand...

It becomes free on Wednesday.
 
Glad I didn't buy it though I wanted it. I am so sad to see how little replies this thread had got. I was all up in ChairEntertainment's grill about this game when I had first read about it trying to get a review copy, then seen the IGN preview that was up (way way before the demo was out).
 
Can't wait to finally get this on Wednesday. Maybe with all the free downloads this thread will finally get some attention.
 
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