Review scoopings 1/5 · Feb 18, 2022
Cool Concept, Astonishingly Bad Game
Look: 4/10 Incredibly mediocre for this era. The intro screen is really the only somewhat interesting part, otherwise this might be a 1980 adventure game or something heh. I mean, the key graphic is just a skinny block, the character too, etc. Maybe I've been spoiled by arcade graphics from this year, because those skyrocketed in quality, but even compared …
Look: 4/10
Incredibly mediocre for this era. The intro screen is really the only somewhat interesting part, otherwise this might be a 1980 adventure game or something heh. I mean, the key graphic is just a skinny block, the character too, etc. Maybe I've been spoiled by arcade graphics from this year, because those skyrocketed in quality, but even compared to '81 Atari graphics, this pales... 
Sound: 6/10 Annoying beeping sound (I get it, it's supposed to be submarine-esque, but meh). I should've been frustrated by the collision issues with obstacles, I liked the crunch sound too much to get too mad ha. The jump sound is annoying, and in the end, it all trumps the fun crunch sound.
Play: 3/10 It was hard, at first, to find info about this game. But I found the manual. I like that, instead of just going for a high score, it's sort of like an adventure game where you try to get the keys and make it to elevator. Even tho the collision masks were goofy, as usual with this year's Atari games, it made for some awesome crunch sounds ha. Definitely not very tight controls, especially for a platformer from this year, sometimes I magically pushed through obstacles, sometimes I would jump over it and then somehow land back in front of it, and also it lacks fluid movement during jumps. In other words, controls are not the strong point. Like, I kept wanting to give this another chance (which surely says something about the feel and attachment and overall concept of this game), but those controls are such a joke. I land on the obstacle and somehow shift over, I spend 4 of the seconds dealing with the clunky non-directional jumping to get the key, etc. And if gameplay is going to be timed, why should I have to start the timer with a jump--at least let me provide a direction for the jump lol. Yeah this game honestly sucks, I can't believe I gave it so many tries, if only it were better done... I mean, hey, at least I got past the first "floor" at least...
Feel: 5/10 Interesting concept, I like the feeling of rushing to the key then to the elevator. If only the controls and gameplay were tighter, but I was surprised that I pushed through, found the manual, and played it some more. No matter how surprised I am by that, the fact of the matter is--most the sounds are annoying, the graphics are mediocre as heck for this era, and the gameplay feels like a prototype. No matter how much I wanted to enjoy this game due to the concept of get-key-and-rush-to-elevator, this game really is poorly-done. I mean, cmon, at least include a graphic of you drowning when the 10 seconds run out! Ha. Too frustrating for this concept to be appreciated at all...
Attachment: 6/10 The fact I gave this so many tries, researched it, tried it again, etc. says a lot about how good the concept is and how the feel pushed me to want to like it. But yeah... this was real bad.