I’m not sure what it is about the Unreal engine that makes it so appealing for non-first-person titles. Latest on this list of unusual engine adoptions is Undertow, a side-scrolling action game with a heavy dose of 3D graphical beauty, omni-directional territory-based combat, and multiplayer co-op action to boot.

The game is set up in an aquatic future where an alien race somehow has managed to melt Earth’s polar ice caps, resulting in the entire planet becoming submerged. Three factions have emerged as a result; the “Iron Marines” - consisting of a mish-mash of the planet’s previous territories who are attempting to survive the sudden cataclysm - the “Nemoidian” faction, who were set up underwater long before-hand and consider the sudden wave of exiled surface-dwellers as trespassers, and the Atlantians, an ancient race who have come forth to claim the civilization they lost so long ago.

The most impressive thing about all of this is the game’s production values; the design team has wrapped the entire package around a multi-episode campaign, complete with cutscenes, scripted events, and voice acting to help move the story forward.

The game more or less plays like the Battlefield series in some respects; the average session is based around two teams, each with a set of tickets to respawn. Gaining control of strategic points around each map will eventually start to drain the opposing team’s ticket count, until they either run dry or have no further areas to respawn from. There are four character classes to choose from, which range from light swimmers with rapid-fire spear guns, to heavy, slow-moving submarines with torpedo launchers. Controlling the game is a snap; the left analog stick is used for 4-way movement, while the right stick is used for firing in specific directions. All class types have infinite ammo for their primary weapons, but can also collect limited quantities depth charges (dropped with the left trigger) that will go off after a set time, or after colliding with something. Scoring kills with a given class will also net you points, which can eventually be used to upgrade that class for the rest of the round.

This makes for some fast-paced gameplay wrapped around a gorgeous implementation of the latest Unreal engine technology, which augments the underwater environment with powerful explosions, an appropriately subtle bloom implementation, and other impressive shader-driven effects. Each match consistently turns into a frenzy of gunfire, detonations, and wreckage flailing about, which looks stunning right up until you’re caught in the middle of it. However, after playing several campaign, skirmish, and multiplayer matches, this trend of non-stop chaos for each match became a little monotonous.

While fast and furious gameplay is something players of all caliber should have no problem with initially, it just doesn’t feel like there is enough variety in this game to have long-term appeal. All four of the classes technically function in the same way, and vary based on their speed and durability. This realization makes the game lose quite a bit of its magic – I really would have loved to see a bit more of a variance between the separate classes, such as deployable items or specialized weapons. As it stands, the most effective and common strategy to winning at the game is to use swarm tactics and pray that either your side comes out on top, or that somebody is able to sneak around and steal the opposing team’s bases out from under them.

And this ultimately is what I feel kills the long-term staying power of Undertow. I do give it sizable bonus points for having some semblance of an actual storyline for the campaign, as well as an enjoyable co-operative gameplay mode, but even the story missions turn into the same generic “be the team with the most remaining tickets” style of play, with the occasional boss battle thrown in for good measure. I would comment further on the competitive side of multiplayer, but as of the moment it’s difficult to find servers that aren’t simply filled to the brim with bot players.

This basically puts Undertow down as a very beautiful, very enticing Arcade title, but one that can quickly lose its luster after some time. There will be a very heavy draw to this game for people who just want to pick up something and cruise around underwater while engaging in unadulterated mayhem (especially for the 800 point selling price), but don’t expect infinite staying power.