Wetrix

The second level of Wetrix, an isometric puzzle video game. As an L-shaped Upper is about to fall, so is an ice cube that will freeze the water. There is also a rainbow filling the currently-made rivers.

Wetrix is an isometric puzzle video game where the player, on a square landscape, produces mounds to hold water bubbles falling from the sky.[1] Uppers, pieces that raise a part of the landscape that come in the shapes of rectangles, squares, and T-shapes, create walls for the lakes, while Downers do the opposite.[2][3] If there is no wall in its way, water will seep off the edges and into a drain represented by a water meter; the game ends once it is full.[4] Fireballs pop up which can evaporate water, which gives the player an amount of points depending on how much water was vaporized. By evaporating water with fireballs, the player is also able to reduce the level of the drain in order to avoid losing.[4] There are also hazards that ruin the player's structure, such as Mines which blast holes into the ground, Ice Cubes that freeze the water, and earthquakes that quickly turn the landscape flat once it is too high.[2][4]

In addition to the regular Classic mode, Wetrix has Pro, which quickens the speed of the game, and Practice, which teaches basic rules.[1] Challenge modes include those that end after a certain amount of time, such as one minute and five minutes, and others that must be survived within a number of pieces, including 100 and 500.[1][3] There are also Handicap modes that start a game with a half-full water drain, an ice layer, Raised Land, Random Land, and Random Holes.[1] The only multi-player feature is a two-player split screen battle mode, with the same goal as Classic but a different water meter with four colored spaces. One player can launch an attack at the other depending on which color space the water level is at; the meter also can not be lowered by evaporating a lake with a fireball.[4]

IGN was the first publication to announce Wetrix on 14 August 1997, although only the Nintendo 64 version. It revealed Zed Two to be the developer, Ocean the publisher, and with no screenshot, only had the following description: "players must create (or open) channels of water and evaporate it using balloons that also fall onto the screen. The more water you dispose of the more points you acquire."[10] On 12 March 1998, the cover art was revealed, and the date for the Nintendo 64 version was set at April 1998.[11] It was delayed to June 1998, IGN suspecting it was due to issues of manufacturing copies.[12]

Ocean released the Nintendo 64 version in May 1998 in Europe and on 16 June 1998 in North America, and Imagineer published it on 27 November 1998 in Japan.[13][14][15][16] It sold over 105,000 units in the West, and just above 12,000 in Japan.[7] Despite selling well, Wetrix had its budget cut by Infogrames, which was moved to other projects, feeling the puzzle title would not fit their reputation of producing "mega hit" games.[6] This prevented Ocean US from selling more copies of the Nintendo 64 version than they did, and caused a seven-player LAN mode the brothers worked on to remain unfinished.[6] The PC version was announced by Infogrames on 19 November 1998, and released on 15 January 1999, selling 30,000 copies worldwide.[7][17][18]

Ocean hired Imagineer to develop a Game Boy Color port. Although the IP rights were held between Ocean and Zed Two, the port's development began without the knowledge of the Pickfords.[7] The brothers were angry once they found out.[7] Ocean and Zed Two settled by having the latter hold intellectual property rights for future iterations.[7] John also created his own prototype of a Wetrix water level on the Game Boy Color, but Imagineer went with theirs instead.[7] The Dreamcast port, Wetrix+ was released by Xicat Interactive in the United States on 16 December 1999 with distribution handled by Acclaim Entertainment, and by Take-Two Interactive in Europe in April 2000.[19][20] A Japanese version of Wetrix for the Dreamcast, named Aquapanic, was commissioned but dropped near its completion, at the end of the console's lifespan.[7]

Wetrix received generally positive reviews, including one in Famitsu, which had the highest rating for a Western-developed product in years.[lower-alpha 1] A common highlight was its unique puzzle game concept, which Nintendo Power described as a mixture of Tetris and Populous (1989).[1][32][35][47] Due to the fact that it involves falling pieces, Wetrix was heavily compared to not only Tetris entries, but the Nintendo 64 titles Tetrisphere and Bust-A-Move 2 (1998).[lower-alpha 2] Edge considered Welltris (1990) the Tetris game most similar to Wetrix due to its use of falling pieces within a 3D perspective.[15] The Electric Playground critic Victor Lucas and Hyper journalists Eliot Fish and Tom Holloway found its spin on Tetris elements refreshing, given the amount of other titles that copied Tetris mechanics without doing anything innovative.[2][40][41] IGN's Trent C. Ward noted that with previous puzzle video games, "the further developers got from Tetris, the more annoyed people got", making Wetrix's success as both an original and enjoyable puzzle game profound.[44]

The high difficulty and steep learning curve generally garnered a mixed response; critics suggested that while it would appeal to hardcore puzzle game veterans, it may not be suited for all players, especially first-timers.[lower-alpha 3] Reviewers from Edge and N64 Magazine claimed an individual's first playthrough can end in seconds.[15][16] Lucas, a frequent player of puzzle gamers and self-admitted pro at Rampart (1990), which also involved building enclosures, was still in the first tutorial stage an hour into Wetrix.[2] The challenge was attributed to the controls, fast object dropping, and the randomization of what falls.[1][3][15][41] Official Nintendo Magazine found the Game Boy Color port inferior to the original Nintendo 64 release for its slower falling speed.[48] Also brought up was the game's addictiveness.[lower-alpha 4] It was attributed to the difficulty, high-score list, multipliers, different methods of earning points, visual rewards, and additional modes.[lower-alpha 5] Excitedly wrote N64 Magazine's James Price, "As it brooks little familiarity with lesser skilled players, you actually feel as if you're achieving something by reaching level 15 with an unbelievably high number of points."[16]

Supporters of the challenge argued that it teaches players to long-term plan and not panic over small water drains.[2][25][33][41] Detractors complained it was artificial and made the game more obnoxious than enjoyable.[28][29][32] Consoles + found the board too small to create enough lakes to handle the overwhelming amount of water.[29] Anne Royal of Computer Games Strategy Plus wrote that the slightest mistake could instantly end a play-through.[28] She and Schneider felt the game should have adequately accustomed beginners to the gameplay, and John Davison argued the amount of randomization between uppers and water was too much.[1][28][32] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot criticized the earthquake mechanic for effectively ending games, and opined it prevented Wetrix from being a truly amazing puzzle title.[37] The PC version was also criticized for its controls. GameSpot's Ron Dulin had trouble placing pieces with the mouse, and Ward struggled with the controls overall, especially the keyboard setups.[38][44]

Reviewers found it overly tricky to place pieces, most attributed to the limited camera mobility; there are only three choices for viewing the map, two distant ones that make seeing where pieces will land very difficult, and another too close to see the entire map.[1][2][41][47] Nintendo Power felt the issue was worsened by the controls not being sensitive enough.[47] The problem was also blamed on misleading shadows, made harder to focus on them due to distracting visuals.[25][30][36] The few angle choices also made looking for water trickles hard, not helped by the draining water's lack of graphical detail, argued Fish and Game Informer critics Jon and Reiner.[35][41] Official Nintendo Magazine criticized the Game Boy Color version's color palette for making it hard to notice the location of lakes.[48] Another point of critique was the general product's limited depth and replay-ability, where the experience wears thin after a few hours and was repetitive due to a lack of variation in gameplay and looks between stages.[3][32][34][46] Huhtala noted the maximum difficulty to be at the tenth level.[31] PC Zone journalist Paul Presley found Wetrix "colourful and flashy on the surface", but "staggeringly ordinary". His main criticism was that the typical appealing elements of puzzle games, such as simplicity, quirkiness, and addictiveness, felt forced instead of naturally executed.[49]

Opinions on the graphics ranged from Jon finding them "lame" and Fielder stating they need more finesse, to positive claims of taking advantage of console space even considering its simple style.[lower-alpha 6] Total 64's Simon argued it was mature in comparison to most other Nintendo 64 titles.[51] Most of the praise was directed at the water, particularly its realistic flowing, ripple effects, transparency and reflection mapping.[lower-alpha 7] Other praised aspects include the special effects, the vibrant color palette and psychedelic backgrounds.[lower-alpha 8] Less positively, a writer for Revista Oficial Dreamcast called them "colorful and little else", bashing them as so outdated they would be suitable in the 8-bit console era.[52] Wetrix's new age ambient techno soundtrack was well-received for suiting the gameplay, Schneider analogizing it as if Jean-Michel Jarre composed Top Gear Rally (1997).[1][2][25][46] The sound effects were positively-commented on, a common note being their accuracy to real-life environmental elements, such as the splashes, ripples, and evaporation of water and the explosion of bombs.[1][2][46][47] An Ultimate PC critic admitted the sound effects intensified the gameplay, stating the alarm "will almost certainly send a shiver down your spine".[50] Also highlighted was the electronically-altered announcer voice, which Bad Hare of GamePro compared to that of Wipeout XL (1996).[36][37] Schneider expressed being spooked out by it, and Lucas claimed the warble effect matched with the cute character designed.[2][1]

The two-player mode divided critics. Its supporters highlighted the competitive nature of the mode, a result of each player having to focus on keeping their own board intact while attacking the opponent.[41][50] Others were underwhelmed.[40] Schneider and Ricciardi found it weaker than two-player modes in other puzzle titles, such as Puzzle Bobble (1994) and those of the Tetris series.[1][32] A common complaint was the decreased size of each player's map as a result of the split-screen, making it even harder to see the pieces.[2][32] Official Nintendo Magazine reviewer Shaun White disliked the mode's slow pace, also expressing annoyance towards attacks temporarily obscuring the playing fields.[4] Fielder and Gantayat also criticized the lack of four-player modes, such as tournaments and two-on-twos.[3][43]

Wetrix's critical and commercial success inspired Imagineer to commission Zed Two to develop a sequel, Aqua Aqua (2000), which was a launch title for the PlayStation 2.[7] The gameplay remained largely unaltered, new features including a Story Mode with bosses and cute-looking characters that Imagineer commanded Zed Two to add to make the product more appealing to Japanese audiences.[7][53][54] Despite a positive critical reception and decent sales, there have been no further Wetrix titles.[7][55]

• Wetrix at MobyGames