For someone who has never played Vampire Survivor, I sure have reviewed lots of clones of it!  I’ve reviewed ones with cats, frogs, and even wizards.  And now here’s one with submarines!  The creatures of the ocean have become monstrous and violent due to toxic waste, and it’s up to you to pilot your cute little submarine to shoot them and save the day.  Submarine Survivor is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

Before you start, you view a dock where you can do several things.  You can buy gradual upgrades for your submarine so it can take more damage, dish out more hurt, and go faster, plus much more.  You can also get new submarines with different powers and view how to play and toggle options.  When you are ready, start the mission and view a map.  Each square on the map is a mission where you must last for a certain amount of time.  The missions will have different obstacles for you to avoid, like mines, toxic waters, storms, etc.

During these missions, you view the action in 2-D sidescrolling perspective.  Your weapons will fire automatically, and all you have to do is dodge the fish.  Defeated enemies leave behind little gold triangles you can pick up.  Get enough to level up, and you can choose a temporary upgrade for your sub.  These could be new weapons or a stat boost.  When you last for the allotted amount of time, you can move onto the next map mission.  But if you lose all your energy, you must start the entire map missions over again.  Which will happen and it makes the game progression slog, which is ultimately why I lost interest.  Also the text is way too small.  These Vampire Survivor clones haven’t convinced me to play the original yet!

Kid Factor:

Submarine Survivor is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You shoot cartoony fish that dissipate when defeated and that’s it.  Reading skill is a must, and younger gamers may get frustrated and bored with this one.

Tags: Game Reviews