Clockwork Aquario Switch Review

Clockwork Aquario 

Developed By: Westone Bit Entertainment

Published By: ININ Games 

Date of Release: December 14, 2021 

Price: $19.99 

 

Well now, this was an unexpected one! An arcade action-adventure game that started it's development cycle in 1991 at the now defunct Westone Bit Entertainment, and ended up coming out in 2021! A world record breaking 30 years later (too bad for Duke Nukem Forever!), and Clockwork Aquario is now available to purchase and play for the Nintendo Switch (and PS4). It's a colourful pixel-art run and jump affair, and it looks absolutely impressive on the Switch in both handheld and docked mode with it's myriad of graphics options, including some great CRT effects. It feels like it would be perfectly at home on the Sega Saturn, with it's crisp sprites and detailed backgrounds.

The controls are as tight as can be, and that helps a lot as you hop and bop and pop your foes. Despite the game being short, clocking in at around 15-20 minutes, it's still worth replaying over and over, and once you finish the game once you unlock an arcade mode with infinite continues, though that might make things a bit too easy. There's a crapload of extras too, including two soundtracks, a gallery, multiplayer minigames, and plenty of settings to tinker with. It's clear that Clockwork Aquario had a lot of love poured into it's development. I definitely think that it's worth picking up, as it absolutely oozes charm.