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BLACK SEA TREASURE HUNTERS (SPC)
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Publisher: Cronosoft.
Developer: Mananuk. Released: 2021. Genre: 2D Platformer. Posted 14th April 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
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It’s easy to sell Black Sea Treasure Hunters in just one sentence: Jet Set Willy, underwater. This 2021 aftermarket title doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel. It’s an endearing throwback to the more open-ended ZX Spectrum platformers, where the aim is to collect all the treasure strewn across the Black Sea. As you’d imagine, this isn’t quite as straightforward as it sounds, with a labyrinthine layout, time-limited oxygen reserves and a myriad of lurking dangers combining for an engaging challenge.
The location is the hook. The player controls a small submersible capable of moving in all directions on a 2D plane. It’s all underwater, so there’s no jumping and indeed the game uses only directional controls, meaning it’s especially well-suited to pads and joysticks. The gameplay revolves almost entirely around quick timing, with the occasional need for precision inputs. There are all manner of quirky trinkets to collect along the way (including a CRT monitor, a magic lamp and a portable games console), whilst most screens carry a unique name, a nice homage that adds to its personality.
You have to be very, very careful around marine mines, they can make or break a playthrough
If you've ever dreamt of combing the ocean floor looking for long-lost treasure, then you’re going to have a lot of fun here. The submarine controls with consistency and the trial-and-error nature of the game, learning the different routes and the best order to tackle certain sections, feels rewarding and rather absorbing. For the most part, the collision parameters are good. There’s room to move around traps and enemies without having to count pixels and I only encountered a couple of pieces of scenery that caused snagging. The player does have to be vigilant however for stalagmites and stalactites which, between their dark blue appearance and unforgiving hitboxes, can easily rob you of health.
Black Sea Treasure Hunters doesn’t pull up trees on the technical front, opting to eschew the breakthroughs afforded by the ultra-colourful Nirvana engine, in favour of a less busy appearance that’s in keeping with the titles that inspired it. Its generally tidy appearance, neat colour scheme and room-by-room variety is nicely evocative of mid-eighties Spectrum adventuring. The Black Sea is an inviting location for an 8-bit adventure, which nails down the platforming fundamentals and lets its gameplay do the heavy lifting. The action is accompanied by nautical-flavoured background music, which creates a melancholic atmosphere that’s also somehow quite catchy.
Black Sea Treasure Hunters doesn’t pull up trees on the technical front, opting to eschew the breakthroughs afforded by the ultra-colourful Nirvana engine, in favour of a less busy appearance that’s in keeping with the titles that inspired it. Its generally tidy appearance, neat colour scheme and room-by-room variety is nicely evocative of mid-eighties Spectrum adventuring. The Black Sea is an inviting location for an 8-bit adventure, which nails down the platforming fundamentals and lets its gameplay do the heavy lifting. The action is accompanied by nautical-flavoured background music, which creates a melancholic atmosphere that’s also somehow quite catchy.
FOCAL POINT: TRIDENT TESTED
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Deep within the caves of the Black Sea, there’s a single fetch quest to be tackled. In an area known as ‘Deepness of Hell’, you’ll encounter what is presumably Poseidon, requesting the return of his trident. Should you retrieve it further along the line and return it to him, the God of the Sea will offer you his thanks and, of more immediate practical use, a precious extra life. This is hugely beneficial in a game that has no health or life pick-ups whatsoever and might prove the pivotal difference in mounting a successful quest.
A little like the game itself, in fact. It’s quietly addictive and though you may not be bowled over by its presentation, BSTH’s gameplay design is good enough to keep reeling you back in, again and again. It gets under the skin, without you really noticing. What I thought would be 10-20 minute sessions often ballooned to more like an hour which, given its brisk pace and constant gameplay challenges, represents some quality playtime.
There’s a myriad of hazardous wildlife waiting beneath the waves. Early foes follow fairly rudimentary patterns like the jellyfish, water spiders and sharks. Things get a little trickier when you encounter pirate submarines and frogfish, as these bounce off the scenery, suddenly changing course. The deadliest foe is the deceptively cute abyssal sucker, a diminutive yellow creature that homes in on the player’s position, stripping you of loads of health if you don’t plan accordingly. The range of aquatic foes is really good.
There’s a myriad of hazardous wildlife waiting beneath the waves. Early foes follow fairly rudimentary patterns like the jellyfish, water spiders and sharks. Things get a little trickier when you encounter pirate submarines and frogfish, as these bounce off the scenery, suddenly changing course. The deadliest foe is the deceptively cute abyssal sucker, a diminutive yellow creature that homes in on the player’s position, stripping you of loads of health if you don’t plan accordingly. The range of aquatic foes is really good.
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Different foes represent different dangers, whilst the player must also be careful for environmental hazards
Perhaps the most damaging elements of all however are posed by the environment. Marine mines are particularly fiendish, killing the player instantly upon contact. Adding to their slippery nature is that some fall as you approach and others just after you pass them, whilst it’s also worth noting that some mines drop differently depending on which side of the screen you enter from. BSTH is a little shorter than Jet Set Willy or the Dizzy games. You can speed run the game in around fifteen minutes, but it require several days play to fully get the lie of the levels and string together a clean run. The game finishes with a loving nod to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with a room named ‘the penitent will pass’ tasking the player with solving a sequence puzzle to open a final room. The final treasure lying in wait is, you guessed it, the Holy Grail itself.
It would have been nice to have a more elaborate scoring system, to factor in lives/health remaining or completion time, as either would have added replay value. This is only a small gripe, however. For collectors and fans of the original hardware, Black Sea Treasure Hunters is available in cassette form courtesy of aftermarket publishers Cronosoft, for a very reasonable £7. If you fancy the experience but are less enamoured with packaging, the digital version is a little under £2. For a few evenings of immersive old-school fun, this is definitely worth the cost of admission.
It would have been nice to have a more elaborate scoring system, to factor in lives/health remaining or completion time, as either would have added replay value. This is only a small gripe, however. For collectors and fans of the original hardware, Black Sea Treasure Hunters is available in cassette form courtesy of aftermarket publishers Cronosoft, for a very reasonable £7. If you fancy the experience but are less enamoured with packaging, the digital version is a little under £2. For a few evenings of immersive old-school fun, this is definitely worth the cost of admission.
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VERDICT
"Black Sea Treasure Hunters doesn’t pull up trees on the technical front... but it is an endearing tribute to adventures of the mid-eighties, with gameplay design that's good enough to keep reeling you back in, again and again." OVERALL: 7/10 |