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Who cod believe it? Millenium's fishy agent is entering the sports arena. Will there be a motorpike and sidecarp section, and will Millenium be squids in? Steve Merrett breams a happy smile and joins James Pond on the beach.
NOT IN THE PLA(I)CE
Cod almighty, just what is the world coming to? First of all we experience a marked revival in the old Decathlon-style game, and then someone goes and throws a fish into the works! Is this the time or, indeed, the pla(i)ce for such escapades? No, not really.
Because, brave as this unusual marriage of themes is, Aquatics is a tired and very shallow (no pun intended) variant on the sports game theme, and no number of fish-related jokes are going to save it. To be fair, the actual idea is rather a good one. After all, the James Pond character has proved his flexibility in a way neither Mario nor Sonic have achieved, by starring in an arcade/adventure (James Pond) and a console-style platformer (Robocod), so why shouldn't he be adapted to appear in a sports game? There is no real reason why not, but Aquatics is hardly going to enhance the fishy agent's popularity or bridge the gap until Millenium's forthcoming James Pond III: Splash Gordon (The game would be published in 1994 as Operation Starfi5h).

As the game unveils its many options, the ever-present marine humour instantly comes to the fore. Taking a break from his exploits as a FI5H agent, Pond and his mates have started up a smaller version of the Olympics which consist of eight main events and two smaller sub-games. Thus, armed with a sturdy joystick and wrist muscles which would make Popeye weep, you step up to the starting line for the first of the events. There are several play modes available to the player, which include the ability to practice the events in any one of three difficulty modes, or play against up to three opponents. Once you have made your decision, you are assigned a trainer (amongst whom are Steve Clam, Billy The Squid and Mickey O'Shell) and the first of the events is loaded.

PRAWN FREE
To ease you into the proceedings, the first event is your run-of-the-mill 'waggle-the-stick-to-run-fast' affair. As soon as the starting signal is given, you must assume the normal waggling position and give it all you've got so that your onscreen Sebastian Roe (I'm getting into fish speak!) pegs it to the finishing line in winning time. Just to add a little extra to the familiar mix, water must also be sped across (Messiah-style) until you pass the post. Dpending on your time, the medals will then be handed out and it's on to a bout of Kipper Watching. Contrary to the event's name, this does not in fact watching a smelly yellow fish, but sees one Ceceelia Seal protecting her friends from a rather nasty torrent of beach balls. As the inflatable spheres come raining down, Ceceelia must leg it left and right, deflecting the balls with her nose. If, however, two of her friends are awoken by missed balls, then it's game over.

This is where one of Aquatics more annoying points crop up. With the events split between waggling and skill-based ideas, the difference in time between levels is massive. Thus, whilst the running and jumping sections are over in a matter of seconds, up to four tedious minutes of Seal-saving action await you – and as much fun as the Seal section initially is, after a while the novelty soon wears off. Another major problem is that the much-needed variety that sports games need is also missing. For instance, later on in the game, there is a section where a starfish must stop his friends from succumbing to the fishermen offering them sweets. Despite the change of graphics and slightly different slant to the gameplay, this is virtually identical to the Seal section and is inexcusable in a game that is already limited to eight sections.
MUSSELING IN
Other ideas in the game include a triple jump variant, a cycling scene and a particularly tedious bouncy castle stage where James must perform a set number of special moves within a predetermined time-limit. Tedious is not the word for this stage, and bouncing between two trampettes whilst effecting a selection of moves proves about as much fun as eating ear wax. It is a real pity that what appears to be a lack of ideas has let Aquatics down as some of the events can indeed prove rather fun. However, it is worth noting that it is the more skill-orientated stages, such as the triple jump and 'Leap Frog' hurdling events that prove enjoyable. Even these soon prove tiresome, though.
Admittedly, there are two bonus games thrown in for good measure, but even these don't add meat to an already stricken skeleton.

I really wanted to like Aquatics like Robocod which ranks as one of the best platformers I have played. Sadly, though, this undersea exercise program just doesn't cut the mustard and sadly wastes the character's potential. Let's hope Pond's next outing offers more sustained gameplay, rather than a sad collection of poorly thought out sporting events. If he had an expanding midriff in Robocod, why not make it flexible and add some of Pole Vault-style event? I'm going to clam up now, but Aquatics can sadly be summed up in a similar vein to its seaside setting. Wet.

CU Amiga, October 1992, p.p.58-59
BAK TO THE FUTURE
Placed alongside such coding veterans as Andrew Braybrook and Tony Crowther, Steve Bak is still relatively unknown. However, when you consider that Steve has broken down more than a few barriers in his time, this is almost unforgivable. For instance, starting with the humble Dragon 32, Steve virtually kept the ill-fated machine alive with his series of Cuthbert games. These were basically conversions of such coin-ops as Defender and Space Panic, but with the titular Cuthbert assuming the starring role. However, for a small army of Dragon owners, they were a lifeline. Logically enough with the advent of the 16-bit ST, Steve then proved critics wrong by getting the machine to scroll vertically. After much hoo-hah from numerous developers saying it was impossible, Steve produced Goldrunner, a limited but very fast vertically-scrolling blast which then left the cynics to moan that nobody could do the same with a horizontally scrolling game on the ST. Oops. Then along came Steve again, this time with Return to Genesis for Firebird, to prove them wrong. After a few lesser known titles (Leathernecks and Dogs Of War), Steve then embarked on the James Pond game for Millenium, teaming up with his (now) long-term partner of Chris Sorrell. However, Aquatics is a purely Steve Bak game, as Chris is currently busy on the fourth Pond game, which sees our hero launched into space.