Retro Views: SeaQuest

What makes a video game? Besides putting a game into a console of some sort and seeing visual images move because of player input, what is it that binds all video games, from Pong all the way to L.A. Noire, together? There's a simple formula: objective + obstacle + interaction = video game. Obviously, this formula has been expanded upon and subverted and rearranged in countless ways over the last three decades, but the idea is still there, and is the foundation of the "game" part of video games.

Amongst classic Atari games, SeaQuest is just a little bit more complicated than that purified, gaming ideal. Indeed, whether it intends to or not, SeaQuest also tells a story, pushing this title a little further than its arcade-y origins might suggest.

From all appearances, SeaQuest is a shmup, albeit one set in a more interesting locale than your standard space or air shooter. In SeaQuest, you pilot a submarine and you have two objectives: the first is to do what you'd do in any shmup, which is to eliminate enemies (in this case, a mixture of sharks and enemy submarines), but the second is where SeaQuest gets interesting – you also have to save people from the water from these dangers.

Interestingly, this makes your actions much more about protection rather than offense. Many enemies are completely unnecessary to destroy, as your primary goal is always to save the people, reinforced by the scoring system: while shooting enemies gains you 30 points a piece, saving people nets you a 100. As well, you're scored on how much oxygen you have in the tank at the end of every level, making levels quite a bit more strategic than they would initially appear.

Yes, this is obviously an antiquity, but there's some really solid design going on here. The ship itself moves faster going horizontally than it does vertically (just like a real submarine), and weighing the risk/reward of shooting enemies, saving people, and popping up for air is frantic, challenging and rewarding. And the suggested narrative of the game is kind of interesting as well – what caused all of these people to end up in the water? The game is as vague as anything from this era, but it's interesting nonetheless.

The final element of any classic game that inevitably gets added into the objective/obstacle formula is multiplication, and in SeaQuest, the obstacles get multiplied quickly. So quickly, in fact, that you might think that this was an arcade port of some sort. Instead, that was simply the modus operandi of game development in the 70s, and it makes SeaQuest a daunting game to beat. I don't even know if it can be beaten because I only got to the fourth level. With that being said, the game's patterns and strategy make it unbelievably addicting, too.

SeaQuest is a video game in a very pure sense. In fact, it's its game-like qualities that make it so engaging, vague suggestions of a narrative and everything. Maybe it won't expand your mind, but it will expand your reflexes, and in that way, SeaQuest is one of the very best 2600 games I've ever played.

If you would like to have a video game reviewed by myself, please check out this post and suggest a game!