Clockwork Aquario
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Clockwork Aquario
Clockwork Aquario is a fantastic action-platformer that blends quick-moving playable characters and enemies alongside an inventive attack strategy.
Clockwork Aquario has been a long time coming, but it was definitely worth the wait. An obvious labour of love, this ill-fated arcade gem has been improbably recovered, restored, and reassembled, and it never feels like anything less than a carefully unearthed treasure that's been polished until it shines. It won't take long to beat - and it shouldn't, because a good 30-year-old arcade platformer is supposed to be short and sweet - but what the game lacks in length it more than makes up for in entertainment and raw creativity, with stages pitting you against everything from mechanical flying fish to a gigantic egg-dropping robo-penguin. It's the sort of game you come back to again and again because you want to rather than have to, and we feel lucky to have it.
Clockwork Aquario is a restorative labour of love 27 years in the making. What’s not to like?
An obvious labour of love that finally provides a full release for one of the best looking 2D arcade games ever made, although it'd be wrong to paint it as a lost classic in terms of gameplay.
Clockwork Aquario is here. 30 years late, but soaked in old-school style. Westone Bit Entertainment’s final release would not win any awards for originality, but offers a short, fun, and attractive journey to the halcyon days of the ’90s arcade renaissance. The package on offer is a little thin, and the price will be a tad high for the average player’s taste, but important work has been done by publishers ININ Games and Strictly Limited — here’s hoping they will be rewarded in kind.
That such a project (so inspired by the love of retro) goes ahead is always a joy. The game itself blames certain imbalances in the difficulty curve and becomes somewhat short, but it is undoubtedly agile, friendly and direct, in the style of those arcades that stole the fourth decades ago, without it "hurting" us to empty the wallet.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Clockwork Aquario is a miracle of preservation, but that doesn't make it a game for everyone. Arcade fans will welcome it, but others will find it difficult to continue playing after finishing it the first time, and the scoring system isn't particularly creative. In any case, the low price should keep even the merely curious happy.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Clockwork Aquario is a product of its time. The short game length and high difficulty are similar to its 90s counterparts. Unfortunately, due to this, there aren’t many reasons to revisit the game after playing through the meager number of stages. The score-based gameplay is a fresh twist and makes for an addictive platforming experience. Gaining multipliers and working out routes is fun whether playing on your own or with a partner. Even with its beautiful, chunky pixel art and vivid backgrounds, the game’s shortage of content and high price, make this a forgettable re-emergence rather than a celebrated return.
