Diver's Dream | PlayStation | 1998
Diver's Dream is a SCUBA diving action-adventure game, developed by KCE Sapporo, and published by Konami in 1998. Konami published this game in English only in Europe (1999). In Japan, this game was called Dolphin's Dream (1998). Diver's Dream was never released in the USA. Supposedly Diver's Dream was inspired by Luc Besson's movie The Big Blue (1988), I can neither confirm nor deny if that is true.
In Diver's Dream the player acts as a young SCUBA diving man seeking a lead on treasures to salvage. The player meets an old man named Roberto Meyer, who's life long dream is to explore the wreck of the ship "Gigantic Matilda". Together with Roberto and his grand daughter Olivia, the player sets out to find and explore "Gigantic Matilda". He knows that a series of keys sunken within the ship will open a door to the fantastic treasure within its bowels. This adventure does not happen initially though; of the eight missions in this game, the first three are spent away from Gigantic Matilda. The player starts out wearing just a pair of swim shorts, that's all the gear they have. In order to reach the great depths of the sea, the player's equipment needs to be bought (and upgraded throughout the game).
In every mission (sans the final) the player can salvage items to sell for profit. Items' worth isn't known until the player returns to town, and has the salvage evaluated by a local shop owner. The profits gained from selling the salvage is then used to buy better equipment (or restorative items) from another shop. The gameplay is semi-free roaming, meaning that the player gets to explore areas in missions as they see fit to do so. While diving, the aim is to collect salvage, fight off aggressive sea creatures, perhaps kill a target creature, or find a target item, and then return to the surface alive.
+An innovative idea for its time and platform.
+Decent CG cutscenes tell the plot convincingly.
+Strong oppressive atmosphere when diving.
+Voice acting is pretty good surprisingly.
+The OST is mostly pleasant.
-Level designs are highly restrictive and unimaginative.
-Dangerous sea creatures are unrealistically aggressive.
-Designers were all too happy to unleash deadly traps on the player.
-Sluggish controls/physics AND a bad camera.
-This game is overflowing with terribad design ideas.
While I deeply appreciate that Konami attempted to make a SCUBA diving action-adventure game, I have to say Diver's Dream did not live up to its namesake at all. This is not a game about diving in a beautiful blue ocean seeking treasure and admiring aquatic fauna. No, this is a game about clumsily navigating restrictive mazes, filled with traps and enemies, while searching for literal keys, all while a deadly timer slowly ticks down. That timer being your tiny air supply.
Every mission is just a series of caves or metallic tunnels, with the occasional room of various size. Take that kind of bland level design, and fill it with shocking jellyfish, poisonous lionfish, skin shredding barracuda, free falling boulders, gigantic deadly hermit crabs, eviscerating yellow fish (no idea what they were supposed to be), man-sized aggressive lobsters, or just a plain ol' man-eating great white. Now while fending off (speargun shooting) or avoiding such deadly resistance, you meanwhile attempt to not get lost in said labyrinth of hallways and doors, across multiple floors. In addition, usually seeking a key, and then trying to escape before your air runs out. If you dare have the audacity to swim fast, your health automatically dwindles. Yes folks, it literally kills you to swim quickly in this game.
Sure you have restoratives available, but your supply is highly limited. You might think that upgrading your gear would help. Well it can, if you can ever afford to do it. The good gear in this game is extremely expensive. So just find and sell salvage, right? Sure, except that the salvage you find is random. You never know what it will be worth. Most of the time, it's worth nothing. And thus to afford better gear, you will have to grind-dive missions over and over, collecting salvage, and selling it piecemeal. Hoping that you eventually find an item that will sell for good money, so you can actually upgrade your SCUBA tank, or get better flippers. None of that will help you though, when this game arbitrarily decides to kill you with a completely unforeseeable booby trap. If this all sounds like a lot of not fun, that's because you're paying attention.
I have beaten some wonderful SCUBA diving games in my time. Arika's works all come to mind; Everblue, Everblue 2, Endless Ocean, and Endless Ocean: Blue World. Also I will never forget the majesty of Aquanaut's Holiday: Hidden Memories. Unfortunately Diver's Dream isn't even remotely in the same league as said diving games. While I completely laud Konami for trying to make something innovative back in 1998, Konami's studio utterly failed to make a good game in doing so. Diver's Dream has zero respect for its player's free time, and is about as fun as having a stingray impale your genitals. This game was a diver's nightmare.
Ex's time to beat: 4 hours 45 minutes
Ex's rating: 4/10
PS Check out Konami's NSFW European ad for this game:
Absolutely false advertising, I can assure you.