The second, demonstrated recently by games like Deus Ex, No One Lives Forever 2 and Medal of Honour, interweave a storyline into the action of the game. Aquanox 2: Revelation sits firmly in the second camp, with the FPS-style action of the game interspersed with a strong, intricate and highly involved storyline.

Storyline
It is just a shame the storyline feels incredibly contrived. You play the part of William Drake, son of an extremely successful undersea trading family, although the family fortunes have suffered. The storyline is written with an intense naivety on the part of the main character despite his growing up as part of such a successful trading family. He is continually surprised by the people he comes across and their actions, and when he ventures out of his own for the first time - during the introductory story at the beginning - his trading ship is boarded immediately by pirates who then welcome him into their fold. Perhaps this is to drive the plot and to introduce the other primary characters in the story, yet it feels forced and unrealistic, especially as the plot device used to allow the pirates on board his ship - open cargo bay doors - is something that as a child growing up in a trading family would be unthinkable.

Once you are past the initial character introduction the storyline kicks in, and it is here that the game begins to take on a life of its own. Between each of the missions you undertake you must speak to each character to find out the next part of the story. In many ways it feels like a traditional point-and-click adventure game, with lots of talking to impart the story. However, you cannot proceed to the next mission without going through the entire story process between each mission. As this involves opening windows, clicking on each individual character, listening to the dialogue (or skipping past it quickly), then closing the window before moving on to the next person, at times getting through the story portion takes longer than the associated combat mission.

Game Play
Playing the game is very simple, with the controls being the familiar FPS controls with the addition of strafe up and strafe down keys, although to be honest you will rarely if ever use these keys. Also included is an auto-target key, very helpful for long-distance fighting as projectiles are guided to your target.

Throughout the game you will earn different vessels you can fly, and part of the game is equipping and choosing each vehicle depending on the mission you are about to undertake. There is a helpful auto-equip button that fits suitable armour and weaponry to you sub, although you can tweak the load out if this takes your fancy.

Controlling the vehicles is, as I said very familiar, except when it comes to strafing, as the view tilts when you strafe to one side, and rapid tap-strafing can very quickly make you dizzy.

Whilst participating in missions you are given clear objectives and clear guidance, with waypoints being automatically set for you. The auto-targeting system can be used not only to lock onto enemies, but to lock onto allies as well, allowing you to easily track the person you are supposed to be protecting or identify your wingmen in a co-operative mission.