Seaman

If you're looking for something that will last forever, then Seaman is definitely your title. However, Seaman isn't for everyone. In fact, most people probably wont give it the fair shot it deserves, but if you're open minded and looking for something new, by all means get this game. Plus the microphone is just so cool!

Seaman is een angstaanjagende game die het gegeven 'virtual pet' een complete twist geeft. Gelukkig is Seaman een beetje een naar monster, anders was ik écht van 'm gaan houden!

There isn't much else I can say about it. Seaman is a game of observation, discovery and the miracles of nature replicated in a digital environment. Unsuspectingly, Seaman is also a game of socialization, self-introspection and can often behave like a digital therapist.

I had a really pleasant experience with Seaman, and would encourage anyone who wants a challenge (more than hand-eye coordination or reflex related) to check this game out and give it a shot. It may or may not be available for rent in your area, but if so, you should take the opportunity to play Seaman on a trial basis for a day or so before committing to go through the full monty, if I may put it that way. For your enjoyment, I have included some strategies for playing Seaman below this review, and I hope that you will find them useful in your endeavors. Note that the strategies contain spoilers, so if you want a fresh experience with Seaman, skip the rest of this article.

These are amazing creatures, but they are not quite human. Yet if the most is made of every moment of the Seaman's life, they may become as much alive as you and I ever will be.

This relatively short playtime and iffy voice recognition are the biggest areas where Seaman shows his years. While the environment is seriously bland, the creature himself is serviceably lifelike and his daily evolution is interesting enough to revist. Nintendogs might be the first time that this brand of voice recognition has really worked as intended, but Seaman is a surreal adventure with a certain brand of humor that is rarely achieved today.

I'll admit though, it's not much to look at. Graphics are very simple, just an aquarium and terrarium, and the inhabitants. But still it's the overall surrealistic experience that makes Seaman a blast. It should be mentioned though that Seaman should be taken in small doses, as it requires a lot of waiting and watching otherwise. He should be treated the same way Tamagotchis were in 1997; keep a close eye on him but you don't need to watch him for hours on end. As another one of Sega's unique experiences, Seaman scores 4 out of 5 gems. I only wish other companies could take chances like this instead of their usual repetition.

Personally, I'll stick with Nintendogs. They are far cuter and have a higher success rate as far as understanding commands are concerned. For the time, though, it was surprisingly sophisticated, and was one of the most unique gaming experiences on the market.

This game will provide a unique expirience to any gamer that plays it, well, except maybe those fine folks at Area 51 that are used to raising fish-men, anyways, this is a strange game from Vivarium that deserves to be in any DC-gamer’s library.

Besides talking to Seaman, you can also place items in the tank, tap on the glass, "flick" Seaman, and even pick him up. The controls are awkward however, and there's not much to do on any given day. But for a few minutes a day, Seaman is actually an interesting experiment.

Probably the sickest feature of this game is watching the Seaman mating process. I felt like I had walked in on my parents. Once a Seaman evolves into a Podfish—a fish with arms and legs—it will mate and later lay eggs that will spawn a new generation of Seamen.

While my impressions have been derived from a week's worth of play, it’s pretty easy to conclude that Seaman isn’t necessarily a game to place on your "must have" list, unless you just REALLY can’t do without a digital pet, or just want a game to mellow out to. Seaman is worthy of a rental, but everyone but the hardcore digital pet-raisers will want to rent this before even thinking about a purchase, just in case they don’t like the taste of Seaman (come on, you knew I was going to make that joke somewhere).