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Game Information
Release Date: September 1, 2004
Developers: Flying Bear Entertainment
Publishers: PopCap Games
Platforms: Windows Mobile, Java, Windows, Palm OS
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1

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Synopsis
Dive into wild arcade action as you feed fish and fight aliens in the craziest aquarium around! Control and protect a colorful aquarium with fantastic fish and colorful sea creatures by keeping your friendly fish fed and happy... and safe from alien intruders!

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Gameplay
The sole purpose of this game is to grow your fish so they can produce coin for the player to collect. The coin that is collected can be used for a variety of things. From purchasing more guppies, upgrading fish food, upgrading the laser gun, buy unique fish, and purchase the pieces of egg in order to complete the level. Seems a bit simple but it really isn't. While players raise their fish to grow and drop endless amounts of coin, these aliens will appear at random intervals that will attempt to kill all the player's fish in the tank. That where the lasers come in use. Depending on where the player is aiming at on the aliens, that will move the alien in the direction away from their fish. By shooting the alien in the tail, it will cause the alien to rise and shooting it in the head will cause it to descend to the bottom. Also shooting the alien on either side will cause it to move in the opposite direction of it being shot at. When dropping pieces of food to feed the fish, the player is deducted five dollars from their bank which they are given two-hundred dollars at the beginning of each level. When a fish turns to a green color, that indicates that the fish is hungry and needs to be fed before it dies of starvation. When completing a level, players are awarded with special pets that will aid them in multiple ways from providing food for the fish instead of wasting coin to drop fish food, give birth to live guppies instead of buying, and aid players in fighting off the aliens. By progressing further into the game, the difficulty increases in terms of alien types that are stronger against the lasers and can only be killed by feeding the alien food. The prices for the egg pieces also cost a lot more money so players will have to keep their fish alive for a longer period of time in order to make enough coin to purchase all three pieces of the egg. During an alien attack, if the player manages to let an alien kill one of their fish, it doesn't mean the game is over. The game will end once the player has no fish left alive in the tank and the player restarts the level all over again.

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Graphics
Compared to the older version, the graphics will enhanced with a better quality than its predecessor or original version. On the deluxe version, the fish have a much better texture and the game ran much smoother. The game did lag at certain parts in the game which I experienced when the aliens would spawn in the tank, but merely lasted for a few seconds which didn't really alter the outcome of the gameplay. There weren't too many differences between the fish as the differences were mainly the colors on the fish and the few types of fish players could obtain from the shop. The special pets and alien types had better and more diverse features in comparison to just the main tank fish. Apart from the different colors of the aliens and pets, they all were shaped different, some were slimmer while others were bulky or fat to fit in with the type the aliens were. The eyes of the aliens and pets looked different in terms of shape, size, and color. The backgrounds of the tanks were minimal since there were only 5 different tanks to play on. But the tanks did have their own unique background and really didn't show any similarities to the other tanks in the game.The backgrounds featured mainly tall seaweed, grass, plants, and different colors which really seemed to balance well and looked quite appealing. Overall, the substantial graphics are pretty good but lacks diversity in vital parts in the game that players will probably notice.

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Controls
The controls are nothing too specialized for any player. The main control for this game is the mouse and really is the only thing players will be using throughout the duration of the game. If playing on a laptop, the control for the mouse would rather prove some difficulty since players will use their finger to track the sensor to collect currency and shoot the aliens that attack the fish. The mouse sensor on the laptop would often get stuck or not move when the player moves their finger, causing disruptions in the game and could alter the outcome of the game which could cause players some stress for the mouse malfunctioning. On a personal note, the game isn't best to played on a laptop because I had trouble of my own with the mouse not working properly and was irritating that this problem occurred often. Overall, the controls are basic but is ideal to play on a PC instead of a laptop.

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Rating
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8.2/10
Controls: 8.0/10
Overall: 8.3/10