The Otterman Empire

Tri-Heart Interactive’s The Otterman Empire is described as being “a fast action, party shooter, set in otter space”. You take control of a cute little Otter (or other creature) with a water jetpack, which is your main weapon and also doubles as a little hover tool to give you a boost when moving around. It definitely has an air of Splatoon to it, with the gameplay style as well as refilling ammo by diving in to nearby bodies of water, and having the ability to hide in said water. The evil scientist, Tiko, has declared war - and it’s up to your ragtag band of animals to stop him.

Consisting of a solo campaign and a couch-coop mode for up to four players; oddly there’s no online mode, which feels like they’ve missed a trick, as an online mode would have given the game something a bit more substantial to it. Level objectives are given via a blueprint at the start of each level and are very brief, not going into very much detail, which can cause a bit of confusion at times as to what you actually have to do. There are eight main areas, with three sub-levels in each with the end goals of achieving three stars, for a total of nine per area.

It has this really cute art style, with plenty of bright colours and adorably designed characters. You’ve got an Otter (of course), as well as a variety of other creatures to choose from including a Turtle and a Crocodile, and as your chosen hero you’ll take on a bunch of different challenges that help to keep things somewhat fresh and varied - although there were still a lot of noticeable flaws, such as texture issues and a clear winner in terms of which character everyone would fight to play as in multiplayer (since they’re so much stronger). Sound design is fairly average, with a somewhat sci-fi soundtrack that is okay, but feels lacking due to the absence of any voice acting as well as some sound effects.

Controls are pretty janky, with many actions being triggered by the same button. This can make movement feel very sporadic and stuttered at times, and really ruins the flow of things. There’s a fair bit of grinding required due to the star rating system too, as subsequent levels are unlocked by gaining a star in the prior level, but multiple will be needed to unlock the next area, so you’ll often find yourself struggling to progress and needing to replay levels to try and gain extra stars - and whilst this is a natural part of many games, it feels clunky and unnecessary here.

Priced at £19.99 on the Xbox Store, I do feel that this is a little on the high side for what the game is, particularly with no online modes. It’s a fairly average party game, but one that requires quite a lot of patience to contend with, and - in all honesty - there are better party games out there; ones that actually give you enough of a desire to keep coming back to. It feels like a game much older than it is, considering that it was released more than four years after Splatoon - its clear inspiration - but lacks a lot of polish that could have saved it, leaving it feeling like a PS2-era title, rather than a recent one. There’s potential here, don’t get me wrong, but in its current state, it’s just not worth the money, or the effort.

In the end, we decided to give The Otterman Empire the Collecting Asylum rating of 5/10.

Have you played The Otterman Empire yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Tri-Heart Interactive for The Otterman Empire Xbox review code!