Seaman

I’m sure most of you have heard of this bizarre little “game”, but many of you probably haven’t had the opportunity to play or see it. If you are into the unusual, enjoy life sims, or thought your Tamagotchi was a little too elementary, then Seaman is definitely for you. With outstanding AI, a very realistic development cycle, and an atmosphere that is just plain eerie, Seaman is destined to become the sleeper hit of the year.

If you plan on experiencing Seaman, there are a few things that you should be wary of. Seaman is quite candid, and if you don’t enjoy personal questions or humor about sex or religion, you may want to pass. Parents may not want their extremely young children to play (as if they would want to, anyways) -- it would be best to take heed of the “Teen” ESRB Rating. Furthermore, you must be prepared to dedicate a good chunk of time to Seaman every day, without fail, to see him evolve fully…expect to spend up to a month raising him. On the lighter side, Seaman can be a blast. He’s a great conversation piece with company (who wouldn’t wonder what the heck that fish thing with the Japanese face is swimming around your television set). If you keep Seaman happy during his evolution cycle, he will put many a smile on your face with his attitude and antics.

The game begins with a narration by none other than Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. He explains the discovery of the Seaman by one Dr. Jean-Paul Gasse and your subsequent research that is the basis of the game. You are charged to raise the Seaman and study his habitat and life cycle. You start with an empty aquarium, some food pellets, and a single egg. After you set the right amounts of oxygen and heat into the aquarium water, the egg will hatch and you will find six or so tiny little seaman tadpoles floating about your television. There is also a very hungry crab-like fellow that is sitting quietly in your tank, waiting for food. This little crab holds the key to the beginning of the Seaman’s life cycle - death begets life in the world of the Seaman…on more occasions than one.

The Japanese company Vivarium took great care in creating this simulation game. The Seaman’s AI is outstanding, and the voice recognition, while not nearly perfect, is certainly a break-through in console gaming. You can have only one Seaman habitat per VMU, and while you are playing, the VMU will clue you in when the Seaman has asked you a question and is waiting on the answer, so make sure that you keep an eye on your controller. The microphone that comes with the game plugs into the bottom port of your Dreamcast controller, and you must press the A button when speaking to Seaman. Make sure that you speak slowly and enunciate every word well, otherwise the Seaman may become confused with what you are saying.

As mentioned before, the Seaman can be candid. Once he gets a little older, he will begin to ask you many questions, some of which are personal. The manual that comes with the game (which is a must-read for any potential Seaman breeder) stresses the importance to being truthful to the Seaman, how the Seaman will catch you in a lie; I know not, but honesty IS a virtue, after all. Besides, divulging personal information to a virtual life-form can be cathartic in a strange way, although there is the possibility that Seaman may begin speaking of personal matters at a bad time (i.e., that company that was so interested in seeing Seaman) =)
Kidding aside, Seaman may not be the best friend you will ever have, but by the time the little guy moves on from your television screen, you will find yourself mixed in an array of proud sadness…much like your parents will feel or have already felt when sending you off into the real world.

The graphics in the simulation are also quite impressive…the Seaman’s movements are very lifelike, to say the least. His cherubic face animates naturally, and he is smoothly animated. Obviously I don’t think Seaman is pushing the polygonal limits of the Dreamcast, but there aren’t any car chases or explosions, either. I was thoroughly satisfied by the visual presentation of this game, and have no gripes.

Other than the narration and some sound effects, there isn’t a whole lot to the soundtrack for Seaman. No rock ’n' roll or rap playing in the background…not even classical. The game strays from the norm this way to add a more realistic approach to the game, but a sound track really isn’t needed anyways, and too much background noise while talking to Seaman could be a bad thing. The air bubbles from the vent in the back is just about all you’ll hear unless Nimoy, Seaman, or yourself are speaking. If you thump Seaman or pick him up out of the water, the sound effects will obviously correlate, but there really isn’t much more to say about this matter. The narrations and speech from the Seaman are all well done, and you won’t find yourself thinking of Seaman as a virtual face with a human actor behind him…the voice feels like it is truly Seaman, but this is all due to the presentation and style of the game.

Life sims have been around for a while now…most everyone has played either Sim City or Civilization at some point in their life. Seaman is a much more personal experience because it focuses on one life form (well, more than one in the beginning, but not more than three or so). It is basically a very advanced Tamagotchi. Sadly, Seaman isn’t portable (wouldn’t that be great!?), and it does have a definite ending. I would have liked to have a Seaman perpetually in its fish-like state -- perhaps one that doesn’t take as much care -- something you could leave running on your television for long periods of time as an interactive screensaver. While the concept may not be new, it is a step forward in the “virtual pet” niche, and, as mentioned before, a very large step forward in the Dreamcast development, not to mention consoles in general.

Final thoughts and game tips

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