Archimedean Dynasty is a piece of art. As a vehicle of interactive storytelling, it's masterfully done. The world is well-realized, the characters are likable, albeit short-lived, and the overall tone and atmosphere are great. The core gameplay is also well-designed and piloting your submarine, even with cursor controls (no mouselook, sorry), feels weighty and believable. This stuff alone is enough to warrant the 3 stars I gave it. Where AD fails spectacularly is being a piece of software. Crashes are common and simple commands may only work half the time. Event flags sometimes don't trigger and the missions themselves can be vague if not outright confusing. Endgame enemies pass thru walls without any explanation or attempt to handwave this oversight by the developers. They just do. The missions become increasingly similar and lengthy due to the sheer number and resilience of bullet-sponge enemies and the world building between missions runs thin, sometimes amounting to just 3 or 4 lines of dialog. Basically, the game overstays its welcome by a long shot. So prepare to really love a game for the first half and merely tolerate it the rest of the way thru.
