As I queried in my entry to the DP Guide’s "PsychOphile", how can
you not like a game that features an "Angry River God"? Imagic was really into
the mythical entity thing for awhile if you think about it. Besides the Angry River God,
they also featured a longbow-wielding Norse God who protects the oppressed caribou in the
game Ice Trek. The only real problem I see with this is that the appearance of an
angry God does not necessarily mean you are going to die. I can just imagine the raucous
this must have created at the monthly "greater than thou" meetings in Valhalla.
"Do we punish the mortals for this injustice?", Loki must have asked,
"No, that won’t be necessary - they’re about to be introduced to the
Intellivision Computer add-on peripheral. That’s punishment enough", Odin
replied.
The game is all about being greedy, which gives it some points. Your goal is to raft-ride down a raging river, stopping at various points to snag treasure. You can’t just take it, or the Angry River God gets especially angry. Instead, you have to play a game of take one or take two (I’m sure there’s a real name for this game) with a native. If you lose the game, HE walks away with the trophy and you go back to the raft empty-handed. That river is a real bitch to navigate. There are rocks that cause members to fall into the water, shoals that your raft gets stuck in, and whirlpools that wreak havoc on your control. The raft riding is really the meat of the game - the trophy collecting is just a sub-game, in my opinion.
White Water also features some of the most suspenseful moments in classic gaming history. When a rafter gets thrown into the water, you can chase him down with the raft. Catch up, and he rejoins the rest. If you’ve played the game, can you ever forget the feeling of chasing down a rafter, getting stuck on some shoals and then watching him disappear down the river as you fight to get free? Or worse, watching him drift into and get sucked down a whirlpool? Gulp. It really makes you feel personally responsible, and the possibility of getting back a life that you’re probably supposed to lose really adds depth to the game.
This is one of those games you may have never heard of, but if you own an Intellivision, I urge you to seek this one out, even if it's just to piss the Angry River God off.
