| Operation Neptune | |
| Developer: | The Learning Company |
| Publisher: | The Learning Company |
| Released: | [1] |
| Genre: | Educational |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Platforms: | MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh |
Operation Neptune is an educational computer game produced in 1991 by The Learning Company. The goal of the game is to guide a small submarine through a variety of undersea caverns, collecting pieces of a ruined space capsule. Like other games by The Learning Company, Operation Neptune is educational and was intended for players age nine to fourteen (grades three through ten).[2] It was released as part of the Super Solvers series for a time.
A team of astronauts and scientists have begun a secret research project on a distant planet. The research team's results were sent back to Earth on the "Galaxy space capsule", which malfunctioned, crashed into the ocean, and broke into many pieces. The capsule included several data canisters, each of which contains small snippets of the scientists' story, which is revealed to the player as the game progresses and data canisters are found. The capsule also contained some toxic chemicals, which have begun to leak out and threaten the health of the world's sea life. A recovery mission, code-named Operation Neptune, is sent to recover the pieces of the capsule.[3]
The game consists of two campaigns, called Voyager Game and Expert Game; the player selects one when creating a new save file. In both campaigns, the player must complete sixteen levels, called Sectors, which are distributed across five Zones:[4] Dragon Reef, Fossil Trench, Limestone Ridge, Sea Forest, and Hammerhead.
The game is action-oriented for the most part. In each Sector, the player's goal is to navigate a submarine (the Neptune) through maze-like passages, collect every data capsule, and reach the supply station at the end. The box cover illustration rendered by Marc Ericksen depicts the Neptune submarine recovery vehicle hovering above the basin of Fossil Trench recovering glowing toxic data capsules.
The levels are presented in a flip-screen fashion. Along the way the player will encounter various aggressive and/or territorial sea creatures, which usually move about the level and perform actions in predictable and repeating patterns, as well as non-living hazards like sharp rocks and undersea volcanoes. If the Neptune makes contact with an enemy or hazard, it will lose Oxygen.
The Neptune is capable of firing ink pellets to stun sea creatures and render them harmless to touch, in the manner of an octopus or squid. However, the functionality of ink pellets is limited; enemies stunned in this way will recover and resume their dangerous behavior after a few seconds. Furthermore, the ink pellets are fired in a straight line from the nose of the Neptune, so the player must carefully aim their shots at their intended targets. Finally, the player is limited to only 21 ink pellets per Sector, with no way to replenish their supply during the level. Thus, the player cannot rely on ink pellets to keep the Neptune out of danger, and should only use them in desperate situations. In the Final Sector of either campaign, ink pellets are rendered entirely (or almost entirely) ineffective.
To reliably avoid loss of Oxygen and conserve ink pellets, the player must exercise skill in avoiding enemy formations. Whenever the Neptune enters a new screen, the player is expected to stop and study the behavior of upcoming obstacles, plan their movements in advance, and then execute those movements successfully.
The game will frequently break away from the action-oriented gameplay to present the player with math problems to solve. In problem-solving mode, the game employs a distinctly different interface, presenting text on one side of the screen and an illustration on the other. The math challenge takes the form of a word problem, and it is up to the player to determine the order of operations involved and arrive at the correct solution. Inputting an incorrect solution causes the player to lose Oxygen. If the Neptune survives the problem, the game then returns to action-game mode, resuming precisely where the player left off.
Each Sector contains three invisible and unavoidable trigger points; when the Neptune crosses one of these trigger points, a chime plays and a beacon on the Neptune flashes. These trigger points are generally placed a safe distance away from enemies and hazards, so that the player will not be distracted during a difficult maneuver. After a few seconds, the game switches to problem-solving mode, and presents a word problem randomly selected from a set of problems appropriate for the current difficulty setting. The word problems are themed after situations that might concern a submarine pilot on a scientific expedition.
The Final Sector features no math problems.
At the start of a new game, the Neptune has four Oxygen units (health) and two Oxygen Tanks (lives). If the Neptune runs out of Oxygen at any point, the Neptune is destroyed. When this happens, if the player has at least one Oxygen Tank available, they are sent back to the last checkpoint. Otherwise, the player loses all progress made in the current Sector, the Neptune is sent back to the start of the current Sector, all collectible items are returned to their original positions, and all previously solved math problems have to be solved again.
Touching any enemy or hazard causes the Neptune to lose one Oxygen unit. When Oxygen is lost in this way, if the Neptune still has Oxygen remaining, the Neptune is granted temporary invulnerability, allowing them to escape immediate danger and prevent further loss of Oxygen.
Giving an incorrect answer while in problem-solving mode also costs one Oxygen unit. While in problem-solving mode, if the Neptune has at least three Oxygen units to start with, and gives two incorrect answers, the game will display the correct solution to the problem and allow the player to continue as though the problem had been solved normally.
In most Sectors, a dolphin named Zoom appears in one of the screens. If the Neptune touches Zoom, one of two beneficial effects happen: either the Neptune's Oxygen is restored to full, or (if the Neptune currently has full Oxygen) the Neptune gets one extra Tank. The player is limited to six Tanks. In many cases, when the player reaches the screen where Zoom is located, Zoom will immediately attempt to swim off-screen, and the player must catch him before he escapes; if Zoom escapes the player this way, he will not respawn unless the player loses a Tank or reloads the game. Zoom does not appear in the Third Sector of Fossil Trench, nor the Final Sector.
In the Final Sector, all enemies and hazards destroy the Neptune in one hit, and there are no checkpoints.
While the Neptune travels through the same five zones in each campaign, the level layouts found in Expert Game are quite different from those found in the Voyager Game. In the Expert Game, hazards are placed in more dangerous arrangements, the enemies move in trickier patterns and have new attacks, and some screens feature strong ocean currents which push and pull the Neptune in unexpected and undesirable ways.
In the Voyager Game, the Final Sector features four slow but large sea creatures which destroy the Neptune in a single hit; ink pellets are completely ineffective against them. In the Expert Game, the stage is filled with many fast and aggressive sharks; ink pellets only stun these sharks for a fraction of a second, but this can be used to alter their patrol patterns and make screens safer to cross.