How to play
Your submarine patrols the lower part of a deep-sea reef. Torpedoes fire upward on their own; your job is to steer. Sea creatures drift down from above in waves, and touching one, or one of the bubbles the crabs spit, costs a life. Clear every creature in a wave to move on. Every fifth wave the creatures stay away and an anglerfish rises instead.
- Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD. P pauses.
- Touch or mouse: drag anywhere on the screen. The submarine follows a point just above your finger, so your hand never covers it.
- The first wave starts when you move.
The creatures
| Creature | Behaviour | Hits | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfish | Sinks slowly, swaying side to side; faster in later waves | 1 | 100 |
| Crab | Scuttles in from the side, drifts down, spits a bubble straight down every 1.5 s; sometimes drops a power-up | 2 | 200 |
| Mine | Sinks slowly; when it blows, everything within a wide radius goes with it | 1 | 150, plus 50 for every creature caught in the blast |
| Anglerfish | Boss on waves 5, 10, 15…; patrols the top and fires three-bubble fans aimed at you | 30, plus 10 per boss | 2,000, and it always drops a pearl and a power-up |
Creatures that sink past you simply leave; they score nothing but cost nothing either.
Power-ups and lives
- Pearl: 500 points.
- Shield: absorbs the next hit.
- Spread shot: three torpedoes per salvo for ten seconds.
You start with three lives and earn one more every 10,000 points, up to five. After losing a life the submarine returns to the middle with a few seconds of protection.
Strategy
- Shoot the mines near the crowd. A mine’s blast clears everything around it and wipes out bubbles too. Save a mine for when a crab is drifting past it.
- Stay low and keep moving sideways. Crab bubbles fall straight down, so a small sidestep is always enough; the danger is sitting still while a jellyfish sways into you.
- Line up under the boss, then step out. The anglerfish aims its fan at where you are. Fire from directly below, then slide to one side as the bubbles arrive, and back again.
- Grab shields before boss waves. A spare hit is worth more against the fan than anywhere else.
- Spread shot is for jellyfish swarms. Three torpedoes cover the sway, so you can hold position instead of chasing.
If you enjoy Torpedo Reef, try Trail Duel or Tug of War next.
