Each map is laid out in a pretty large underwater labyrinth, full of different routes carved into the ocean's under bed that provides a variety of entry points into each location, or node, that you need to gain control of. Once you gain control of that location, you can then respawn there along with your teammates, and effectively cut off another location from your opponent, limiting their spawning points. If you've ever played a game of Arathi Basin in World of Warcraft, the formula to win here should be instantly recognizable.

To give the game a bit more variety, you're able to choose from four different classes. Each class has a variety of strengths and weaknesses, but I found that the Corsair class seemed to be my unit of choice for most campaigns. However, with the ability to switch classes on the fly (as long as you're not in firefight at the moment), you can generally find some use for all 4 classes.

Undertow also features a storyline spread out thru 3 different campaigns. The story itself is pretty over the top, and the voice work in cut scenes is sub-standard stuff. Thankfully you can skip over all of it and go straight to each mission, and you're not missing much if you do.

You can also opt to play thru the entire game with a buddy in campaign mode, and once you attempt the hardest difficulty this will probably be your best option. The opponent AI in Ultra mode can become a bit ridiculous in later levels, able to mass together huge swarms of Destroyers to steamroll over your bases, while on your side you can't really rally your forces and you have absolutely no control over what your side does, outside of your own personal unit. I would have liked to see some basic squad based commands, so I could perform some simple tactics in single player. This also becomes more frustrating if you're looking to find someone online to play with, because if you are, well, good luck.

Undertow features a pretty robust online experience, provided you can find people to play with. I had an immense amount of trouble in finding even one or two people online at different times of the day (EST), and I was only able to get into larger scale matches on the Tuesday night dev event. When you can connect, however, you won't notice much lag, and everything plays smoothly. It's a shame too, because this is the most fun you'll end up having with Undertow, but chances are you won't be able to get into a match often.

Undertow's visuals fall somewhere in the PS2/Xbox range of things, and don't hold up well against some of the more stylized XBLA games you've seen. However, since you're dealing with a pretty large area in each stage, most of the characters are fairly small, so a great deal of detail isn't really needed. The visual deficiencies stand out mostly in the cut scenes, and like I said before, you can opt to just skip those. The framerate is solid though, and the level designs are pretty great, which is definitely where the focus should be in this type of game. Also, I can't think of any mission where the level design seemed too similar to a previous match, so kudos to the development team for providing a unique experience in each mission.

Undertow is a solid XBLA title; and fits that 800-point price range nicely. The main campaign is short on the standard difficulty, but it can become a frustrating experience on the Ultra mode unless you've got a buddy to help you out. I have a hard time holding the lack of online players against the game, but keep in mind if you're thinking about picking this up, you might want to talk a few of your friends into doing the same.