The trial version of Aqua Real 2 is better than a lot of full version screensavers I’ve found. It actually allows you to change up the fish and change some of the settings. The full version is an amazing sight, with a full 29 fish species and 5 beautiful seascapes. Best of all, the graphics are smooth and very realistic. All the different fish move with their own unique motion and speed. It’s also great fun to watch the sharks come sauntering through every now and again!

The drawbacks are very minor. I noticed every now and again that fish will swim through each other, and the crashing waves sound files that are included are a little strange. However, these are minor issues as you can play your own mp3 files with this ocean screensaver.

Overall, this is one of the best fish screensavers you will ever find. It blows Aqua 3d out of the water (sorry for the pun) and easily gives Sim Aquarium 2 a run for its money. Unlike Sim Aquarium 2, Aqua Real 2 includes unlimited access to all future upgrades, extra fish and environments. At just $19.95 that’s a great deal!

The Good: Great animation, features and price.

The Bad: Strange sound choices.

The Ugly: As with other Formosoft products, terrible text on the checkout page.

Download the Aqua Real 2 Demo.

Visit aquarealscreensaver.com

Buy Aqua Real 2 Now. $19.95

Fantastic 3d Fish Aquarium Screensaver 2.5 requires no charge to download it. You don’t have to give your name, email address or anything else. There is only one version, no demo, no trialware, no upsells!

The animations are a little spastic and all the fish seem to wiggle at the excact same rate, but hey it’s really free! It has a few nifty options like adding your own background and turning off the bubbles. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you can add more than the default 4 fish.

The Good: Real Freeware!

The Bad: Jerky animations

The Ugly: A really long name for a freeware aquarium screensaver of this size and with this amount of options

• Download it here.
• Visit ScreenSaverFX.com
• $0

I picked one of the most popular free aquarium screensavers created by freeze.com. It’s called Living Marine Aquarium 2. I’m sure you’ve seen it on many sites, especially if you have searched for “free aquarium screensavers.” What follows is a blow by blow account of my experience.

First I went to the download page using this link. This took me to a page with a giant “download now” button, which leads to a direct download of an installation file. So far, so good.

Now that the file was on my hard drive, I double clicked the file to begin the installation. Immediatly the program wanted to connect to the internet and activated my firewall. I clicked “allow” a few times which finally brought up the actual installation program. Who knows what information has already been transmitted from my computer at this point!

(more…)

The truth is, there is no such thing as free products from businesses. Sure, you can find products that don’t require a monetary exchange, but make no mistake about it, there is a cost.

For example, a cell phone carrier offers you a free phone. But really, the phone is not “free” because you usually have to commit yourself to using their services for a year. So, your “free” phone really costs you $39.95/mo (or some similar amount). Sure, you get phone service with that, but I guarantee you they more than recoup their cost for giving you that $20 “free” phone. In addition, your new phone carrier now has you as a captive advertising audience for a full year! I just switched carriers and I am bombarded with “special offers” to upgrade my plan, to download ring-tones, music, pictures etc. Free phone eh?

What does this have to do with screensavers? Well a very similar business model is used by companies who offer “free” screensavers. They create some desirable screensavers and allow you to install them without any monetary exchange. They do, however, require you to install a browser toolbar, or sign up for 25 “newsletters” (SPAM ALERT!), or download some “special” installation program which installs god-knows-what on your computer!

So, is a free screensaver really free? As our dear ex-president might have put it, it depends on your definition of “free.” If by free you mean you don’t have to pay you actual currency for it, then yes. If by free you mean that you get the screensaver with absolutely no strings attached, then no! My time is worth something and I have a lot better things to do than to fight spam, uninstall entrenched browser bars and deal with incessant pop-ups.

Rather than spend a bunch of my time and pay with a fistful of frustration, I’d rather just buy a decent screensaver and know that the transaction is over. Paying $20 for a screensaver really isn’t much compared to all the so-called “free screensavers” out there. With a full version of a really nice screensaver I can actually spend some extra time playing or watching my fish!

All the featured fish (35!) are freshwater fish, the kind you would find in pet stores and hobby aquariums across the country. The backgrounds do not pretend to be anything other than great looking home aquariums. The tank graphics look vibrant with bright green plants and fun multi-colored fish.

Aqua Garden has the usual Formosoft features like feeding and tickling the fish, but it also has a new “follow fish” setting.

Since Aqua Garden supports up to three monitors, the tanks are much wider than a single monitor. Essentially, if you watch the screensaver with a single monitor, you are only viewing a third of the total tank. To make this concept more appealing to people with only one monitor (most of us!), you can select a fish to follow as it swims through the entire fish tank. The background will simply scroll along behind the selected fish! Of course, you can also manually scroll from side to side manually.

The Aqua Garden screensaver is a breath of fresh air amidst the poorly constructed aquarium screensavers I find all over the net. I highly recommend this to any fan of aquariums, and also to anyone looking for a fresh screensaver to brighten their computer.

The Good: Bright and clean look.

The Bad: Fish occasionally swim through objects!

The Ugly: The writing on their sales page…

• Download the Aqua Garden Demo
• Visit aquagardenscreensaver.com
• Buy Aqua Garden Screensaver $19.95

It features a whopping 41 fish varieties and has ultra realistic looking coral reef environments. Sim Aquarium 2 does not offer any interactivity or desktop options, but it doesn’t need to. It does a great job being what it is: An Aquarium Screensaver!

Although all the screenshots on the Digital Illusions product page shows the surface of the water above the fish, there is an option to not show the surface within the control panel. I personally like not seeing the surface as it feels more like being deep within the ocean environment.

Fish animations are decent, but still lack a little in the smoothness department. The fish motions seem a little jerky at times, and at times the fish just seem to “coast” a little before moving again. These are minor issues and don’t detract too much from the overall experience. It can get a little distracting though.

The pricing of Sim Aquarium 2 is a little convoluted. There are two basic package versions, one with 26 fish (lite) and another with 41 fish (deluxe). On top of that, you must choose which tank(s) you want with your purchase. With all these choices, the price ranges from $18.45 for 26 fish and 1 tank, to $39.95 for 41 fish and all 5 tanks. Still with me? Looking at their purchase page I felt a little like I was shopping for Windows Vista or an Xbox 360: Why go with an limiting option when you really need the whole thing? Conclusion: The full version of Sim Aquarium 2 is a bit pricey at $39.95!

Aside from the minor issues in animation and the strange pricing strategy, this screensaver could work for someone who is looking for a simple and solid aquarium screensaver.

The Good: Simple and enjoyable.

The Bad: Slightly off fish animations.

The Ugly: Strange pricing options, too expensive.

• Download the Sim Aquarium 2 Demo.
• Visit simaquarium.com
• Buy Sim Aquarium 2 at SimAquarium.com $18.45 - $39.95

I am not sure about the full version (I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $14.95 after playing with the demo), but the demo comes with a measly 4 fish! From what I can tell from the DigiMinds site, the full version does not contain any extra fish.

The animation of the fish in Aqua 3D Screensaver is really terrible. The fish barely move their bodies as they swim, and they look like they are about to die or something. Quite sad.

This screensaver should be free at best. I really can’t recommend it to anyone looking for a decent aquarium screensaver.

The Good: Nothing.

The Bad: Poor selection of fish and customization options.

The Ugly: Everything else.

• If you must, download the demo.
• Visit the Digimind site.
• If you really must, buy it here. $14.95

VRA is really more of a game than a traditional screensaver. You get the most out of it when you interact and play around with all the fun features.

It is refreshing to see an aquarium screensaver that does not take itself too seriously. The animation is a little outdated and cartoonish, but it more than makes up for it with it’s interactive elements. In fact, this screensaver is ideal for younger children as they can play with the fish and relate to them better.

One of the better features is the “construction yard” where you build your own tank. You set it up with plants, ornaments and fish. You can save multiple tanks and come back to edit them any time you like.

Of course, as with all Formosoft products, there is the ability to feed and tickle the fish. VR Aquarium offers multiple foods to feed the fish, including the strange pizza option (?).

I would highly recommend this screensaver to families with younger children. However, if you prefer a casual screensaver with some neat interactive features, you should definitely check out the demo!

The Good: Lots of interactive features.
The Bad: Feels a tad outdated.
The Ugly: Horrible text on their sales page, it reads like a child wrote it.

• No Demo Available
• Visit VRaquarium.com.
• Support this site: Buy VR Aquarium here! $21.95

I only managed to get my hands on the demo version of this screensaver, so consider this a partial review.

The demo version, like other Digifish screensavers, is a limited version, but it never expires. Also, there are no nag screens or annoying reminders to register. Very nice for a demo. This particular dolpin screensaver demo allows only a single bottle nose dolphin on screen, but it is enough to get a feel for the screensaver and very enjoyable to watch.

The animations are smooth and the sound is suitable for an underwater screensaver. The dolphin swims elegantly through the water and the camera follows gracefully at different angles. Occasionally, the dolphin encounters beautiful schools of tropical fish.

The full version offers four varieties of dolphins, plus a bunch of deep sea fish to customize the whole experience. Overall, this looks like another quality product from Formosoft and it seems they have finally figured out that sound matters!

The Good: Great animations, sound.

The Bad: Nothing.

The Ugly: Cheesy text on the checkout page.

Download the Dolphin Demo.

Visit digifish.com/dolphin

Buy Dolphin Screensaver Now. $19.95