Poor Johnny Calm is trying to make his way back to civilization after being stranded, but unfortunately he's being pursued by Jaws: The Revenge (I'm sure someone will get that lame reference) and he'll need to scoot his way across the ocean as fast as possible to survive.

You'll make your way across the rolling waves by using the game's simple touch buttons to move left or right, jump and attack. The constant pressure of the pursuing shark makes the game feel almost like an endless runner, especially when various aquatic hazards make life complicated, but players have the option of slowing things down to collect coins for bonuses or should their boat flood, swim their way past hazards underwater before continuing. Unfortunately it's hard to feel like you're making any progress even despite the underwater sections that punctuate the game now and then. While the shark progressively becomes more aggressive and difficult to avoid underwater it just takes too long to really get interesting.

There's no specific Retina support, but the game's visuals are cleverly designed and look great. The day/night cycle gives the game a constantly changing background to play upon and the water physics feel real enough to manage without diminishing the arcadey gameplay.

Waves: Survivor is a decent title and provides a fun challenge for a few playthroughs, but it just never seems to take off and it's easy to put this game down again in favor of something a bit more substantial. Not a bad arcade title, but lacking in depth for replayability.