Another piratey-type game on the high seas, this one attempts to do something genuinely different with the genre – and how I wish it had succeeded! Read on…
First Impressions
There are several things that I immediately liked about this game that were different from the norm. Firstly, it actually had a storyline – ok a bit hokum, but there’s nothing particularly wrong with that. Secondly, instead of just getting a menu telling you what you could do while docked, this game actually lets you walk around, talking to people, etc, before you go back to your ship. There’s more of a true RPG element to Sea Dogs too – you gain experience points as you go along, and can use them to upgrade your skills as you level up. These positive attributes of the game led to my expectations being raised… only for them later to be disappointed.
Interface
The combination of keyboard and mouse for moving around the town was okay but seemed unnecessarily fiddly. While at sea, the controls are also somewhat fiddly, but as you can simply go to the map screen and set a course to follow, this isn’t really a problem. The real problem came with the naval battles – the commands just didn’t seem to work at all sometimes, and boarding was obviously something the game just didn’t understand – rendering the whole piratey part of the game redundant..
Difficulty
Well, it’s hard to say. When you can’t ever win (or lose, it seemed) a naval battle, what’s the point of playing? I guess you could just try to do the quests etc that didn’t involve any sea battles, but what’s the point of this sort of game if you do that? It’s a real shame as it all looked so promising.
(Note – this may only be a problem with the game on Windows XP – though I note that other reviews have mentioned several bugs too. I downloaded the latest patch I could find without any noticeable improvement.)
Aesthetics
It’s old and rusty, but it still looks reasonable. The third person view of the town isn’t too bad, though the character models are very basic and move stiffly. The ship models are quite nice and the effect of the sea bobbing up and down is good.
The sound samples are pretty good and don’t suffer from clipping. The music is nice at first – just why do these sort of games never have more than 20 seconds of music repeated over and over again!!!! (In the old game Pirates!, at least you had several different parts of Handl’s Water Music playing as you went along – even if itw as through the ST’s creaky old Yamaha chip!)
Will You Still Be Playing it in 6 Months’ Time?
If it worked properly, I’d say yes. But as it doesn’t, I’m saying no.
Is it Worth the Money?
Sadly, even on budget, the answer is no.
*****************
Final Ratings
Graphics: -54 % - they look rather creaky nowadays, though certain aspects (such as the sea movement and lighting effects) are quite good.
Sound: - 71% - decent sampled speech and overly repetitive music – sound familiar?
Playability: - 41% - it played okay until I hit a sea battle… then it all just fell to pieces.
Longevity: - 21% - it would be great – if it worked. But since it doesn’t, I’m not going to torture myself unnecessarily.
Replay Value: - 16% - you’ll play it until you realise it doesn’t work… then you’ll play it until you realise it wasn’t a freak occurrence the first time…
Value For Money: - 26% - even on budget, a game that doesn’t work is a game that doesn’t work.
Overall Rating: - 35% - I had such high hopes for this, but the title of Worth Successor to Pirates! Crown is still very much vacant.
System Requirements
Pentium II 233MHz, Windows 95/98/Me/XP
4X CD-ROM drive
3D Accelerator graphics card (memory not stated)
Windows compatible sound card
Mouse & keyboard; 650Mb hard drive
Links
Cutthroats - another pretender to Pirates! throne.
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