Buccaneer is unaccidently yet another below average effort by the budget specialists D3
...Well in the case of Buccaneer, not many at all. Better known in the land of the rising sun as Simple 2000 Vol. 96: The Kaizoku, you play as a pirate who investigates the unknown oceans of the Demonic Waters following rumours at a Portside Inn. The nameless pirate, who you play as, then takes it upon him to discover the treasures of the undead grave robbers who never returned once they entered into the mist of its surroundings.
Yet what you need to know really is that Buccaneer is a Shin Sangoku Musuo (Dynasty Warriors 2) clone. Immediately as you begin your adventure, you're thrust onto a 2D world map where you aimlessly wander with your ship until it collides with another. Colliding triggers the combat scenario which is core to Bucaneer and from there you barbarically slash your way through countless skeletons, dead pirates and ghosts before plundering the stash of Gold. You're also rewarded/graded based on how well you did. And that's more or less all there is to it.
As mentioned, combat in Buccaneer is almost duplicated from Shin Sankgoku Musuo, minus some minor button changes. Square does your standard attacks, triangle allows you to jump and escape the fighting when necessary, circle performs your special attack and cross performs your finisher once the bar below your health is full. Fighting enemies and losing health increases the bar's fulfilment and when your health is extraordinarily low the bar automatically reloads once your finisher is complete.
This all sounds fine and well pardon the important point that, like Shin Sangoku Musuo, it grows repetitive within less than an hour of play. But where Shin Sangoku Musuo varies the liabilities and perks of your own forces and foes in combat, Buccaneer continues to persists homegenously. When you win a battle and move on to the next ship, it doesn't feel, look or play any different to the previous one you fought and the challenge is minimally the same too.
Unfortunately that is how the entirety of Bucaneer plays on the whole. Occasionally your locale switches from a doppelganger ship to a doppelganger cave when you've captured so many treasures in total but it happens all too little too late. The gameplay of Buccaneer remains too shallow and dull for anyone to put themselves up for such punishment in order to progress further in the game.
Typical of D3's budget games, there are no cinematics in Buccaneer, only backgrounds filled with poorly translated text describing minor plot developments in the pirate's journey.And if you were looking for a visually gratifying Playstation 2 title you're looking completely in the wrong place as Buccaneer doesn't even hold a candlelight to half of the Playstation 2 releases from 2002, nevermind 2006.
That said, Buccaneer is actually one of the better looking Simple 2000 games. For what it is, the levels and enemies are copious enough in detail to pass for a Playstation 2 release. Yet unfortunately the Nintendo 64 esque fog of doom begs to differ. The visual effects such as enemies disappearing through the floor are also exceedingly mediocre.
As for sound, Buccaneer has two to three tracks recurring constantly for most of play and it is darn well the most irritating music ever. On the second and third plays of hearing the theme, there is a good chance you may wish to commit murder. But, this isn't the worst on offer from any budget developer in any case. The rest of Buccaneer's Sound effects are typical grunts and sword slashes that you might come to expect, nothing out of the ordinary.
So summarising this review, Buccaneer is unaccidently yet another below average effort by the budget specialists D3. The R.R.P. for Bucaneer at £10 is nominal but these days you can find a collection of older and far worthier Playstation 2 games for the same price, albeit used.