Pirates: The Legend of Black Cat Preview
Take to the high seas on the PlayStation 2.
Electronic Arts and Westwood Studios' upcoming action game, Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat, takes gamers someplace they rarely go in games these days: the high seas. With all the futuristic and urban settings that are common in games these days, some sea travel and pirating offers a welcome change of pace. Originally shown under the name Pirates of Skull Cove at E3, the game has seen some delays and a change of name but has managed to hang on to its core gameplay. We tried out an early build of the game and found it to be an engaging mix of 3D adventuring with some boat combat thrown in for good measure.
The game's story is classic popcorn-movie fare, calling to mind Saturday afternoon flicks like The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn. The game's narrative is structured as a story being told to a young girl by a crusty pirate named Old Salty. He tells her of the adventures of Katarina De Leon, a fledgling pirate. The opening cinema details the murder of Katarina's father at the hands of the game's villain, Captain Hawke. Shortly after, Katarina returns home to find her father dead and his house in flames, and upon rushing in, she finds a letter her father wrote to her as he died, revealing that her mother was the pirate known as the Black Kat, who founded the pirates of Skull Cove. Racing from the burning house, Katarina vows to avenge her father and sets off to track down Hawke.
Following the quickly paced setup, the game wastes no time in throwing you into Katarina's boots, and the game picks up just outside her father's burning house. The gameplay, on land, is standard third-person action, with some twists to keep the game in line with its pirate theme. You'll find yourself exploring islands, discovering treasure, completing various missions, and fighting anything that gets in your way. Along the way, you'll encounter NPCs who offer information and send you off on miniquests. Traveling to different islands showcases the game's nautical gameplay element: ship mode. You'll be able to board Katarina's ship, the Wind Dancer, and use it to explore the surrounding sea or travel to nearby islands. In addition, you'll discover maps that will allow you to sail out to new areas. While on land, you'll be able to save your progress by finding one of the parrots strewn throughout the land.
Controlling Katarina and the Wind Dancer is a fairly intuitive experience. When on land, you'll move Katarina with the left analog stick. The right analog stick will allow you to manipulate the camera. The D-pad will allow you to scroll through items when visiting your local smuggler for supplies. The X button will have Katarina attack, and you'll be able to perform basic combos by pressing it repeatedly. The square button will trigger a powered-up attack when Katarina has stored up enough energy. You'll use the circle button to jump, and pressing it twice will perform a double jump. The L1 button will block enemy attacks, and L2 will perform a variety of context-sensitive actions such as opening chests or digging up buried treasure. The R1 and R2 buttons will be used to cycle through Katarina's inventory, while the triangle button will "use" the selected item.
Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat Quick Links
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- GameSpot Score7.8good
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Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat Movie 4
This is one pirate you shouldn't mess with.
- Feb 20, 2002
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- Electronic Arts
- Westwood Studios
- Fantasy Action Adventure
- Release: Feb 17, 2002
- ESRB: Teen
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