This reviewer does not know what he's talking about! Redguard will astound you with graphics, gameplay and adventure!
For a game that is over 5 years old the graphics will astound you. You will need a 3fdx wrapper as you need to see the game in it's 3dfx glory (dgvoodoo works for me!) and a CD slowdown for your fast CD drive (cdspeed 2000 did that for me!), but having got the necessary accessories, you will be able to play this game in upto 1280x1024!
Now don't ge me wrong. The graphics are astounding for the time. Theya re not Far Cry 2004 graphics or anywhere near it, but when you see your ship sail into harbour and walk off the ship to see a gigantic statue looming over you with the sun glaring behind it you will be pleasantly surprised that this will not be an old old game with old old graphics! Yes, everything is a little blocky, especially the NPC's, but because the story is so could the puzzle so capitvating and the conversations so well done the blockyness goes away and it becomes a town on an island witth great characters, politcs and intrege! You will be drawn in an all will become real, just like in any great game, book or movie.
The game doesn't support a mouse, but I managed okay with the keyboard, standard arrow keys and left hand keys for actions did the business for me.
To say, as many reviewers have, that you should think 'Tomb Raider' is to say thatyou should think 'The Good The Bad and the Ugly' when your reading 'War and Peace'! Yes, you jump, climb rope and hang from various outcrops, but you also have great swordfights, deal with hstory level politics and intrege (if you floow the Elder Scrolls myth!) and the baddest of bad Goblins and undead and the nicest of Khajits and Argonians! :)
You are out to find your Sister who has not be seen for three months. Has she been dealt with for being friends with the conquered Prince? Or has she got involved with shady pirates? As you follow the clues to her whereabouts so you get drawn into a story that will captivate you in the Elder Scrolls mythos.
All the NPC's are voice acted and they are done very well. Cryus, the main character (you) is one of the few black male characters in video gaming that is not a characture. He sounds very much like a future blade who will end up protecting old Kings and new Kings in other parts of Tamriel! :)
The music does the business, being 'swashbuckling' when needed and softer in the sadder moments. It all works very well. As does the sound effects with the seagulls and sloshing water in the port area to very weird noises from a graveyard at night (if you dare go there at night!)
The game is quite hard but not impossible and with 30-60 hours pf play, I can highly recommend it !
This game has the looks, the sounds and the story to take you even further into the Elder Scrolls story and if you have played Morrowind or Oblivion (or indeed the earlier Elder Scrolls games) you will feel right at home with the Island, the history and the characters. It will fill out the Tamriel world that little more!
The game is quite hard to find, but you do occasionally find it on online auction sites. If you do find it, snap it up - it will take you back into the world of Tamriel and give you a rollicking ride on the Island of Stros M'kai!