Limited appeal
Gameplay: And I use that term with much chagrin, unfortunately the gameplay segments of this game are not much of a challenge and not very original. Land based seqences are mindless hack, slash and dash and really dont require alot of skill or thought. Its more or less get from A to B and kill everything that moves along the way. And the sea (ship to ship) based sequences arent much better, I think to try to make the game more challenging or involving, you will find yourself out numbered at least three to one in most cases sometimes more and on land you will take on entire ships companies by yourself (so dont expect any realism with this game, but its a story after all). I found that the majority of sea battles can easily be won by simply circling reefs and shallows, as the A.I has no intelligence and will pathfind the shortest route to get to you, which yes you guessed it means they will run aground over the shallows just to get to you, bang goes any sort of tactical or challenging involvement. One of the most annoying factors of the game is that the developers have made it in such a way that the game will lead you by the nose through pretty much everything you need to do, its sort of like one giant tutorial, at no point will you need to think about what to do next or how to do it the game reveals all as you go along. This would be great if you didnt have a mind of your own but it kind of feels like being back at school and constantly lectured by your teacher, only you arent allowed to make any mistakes. The plot has been written into a mission based game which while fairly lengthy in itself, the missions can be beaten very qucikly so it tends to be a lot more watching rather than alot more playing. Im not going to go into the plot iteslf because if I did there really wouldnt be any reason for you to buy this game. Ok in short the gameplay is poorly thought out, over simplified and totally lacking in originality, 3.
Graphics: The graphics are fantastic well i suppose there has to be something to appeal to gamers, the backgrounds and beautifully made and varied (well as varied as pictures of sea can get ;) ) the models and animations are well done, although the characters move a little oddly at times especially when running. The cut scenes are frequent and interesting to watch. There isnt really much that can be faulted with the graphics the game looks good but could have perhaps done with more detail but otherwise, 8.
Sound: The sound is adequte and relevant, one thing I noticed was that quite frequently the speech doesnt match the subtitles, which for me isnt a big deal but it could be for some. Perhaps a little more play testing should have noted things like this as they arent difficult to spot, maybe its more a case of them wanting to cut back or changes to the script but if revisions were made then they should have compensated for that. One thing I found quite annoying was the voice talent or lack of it, for some reason nearly every charater you come across has an american accent, why?, even the native west indian characters surely it wouldnt have been politically incorrect to give the characters real accents. As thats the only reason I can think of for not going with real accents. The music is good and adds to the atmosphere, which if it werent so thin could have been quite dramatic at times, 6.
Value: Well if you like interactive short story books and feel that its worth the expenditure then its up to you, I cant help but feel dissapointed. In short its nothing more than a vaguely interesting short story with little or no replay value, once you have read a book you've read it. Another superficial game based soley on graphics and not much else, if you enjoy things like pop culture the fashion industry or any fad in general then this might kill a few hours for you otherwise hard a starboard and save your broad side for a real target (sorry I just couldnt get through this with out at least one naval analogy). Just another run of the mill bottom shelf title, 3.