Galleon: Islands of Mystery was originally announced for the Sega Dreamcast way back in 1999. Developed by the original designers of the first Tomb Raider game, Galleon eventually moved to the PS2, then the GameCube, and finally settled as an Xbox-exclusive title during the long course of its development. More than five years after work first started on the game, Galleon is finally here. The ideas and concepts found in Galleon are extremely ambitious--but also deeply flawed mechanically. This is an action adventure game that absolutely permeates with potential, but Galleon just didn't come together as a fully cohesive or entertaining experience.

Developed by the minds behind the original Tomb Raider, Galleon is a wholly ambitious game that just isn't executed particularly well.

Galleon's strongest aspect--its story--is perhaps its least inventive. You play as Captain Rhama Sabrier, a dashing, daring, dandy sea captain who commands his own boat and crew. At the beginning of the game, Rhama is contacted by a world-famous healer named Areliano. It seems that a strange boat has floated ashore on the island where Areliano resides, and on it was a strange herb that was thought to be long extinct. This herb contains amazing healing properties if used correctly and it has extremely dangerous power if used incorrectly. Areliano wants Rhama to help him discover the origin of this mysterious ghost ship, but when the good captain arrives on the scene, betrayal enters the picture and soon thereafter Rhama and Faith (Areliano's daughter) are sent on a quest to stop evildoers from misusing this magical herb.

While Galleon's story itself isn't especially remarkable, what makes it work is the game's colorful array of characters whose interactions with one another are both believable and wholly entertaining. Rhama's character is voiced with brilliant flare, with just enough arrogance to sell the character, but not enough to make him unlikable. The supporting cast is made up of similarly excellent voice acting, as well as some very well-written dialogue that keeps the story moving and keeps you interested in where it will take you. Furthermore, the situations the game puts you in, while crazy and convoluted, all make a certain amount of sense within the context of the story and the gameworld--a feat that can often be rare in games of this type.

So exactly what type of game is Galleon? Essentially, it's what would happen if you took Tomb Raider, threw it into a blender with more platforming elements, strained out much of the combat, added in a dash of role-playing, and hit "puree." Galleon is really all over the map in terms of gameplay types, but that's partly where it gets its charm.

A big part of Galleon's challenge comes from just trying to make use of Rhama's many abilities. Rhama is quite likely the most nimble human being ever to walk the earth without the benefit of superhuman powers. He can jump great distances if you build up a good amount of running speed; he can scale walls with the greatest of ease; and he also can't be turned without moving the camera. Wait, what? Yes, that's right: Galleon's camera controls are married to the left thumbstick, the same stick you use to move Rhama around. What this means is that when you turn the camera one way or the other, Rhama will instinctively move right along with it (meanwhile, most third-person-perspective games conventionally allow you to adjust the camera independent of the character's movement). While this may seem horribly counterintuitive, it actually isn't as bad as it sounds. It only really becomes a problem when you're trying to climb walls or navigate a tight space, at which point even the most subtle movements of the stick will cause the camera to react wildly, which can be annoying or frustrating.

Captain Rhama may look like a bit of a dandy, but make no mistake, the man has moves.

Rhama's jumping mechanics are also a little on the crazy side. Specifically, the split-second timing of a jump is absolutely crucial, but not in a good way. You have to press the stick forward at exactly the right moment after performing a jump in order to attain the proper distance. Otherwise, you'll fall flat. This is especially painstaking when you're trying to navigate one of the game's jump puzzles, of which there are quite a lot. Another issue with this is that Rhama will simply interact with anything he comes in contact with. If you get too close to a wall or a pole, or really any object that might come between you and a jump, Rhama will instinctively start to slide down it or try to grab onto it, or anything of that sort. While it's neat that Rhama does more than simply slide past objects like this, the context-sensitive actions, as you can imagine, become supremely frustrating after a while, as they keep happening when you don't want them to. It's possible to get a handle on the controls--but expect a fair amount of trial and error early on along with a whole lot of missed jumps.