Sea Dogs

"A good idea but presented horribly making for a painful experience"

Sea Dogs (Pc)

It was released back in 2000 so I will allow for that in my review.

The basic idea behind Sea Dogs is that you are in control of a sailor and you have the choice of what to do. In fact freedom is the greatest asset of this game. You go through towns, show off fencing skills and use awesome cannons to blow up your foes. It combines Sailing,Exploring,Adventure and Rpg leveling up elements. In fact if you have'nt played this game before you will be thinking at this point that it is amazing but it isn't.

--Graphics--

A couple of years ago this was top notch. Nowadays it looks fine, reminds me of Dreamcast standard which is no bad thing. The towns are nicely laid out and the sea looks amazing with a realistic twinkle. My biggest problem with it would be the lack of indoor areas and land and more annoyingly the way the characters lips dont move while speaking so you dont know when they are speaking or thinking to themselves.. not good enough!!

14/20

--Sound--

The music does not stand out. The voices are well done yet again the lack of lip movement spoils it. The townspeople speak a line or two when you speak to them which is'nt too bad especially considering that it is 4 years old. The backround music is however too bland especially when on the sea, but decent none the less.

7/10

--Gameplay--

Here is where it gets unbearable, the controls and especially the movement. I could write pages on how awful the gameplay is in this game and how much a punishment it is to play it but I will just point out a few things

- Your character movement is so slow and rigid it pretty much spoils the game. (It takes 6 seconds to turn round fully!! and the camera gets stuck most the time as well)

- Characters dialogue is far too long winded and boring.

- The sailing part is so dull you could cook a meal for four while waiting to travel from one island to the other

- The game takes itself too seriously at times

- If you are not into history a lot of this will not seem familiar or intresting

- The fencing part is rigid,slow and rubbish

- There is not one moment in the game where you feel a tingle of excitement (You know what games are supposed to do?)

After all that I still must mention the rpg leveling up your skill part. It is the only good part of the game and encourages you to talk to townspeople and attack pirates and so on. Now if only the rest of the game was not so bad then you could enjoy it.

7/40

Story:

Awful. Some guy sets off to sail (because its in his blood according to his mother) Do we know anything about his character? no, Does he have a love intrest, a rival, a friend? no to all 3.

3/10

Lastability: Lots to do with 4 different stories and a heap of travelling but after half an hour of playing this you will be content to put it down and never play it again

10/20

Total: 41/100

If this was a movie and it played through itself it would actually be enjoyable but as it stands it is a piece of rubbish. I paid 7 Euro for this and I still feel cheated!! It had potential to be good but a few major niggles destroy it, Shame. Steer clear of this one.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04