Uncharted Waters

"An unexplicably fun game"

Okay, this is one of those games that's next to impossible to find. It's good, though; Koei just didn't make enough of them. What makes it so much fun? Well, let me tell you...

Graphics: These aren't very good at all. They're barely good enough to pass for the Super Nes! But they get the job done. By that I mean that when you buy a larger ship, you get a visual reward, and you get excited. Graphics Rating: 4/10

Sound: Not much to like here. It does the job. The music is tolerable, fitting for a sea voyage (as if I've ever taken one to know what I'm talking about). Sound Rating: 4/10

Challenge: It's not terribly hard. You will finish the game if you keep trying long enough. Really, it's possible for you to determine yourself how hard this game will be. Do you want to be nice, or mean? If you're mean, you'll have a harder time, but get richer :) Challenge Rating: 7/10

Gameplay: Very addictive. It works like this: you are an aspiring merchant in the Age of Exploration. You want to get really rich and to be famous. So you get a ship and you set out to find trade routes and new ports. That's the real fun. You can find a trade route, say... sugar from Lisbon to a port up in the north. Buy what you can afford, but leave room for your food and crew members. Go sell the sugar, and bring something back for profit. What limits this from being easy is that you have pirates to worry about, so you have to have cannons on your ships in order to prevent robbery. Then you'll still lose crew members. As you get richer, you get more ships. Then you have to find loyal captains to help your fleet. Keep them well paid, or they'll get dissatisfied and leave with a good ship. Very bad. Especially if you fight a lot. Sometimes a mate will leave before a gruesome battle if he hasn't been paid enough. Speaking of battles, they're a lot of fun. You get big rewards, too, from the big fleets. The big fleets, though, are hard to defeat. Another cool aspect of the game is the ability to settle ports and gain them for Portugal (your home). You spend money and they become your property, which means you get better rates for your trading.

Gameplay Rating: 10

Buy or Rent: Buy! You'll never enjoy all this game has to offer if you rent it. Finding it to buy, unfortunately, may present a problem. Still, a game worthy of the $65 I paid for it...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99