Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat

"Simply, a very fun third-person action adventure"

Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat hasn't fared well in reviews by gaming magazines and internet sites. After playing the game for quite a while now, I really don't see why. It may seem kind of simplistic and goofy at first, but this is actually quite a fun and challenging game. Third person action adventure games don't have it easy in today's gaming market. If you're not a FPS, a fighter, an RPG, a platformer, a racer, or a sports title, chances are everyone is just going to poke fun at you. That is what has happened with Pirates, but for those patient enough to play through the game for awhile there is indeed a treasure here (no pun intended). For a quickie description of what kind of game this is, think Tomb Raider meets Soul Reaver meets a bunch of pirates on an ocean of dangerous islands populated by strange creatures. It has Tomb Raider's quests for treasure, and it has Soul Reaver's movement system for the main character (Katarina). Throw in a bunch of pirates and creatures that want to carve your worthless hide up and that's Pirates in a nutshell. Except, of course, for the ship combat, which is the element of this game that sets it apart from other 3rd person action/adventure titles. The ship combat is a blast. It's a lot like Bloodwake without the speedboats and with an awesome camera system that lets you completely control what you see on the screen. But more about the ship combat later. I'll start with what everyone always wants to hear about first: the graphics.

Graphically speaking, the game does not fully utilize the Xbox's capabilities, but it is still a very impressive looking game. My only real complaint would be that the island environments are a bit sparsely populated, but what is there looks good with a reasonable amount of detail. Water looks fantastic, as do the sunset backdrops on many of the island worlds, and Katarina herself is very detailed and lifelike. The detail used on the ships is impressive. Ship explosions on the high seas look very cool and have an exploding-Death-Star type drama to them. Dolphins, whales, and giant squid can be seen swimming around in the water. The game isn't so much about graphical realism as it is about the creation of a fantasy world, and it does this very well. Speaking of realism, one thing that really impressed me in this game was how the various characters move, both in the game and the CG cutscenes. I'm not an expert, but I would bet my bottom dollar that motion capture technology was used to create the characters' movements. Katarina's motions as well as many of her enemies are very smooth and lifelike, and add a touch of realism to the combat.

Now about the game's difficulty level. Different developers have different philosophies about what a game should be. You can tell this by the different ''auras'' that games have. With some, the idea is, ''let's make this game as hard as possible and make the player work his butt off for everything he gets.'' With others, it's more like, ''relax and have fun. After all, this is a game. It's supposed to be an enjoyable experience.'' Pirates definitely falls into the latter camp. The game challenges you, but is never cheap, and it constantly rewards you for exploring and fighting. It puts you in dangerous situations, yet always gives you the means by which to get out of it if you know your weapons, your moves, and have a strategy. The game's difficulty curve rises slowly, allowing you time to acclimate yourself to the game and its style, so you don't have to get killed ten times before you pass a certain area. In fact, I've been playing the game on Normal setting and it's been a bit too easy. This is quite different from the direction most games seem to be going nowadays--harder and more frustrating (can you say, Maximo?). To give you an idea of the slightly different approach this game takes, I'll use one of Katarina's moves from the game: the block. In this game blocking actually works. If you're blocking, 95 % of the time you're not going to take damage. Do you know how many games I've played where the block was a completely useless maneuver? It's refreshing to see a game of this type where a block is a block and not some stupid gimmick used by the developers to frustrate you. Another interesting fact about the difficulty level of the game is that you can change it in mid-game if you want to. If you start the game on easy and find it to be too easy, you can change it to normal or hard, regardless of how much of the game you've already played.

Pirates has one of the best camera systems I've ever seen, both on land and at sea, allowing the player to control Katarina (and her ship) and the camera independently of one another. Frankly speaking, you can put the camera wherever you want, and have it as close or far away as you want from Katarina or her ship. It's a very free-style camera system that eliminates all the goofy problems that arise from more active camera systems that can't handle enclosed spaces. In an area with dense tree cover? Move the camera in close to Katarina so you can see better what she's up against. Surrounded by enemies? Move the camera far out to get a better idea of the enemy layout. In a tight spot and need the camera behind her instantly? Click the right analog stick. It takes zero time to get it there. (Somebody should have told the makers of GTA 3 it is possible to do this).

The control setup also is very well thought out and very responsive. There are no delays in Katarina's reactions. She has a four move combo attack, depending on how many times you tap the A button, and she also has a power-up attack, which when fully charged is unleashed with the B button. There is a Matrix-style pause when this attack is initiated. The only complaint I have about the control relates to Katarina's inventory items. She has quite a large selection of weapons and items at her disposal, and only one can be selected at a time. You have to scroll through the items with the black and white buttons, and this gets a little tedious, especially in the heat of combat when you don't have time to scroll through 15 or so items. It would have been nice if items could be selected while the game is paused (like Tomb Raider or Zone of the Enders). It's not a huge problem, but one that caught my attention.

One aspect of this game I was very pleased with was the music, which is not something I can say about most video games out there. It is of the orchestral variety, and it really helps to set the mood of the game. It changes in different situations. When you go see the Voodoo Doctor on Raven's View, it is very dark and evil sounding. When in ship combat, it is intense and warlike. When just sailing about, it is light hearted and adventurous, with a slight medieval feel. It is important to stress that it is very rare these days that developers put forth the effort to put quality music in their games. Pirates really shines in this area. No generic electronic techno sounds, and no rap. Hallelujah.

Probably the coolest aspect of the game is the ship-to-ship combat. They could have made an entire game just based on this alone, and it is actually a mini-game that you can play from the main menu. As I said earlier, the camera can be operated completely independently of the ship, which enables you to always put the camera at the optimum angle for combat. It's a little tricky to get used to at first, but then so is operating the Warthog in Halo. On top of that, you can have an instant first-person view from any side of your ship by using the D-pad. This comes in handy in combat because your cannon shots tend to be more accurate when fired from these first-person views, and it also just looks really cool. As you progress in the game, you are able to purchase bigger and more powerful ships, and pick up magical figureheads for your ship that give you various power-up attacks. These power-up attacks take time to charge, just like Katarina's power sword attacks, but they do a lot of damage. There are also other items besides cannons that you can lob at enemies that make the combat that much more fun. Nothing is more gratifying than seeing that huge enemy ship finally go down in a huge ball of fire, leaving crates of items for you to pick up. If there is a sequel to this game, and they add in the ability to actually board enemy ships, I'll be in swashbuckling heaven.

All in all, I have to say that Pirates is a great third person action adventure whose fun-factor greatly outweighs its faults. My only real complaints about the game are that the inventory system is a bit too cumbersome to manage in combat, and most of the island environments are not very densely populated. But if you love roaming around and unearthing valuable treasure, and kicking some enemy booty while you're at it, then you will enjoy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/02, Updated 08/13/02