Sea Trader: Rise of Taipan

"Unique game that's fun for awhile"

Sea Trader: Rise of Taipan is a unique piece of software. If you’ve ever dreamt of sailing the high seas trading commodities with various riff-raff then this may be the package for you. Buy low, sell high is the name of this game.

GRAPHICS:
Sea Trader’s graphics are stylish and colorful at best, and adequate at least. Each of the characters have a unique look, as do all of the different people you encounter along the way. The game almost has the feel of an old school DOS game, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. Many of the still scenes, such as when you are fighting another ship, are well drawn and pretty nice portraits. One fault might be in the pictures of the goods you are shipping. Often times it’s difficult to tell exactly what they are. Also, some of the shopkeeper portraits are reused between different areas. Basically though, this game isn’t about graphics, it’s about the gameplay.

GAMEPLAY:
For some people, Sea Trader will be a fun experience. For most, however, it probably won’t be all that exciting. The basic premise of the game is that you’re a trader going from port to port buying goods cheaply and selling them elsewhere for a profit. Along the way you’ll run into smugglers, mermaids, and of course the occasional pirate.
Once you begin to get the hang of the game, you will begin to realize that some of the goods are highly profitable, and others are basically worthless. It seems like the designers could have diversified the goods with some different attributes, like fruit being very cheap but you could hold tons of it. As it stands, the path to success is almost linear, going from silk to contraband.
You can unlock new lands by giving bribes to the smugglers for maps, but the new lands don’t really offer anything much more than what you have right at home.
The game can get addicting once you really get into the flow of things. The first time you make $1,000,000 profit, you will definitely feel proud of yourself.

MUSIC/SOUND:
I always played with the sound off.

VALUE:
This game is quite fun, but the longevity factor may be a little low. The gameplay never really varies from port to port, and you will probably find yourself getting bored within about a week of playing. The awarded medals are a fun challenge, but some of them are more tedious than enjoyable. Overall, unless you really enjoy trading the same goods over and over in the same fashion, don’t look to this title for a long-term gaming experience.

SUMMARY:
GRAPHICS: 7/10
MUSIC/SOUND: 5/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
VALUE: 7/10

Looking to buy this game? It probably shouldn’t be too difficult to find, as it is a fairly new release.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/03, Updated 02/17/03