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View Full Version : Galleon: Exclusive Media And Hands-On Playtest



OuFtb
04-19-2004, 01:09 PM
Salty sea dogs ahoy, as we bring you our final in-depth preview of SCi's Galleon, the latest freebooting adventurer to sail the Xbox high seas.
Designed by Lara Croft creator Toby Gard, Galleon has undergone something of a, shall we say, protracted development cycle, before finally finding a home port at SCi, but now it's finally hoved into view and on this initial sighting, it's looking very promising indeed in code which SCi assures us is pretty much finished.

Galleon opens with a suitably swashbuckling flourish which calls to mind movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and more recently Master and Commander. Cue Captain Rhama, who's hanging around in his rigging, reading a mysterious dispatch which summons him to the island of Akbah and a meeting with one Doctor Areliano.

For a roister-doistering adventurer like Rhama, the lure of lucre is irresistible and it's mere moments before his ship is pulling into port, where's he met by the good Doctor's manservant Jabez (no s******ing at the back there or if you must, please insert your own manservant gag).

As you hop onto the dock with a jaunty swagger, Jabez explains the good doctor has been delayed and moves you through the town and into the cave system which forms Galleon's initial training level. Yet as you stroll merrily on your way, it's worth taking a moment to stop and appreciate the quite lovely graphical splendours.

Although heavily stylised, with a quite unique take on character physiology (everyone is tall and thin, with extremely long legs) the animation is smooth, crisp and coherent, with the camera seamlessly switching to show incidents and mini cut-scenes which push the story along at considerable pace.

But once you enter the cave system, the cry is "break out the topgallants" as you begin to familiarise yourself with Galleon's unique control method. The major innovation is that you don't actually control Rhama himself with your left thumbstick, but rather the game's camera. To go somewhere you simply point at it and Rhama will work out the best way to get there.

You've also got two types of basic movement: move cautiously and run fast. In cautious mode, Rhama will carefully pick his way across obstacles and never fall, but running means you take your chances with precipitous drops and teetering ledges.

Further tutorials introduce the basics of running, jumping and crouching and there's also some excellent Crouching Tiger-style wall walking across the sheer surfaces of rough hewn rock.

By the time you've finished the section, the unusual movement style feels extremely familiar and intuitive and when you add in further leaps, jumps and backwards cartwheels, you feel you're in complete control of an extremely impressive and highly acrobatic adventurer.

Exiting the cave system, the next inevitable training segment involved a fighting section with half a dozen odd brigands suddenly hoving into view. Move the camera to face your foe and Rhama automatically defends himself, before tapping the X button to launch a few beefy blows of his own.

With the ability to rain throws, punches and kicks on your opponents, Rhama soon made short work of the opposition. One nice feature though is the RPG-style ability to earn yourself combos and special moves and it wasn't long before at least a couple of the brigands were swivelling uncomfortably on Rhama's enhanced Finger of Death.

Of course sailing the high seas requires copious amounts of food and provisions to keep your jolly jack tars happy, so next it was off to visit a local merchant to learn the basics of trading, barter and how to use objects. A quick tap of the B button moves you into first-person mode, so you can examine your surroundings for pertinent clues and any object which can be used glows golden.

You can lock onto them by releasing the B button and then their purpose will be revealed via a short cut scene. So with an order of grog and limes and a quick inspection via telescope of the local ladies of ill repute, it was time to move on.

A further encounter with some more bothersome brigands was interrupted by the advent of Doctor Areliano himself (who's voiced by Joss Ackland and is accompanied by his rather comely daughter Faith) who cordially invited us to join him at his mountain home. A quick jog up the road saw us nicely settled in at Areliano's palatial gaff and then it was down into the good doctor's basement, where the plot most definitely thickened.

You don't find too many properties with a port in their cellar, but after a quick subterranean jaunt the doc revealed his big secret: a mysterious vessel which had been found floating Marie-Celeste like by some local fishermen. Here's where Rhama came into his own, as his enhanced Treasure sense enabled him to sniff out clues and track down some revealing secrets.

Within moments we'd found a way into the hold, where some highly suspicious wooden statues seemed ready to burst into life. Further investigations also revealed a fabulous garden in the rear hold, where a giant tree had taken root into the fabric of the ship itself. Two solitary skeletons locked in a deathly embrace also piqued our curiosity and our treasure sense quickly revealed a mysterious key.

What could it all mean? What further secrets would the abandoned ship reveal? Ah, that truly would be telling and you're just going to have to curb your inquisitiveness until we're ready to reveal more.

Perhaps some further clues lie in our extensive collection of exclusive screenshots or maybe our splendid exclusive in-game movie will provide some answers? You'll just have to check 'em out to see if you can sniff out the buried treasure.

Yet even from this short initial play test, it seems that despite a rather rocky road on the way to release, Galleon certainly has bundles of high seas cachet and enough salty charm to make it a genuine contender. Even with Sid Meier's Pirates! looming on the distant horizon, Galleon not only looks marvellous, but it's also a joy to control and delivers a strong storyline which cracks along at a fair rollicking pace.

And you can hoist us from the nearest yardarm if it ain't so - you lily-livered scabs!

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=103482

I went ahead and copied the whole thing cause the link lets you view for a couple of mintues then makes you join or get out of the site, so no need to click the link unless you want screens which are at the bottom.

:cheers:

Cryogenic Pyro
04-19-2004, 01:37 PM
Ugh... Those are some of the worst graphics I've ever seen! The first Playstation could do better... Unless this game has the best gameplay ever, it's not going to do well because of those graphics.

Ninja
04-19-2004, 01:45 PM
Anyone still care? That sorry pos should have ben giving the axe a few years ago.