Act: Sea Wolves [by Ghost Software]

Game Review:  Sea Wolves
Release: January 25, 2005
Genre: Action
Developer: Ghost Software
Publisher: Alawar
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, 600 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0+
Players: 1
Price: $19.95 (free demo download)


Sea Wolves is a realtime shooter where you play a pirate taking on other ships, sea monsters, airplanes, cannon towers, and even castles, while collecting coins and treasure chests. This game has gorgeous graphics, three playable ships, an interesting variety of enemies and weapons, and one large problem – there is only one difficulty setting, and it's so extremely difficult that I couldn't finish even the first of three acts. The game was difficult for several reasons – the maps are large, some of the enemy AIs are very tough (sea monsters and airplanes mainly), some of the levels are too dark to be able to see the enemies well, and there aren't enough health kits and extra lives relative to the amount of damage you have to absorb. It's like Fear Effect with ships instead of people.

Despite the fact that you get to choose one of three playable characters and that the game is described as consisting of three 'episodes', it has no story to speak of, just a series of missions of escalating difficulty. Your initial choice of character and ship determine your initial stats (armor, weapons, and speed). Every level you earn a few points of score which you can spend to upgrade your stats – although the armor and weapon stats don't seems to have much effect on the gameplay. The level screens are large, especially compared to the relatively slow speed at which you can sail, and full of enemies which you have to spot coming on your radar, because by the time they get on screen you are probably within their firing range and about to take damage. Basically this is a very simple game: follow the trail of treasure, unlock whatever's locked, shoot everything before it can shoot you, rinse and repeat.

Graphics: 9
This game has the most beautiful water I have ever seen. The playable ships are also very cool – highly detailed, imaginatively-designed steam/sail hybrids. The castles remind me a bit of Warcraft II, and the monsters are interestingly bizarre. The edge of the playing field was handled graphically using a fade-to-shadow that made the boundary feel more organic and less arbitrarily-imposed. The only complaint I had with the graphics at all was that some levels were lit so darkly it was difficult to see what you were doing. Oh, and in one level you get a speed-up bonus, but while you're sped-up the graphics are so blurred that you can't see to shoot at anything, and it's actually better for your survival to not take the bonus. But in general this game has gorgeous, well-designed and well-implemented graphics.

Sound: 7
It's hard to notice the music in this type of game because something is always exploding, but I found both the music and sound effects to be vaguely pleasant and not annoying.

Game Play: 7
This game requires patient sneakiness, persistence, and quick, accurate reflexes. If you have all these and are looking for a challenging game, Sea Wolves may be just what you're looking for. But if, like me, you lack one or more of the above qualities, you may find this game boring, stressfully difficult, or both. The interesting features of the gameplay are the multiple weapons, which are useful against different types of enemies, and the different enemy AIs which require you to use various counter-strategies.

One thing that detracts from the gameplay is the massive amount of type-os and non-native Englishisms in the dialogue boxes – this game badly needed an editor or ghostwriter. Only the fact that there is so little writing in the game made its poor quality tolerable.

Value: 7
If you like this type of game, definitely download the free demo and play around with it. If you're a better player than me and you actually survive to the levels which are locked in the demo, then you can make up your own mind whether it's worth $20 for the full version. The high difficulty level of this game makes it unsuitable for children and casual gamers, but gaming gurus may enjoy the challenge.

Concept: 6
There is nothing original about the concept for this game, it's just another pirate-themed shooter. On the other hand, this concept is a classic because the idea of being a lone, lawless adventurer in search of treasure has an archetypal appeal. But the design of Sea Wolves does not build on this archetype at all, or contain any unique gameplay elements. If you're looking for innovative or imaginative game design, you'd best look elsewhere.

Fun: 6
In playing this game I enjoyed all the explosions and seeing fantastic new art on each level... and that's about it. Like most games which require both patient sneaking and quick reflexes, for me this combo resulted in a game that was simultaneously stressful and boring to play, and of course my fun meter hit zero when I couldn't advance any farther in the game, but it was playable and somewhat interesting until that point.

Overall: 7
This game took a standard concept and implemented it fairly well. The excellent graphics are balanced out by the flawed writing and boringly simple gameplay, and the high difficulty limits the audience which might enjoy this game. Overall, this game is of average quality.
Added: April 5th 2005
Reviewer: Mare Kuntz
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