*Sigh* After the wildly successful
revamp and popularity of pirates with Disney’s run-away hit, Pirates of the
Caribbean, it seems that more than a few game companies are taking notice and
trying to leech off their success. Unfortunately, Tortuga didn’t leech much of
the positive aspects of the craze. From its extremely linear gameplay to its
unrefined hand-to-hand combat, the only thing that keeps this game from sinking
completely is its naval battles.
You play as Thomas "Hawk" Blythe, a
puppet for Blackbeard in which your orders are to hunt for and collect the long
lost treasure of Henry Morgan. The story kicks off with a voodoo “friend” of
yours that senses strong powers and destiny with an amulet that hangs around
your neck. The CG animation is rough because there are games out there that look
as good as these do… but in real time. You won’t really have to worry about
that, though, because you will be easily distracted by the awkward voice acting.
I say awkward because it’s not like the dialogue is horribly written, it’s just
when you see these characters speak their voices just don’t match their looks.
For example, Blackbeard isn’t a rough, growling, or menacing voice, he sounds
more like an ice-cream truck driver. But I digress…
If you are familiar with pirate
games you will instantly recognize the ship battles are directly modeled after
Sid Meier’s Pirates! with the addition of raising and lowering your
sails. This is by far the most fun aspect of the game and though it lacks
variety, it is done fairly well. The basic strategy of gameplay is taking your
ship and sailing circles around the enemy’s while shooting cannonballs at them.
If it sounds simplistic, it’s because it is. What the game truly lacks is an
open-ended exploration. Tortuga pushes you from one mission to the next without
giving you an opportunity to freely explore and travel the world.
The last and yes, least big part of
the game is hand-to-hand combat. Tortuga allows you to hack and slash your
enemies with button smashing madness. And although I’m very glad to see them try
this, it didn’t pay off well. Hawk just repeats the same slash over and over
until your enemy falls down. And the battles themselves go from extremely easy
to being ridiculously hard for no apparent reason what-so-ever.
Tortuga is certainly not a treasure
and you would have to be a die-hard pirate lover to really get some enjoyment
out of this one. It’s not a horrible game, but its flaws far outweigh the
positives. My best advice is to leave this one at the bottom of the sea…
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Gameplay:
6.0
Sea battles are the only thing keeping this one afloat. Bad hand-to-hand combat,
pacing, and very linear gameplay.
Graphics:
7.0
While on the ocean, the sea looks good, everywhere else consists of flat
textures and blocky animation.
Sound:
7.0
Good music, but
very uninspired and awkward voice acting.
Difficulty: Medium
It jumps from being very easy to extremely difficult quite frequently.
Concept:
8.0
I’m glad somebody else tried to improve on Sid Meier’s Pirates!, but
Ascaron bit off a bit more than I think they could chew.
Overall: 6.0
Tortuga has only one shining stone in the chest: sea battles. Unfortunately the
rest of the game pulls it down.
