Gaming Target - Xbox: Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat

Written by Patrick Geurs on September 09, 2003

Full Review: I think I'll walk the plank now...

If you are looking for a nice sports gameЕXbox has got your ticket, if you want a engine revving racing gameЕXbox has the keys, but if you are looking for a quality platformer then you have been on the outside looking in since the launch of Microsoft's new system in November. This is not hard to believe since the days of fun to play platform games seem to be a thing of the past. Most gamers, with the exception of the ever-devoted Mario fanatics, don't seem to miss these games. But I for one am a huge platform game fan and was excited to see that the folks at EA had created an action adventure style platform game for us Xboxers.

Little did I know that the treasure of Pirates: Legend of Black Kat was in actuality only fools' gold. The game centers around a female pirate named Kat who is out to learn of her pirate mother's past while hunting down those responsible for her father's untimely demise. To do this, Kat must travel from island to island fighting off foes and collecting treasures along the way. This is where the games problems begin to arise. Fighting enemies is both redundant and tiresome. You will have the same basic fight and jump combinations throughout the game, which will be used to endlessly fight what seems like the same enemies. As you are swash buckling your way across these various lands, you will also find treasure chests ready for the taking. In addition to the chests in open view, you will discover that Kat will come across chests that require countless amounts of keys and chests hidden in the ground. Luckily for you these sunken treasures are not hard to locate thanks to such ingenious Kat quotes as, УI smell gold.Ф Your winnings can be used to buy new weapons for your boat, or just to repair the boat itself.

You will need to fix your boat because it will be damaged in your numerous open sea battles with other pirates who are after yer' loot matey. These battles are annoying and do not seem to require much other than sailing around your opponents as you mindlessly shoot cannons and other simple weapons at each other.

Employing both sea and land battles in a pirate adventure game might have been enjoyable if done right, but it seems to me that with the mind numbing monotony of both forms of battle, this game would have been better served to perfect one style and stick to it.

Even though the game in itself leaves much to be desired, the gameplay seems to be acceptable. It is simple to move around and fight others. The controls are sharp and will become second nature if you can manage to play this game for a decent amount of time. Sailing can be difficult, but only because of the winds' (or lack there of) role. This is realistic in nature so I cannot gripe about the slow moving vessel in the open sea. You will however find yourself struggling to find the opposing ship that is hitting you with several cannonballs, as the view can be very sketchy at times.

Should you decide to actually tell a friend you're in possession of this game, there is a two-player mode available to you. In this mode you will find yourself and your friend battling each other in rival ships. The novelty of such a battle quickly diminishes and the two-player mode will be sent to sea quicker than you can say one-eyed Willie.

Graphically this game is nothing you haven't seen before and will not be used as an example when citing the Xbox's capabilities. The characters are all average and the islands tend to be a little disappointing in their minimalist design. The water itself is a nice view and watching the boats sail the open seas will put a smile on your face, but again, they are nothing you haven't already seen.

The same can be said for this games sound. The music is nice and clean but redundant. The characters speech is average and the sound of the water is about what you would expect, but much like the rest of the game, it is easily replaced with thoughts of other games that have done it better.