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Tortuga: Two Treasures
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Graphics & Sound:
Tortuga: Two Treasures is the latest pirate-themed game to sail our way, no doubt influenced by the immortal classic PIRATES! by Sid Meier, and a host of other swashbuckling fare. This title is brought to us by CDV, who also publish hits like Codename Panzers, Combat Mission and Blitzkrieg 2. On the development side of things, Ascaron Entertainment, makers of the Patrician and Port Royale series, attempt to recreate the world of cannon and sail.
Graphically, each of the ships are recreated in a high amount of detail, showing the various masts, sails, planks and rigging all twisting about in the churning water. Your crew is also displayed with some fine care, showing the hustle and bustle of the ship's daily chores. Most impressive is the poor soul who is cast overboard, making a fine meal for an eager pack of sharks circling below. The ship-to-ship fighting is pretty cool as well, with tons of explosions, water geysers and smoking hulks lurching about the seas -- it can get quite chaotic. When it is time to board an enemy ship or defend your own mighty vessel, the characters show a little less polish and animate a bit stiffly, but it still doesn’t detract that much. Some of the cartoony hit effects and blood splash were a tad lame, though.
The environments are pretty stunning as well, with a host of gorgeous reefs, islands and more that add to the eye candy. Seeing the sun set over the rim of a volcano is a sight to behold, as is seeing the sunken remains of former plunderers like yourself. The water is especially breathtaking, with a host of real-time lighting effects and translucency that will make your jaw drop. Once you hit land, you will notice quite a few structures and locales right out of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Unfortunately these areas aren’t extremely interactive, but it is still enough to draw you into the world just a little bit more.
On the sound front, the orchestral score provides a dutiful backdrop for action and serene moments alike. Along with this, you will hear lots of sound bits throughout; little chunks of talk here and there and of course, a heap load of pirate jargon. Now onto the voice acting…which immediately strikes you… well… as pretty freaking terrible. The way the actors convey each message and line just sounds completely off most of the time, and while the actual script is decent I suppose, they just can’t deliver it with any real believability.
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Gameplay:
You are one Thomas “Hawk” Blyth, swashbuckling your way into the 18th century with enough style and panache to match the infamous Jack Sparrow! (Minus the Adam Ant make-up, of course.) Your task is to uncover the location of the great treasure of Sir Henry Morgan, going up against ghost ships, courting a governor’s daughter, other pirates, sea monsters and a host of other obstacles during your adventures. Oh, and did I mention your boss is Blackbeard? Yeah, an interesting tid bit… eh?
This sounds all well and good, despite the obvious clichés we all have come to know and love, but quickly you find yourself plagued with discontinuity and plain confusion. Cut scenes don’t lend much to the connections between moments, nor does the funky dialogue help out, either. Once you come to terms with a haphazard plot, you start to notice the other issues of the gameplay, notably the sheer monotony and strict linear fashion. Why can’t I go sailing off over here or there to plunder and loot as I will? Maybe I don’t want to find this blasted treasure, maybe I just want to cruise around picking up exotic island babes - did they ever think of that?!?!?
Unfortunately, that isn’t part of the program, and you will instead be tasked with an assortment of boring missions like kill so-and-so, sink these ships etc... all easily mapped out by way-points. While the sea battles themselves involve a little bit of strategy, such as sail positioning for more or less speed/agility and trying to line up a full broad-side shot to cripple your enemy, it comes down to luck, more often than not. Of course, if you mismanage your stock of gold (used to purchase better ammo types), you may find yourself in a dire situation. You can even lure them over floating explosive barrels (someone should get around to cleaning those up…) or over razor sharp reefs. Should you decide to board a vessel or fight on land, the action is a lot of clicking madness, and doesn’t seem to flow very well at all. You do earn a few new moves as you progress, but why you would want to unlock more of the same drudgery is beyond me.
Lastly, there is no multiplayer to speak of, which is sad, considering how much fun you could have going against some more intelligent opponents, instead of just facing increasing amounts of baddies. |
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Difficulty:
Tortuga: Two Treasures is a pretty simple game to grasp and understand. There are no RPG or economic trading elements here; just follow the way-points, complete missions, stock up your inventory of special cannon shot and try not to bite off more than you can chew. Speaking of the latter, you will occasionally be thrust into some situations where, even if you run away, you will get owned beyond recognition. This random divergence from an easy play-style is a bit odd, to say the least, and is really the only wrench in the system.
Overall, though, this game is pure action simplicity, and shouldn’t take more than a couple hours to master, while you terrorize the seas.
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Game Mechanics:
First off, you will notice the camera has fits quite often, mostly in the town areas. This is due to the way it shifts around, partially obscuring your view, while engaged in furious melee action. Not good. It fares a little better in the open water, but still runs into a few hiccups now and again. Aside from this, the controls are straightforward and simple (almost too simple) ,so no real issue there.
Tortuga: Two Treasures is a bit of a surprise coming from Ascaron, considering their pedigree of deep strategy games in the same genre. I’m not sure if they are trying to cash in on the recent pirate craze or by appealing to a more casual audience, but it isn't for most gamers who expect more quality than this -- even if it does cost $30. It does have some nice visuals and it is fun for a little bit acting as a buccaneer, but it quickly grows old. Hopefully, Davey Jones will claim this sucker before you’re pulled down with it into the cold depths. |
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-Tybo, GameVortex Communications AKA Tyler Whitney |
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel/AMD >1.7 GHz, Windows XP (32Bit) SP2 or Windows 2000 SP4, 512Mb RAM, DX9 Compatible 64 MB Graphics-card, Support for Pixel/Vertex shader 1.1 Geforce 3 and above), (GeForce 4 MX cards are not supported!) DirectX Compatible Sound Card, DVD-Drive, 4 Gb HDD Space, DirectX 9.0c (included)
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Test System:
Windows XP, Intel P4 3.2 Ghz, 1GB of RAM, ATI Radeon X800 XL 256MB |
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