Ballistics Report

Pros

Graphics.
Well, the game looks great. The large, intricate ship models are textured with care, and then placed on a beautiful, if not perfect pixel-shaded ocean, and then subjected to a variety of weather effects.

Broadside after broadside

Near miss

Ouch getting pummeled

Cons

Interface.
Possibly the worst interface since those ugly days when DOS games were ported to Windows 95. It doesn’t work on PC and we doubt we’d like it very much on the Xbox either.

Static world.
For all the attempts to make the world lively, the world map has shown what a dreadfully static place the archipelago is. AI ships float around randomly, making no attempt to even look like they’re even trying to run trade routes.

Confused focus.
Is it an adventure game? A pirate sim? An economic sim? An RPG? It’s got elements of all the above, but some of the elements don’t mesh very well.

Forced plot.
The player is given absolutely no chance to avoid the storyline, unlike Freelancer. French cities (all 2 of them) are indestructible. The other nations you can mess with, but that might screw up the plot.

Damn again

Gah

Now die or something