Post by CSA FD on Mar 9, 2012 3:47:14 GMT -6
Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships Review
July 15, 2009
Two and a half years ago, Akella and Playlogic released Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, an adventure/sim/RPG hybrid of life on the seas in search of treasure, fame and glory. Apart from boarding ships and swordfighting with sailors, players could trade goods and take over cities and forts as one of two characters. Trying to build on this sailing adventure, Akella and Playlogic have recently reteamed for the sequel. However, Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships is bogged down by unintuitive gameplay, controls that feel clunky, and elements that aren't explained in the instructions or during your adventure, which will severely tax your patience.
Unlike the first game, which attempted to string together a storyline as you sail around the Caribbean, players are allowed to essentially make their own story and life on the sea as one of three characters: a merchant, corsair and an adventurer. These characters have their individual stats dictated by what's called the P.I.R.A.T.E.S. system, which governs things like how quickly you can draw your sword, how much loot you can carry and how much health you have. The same system also governs ship behavior as well, such as your navigation and combat abilities with your vessels. This system is rather complex and plays a major role in how you level up your character and improve your skills; in particular, the more you use a skill, the more it improves. This can lead you to specialize in certain abilities as well, so if you show some skill with your blade, you can become an expert fencer and inflict additional damage on enemies.
Apart from building your skills, you'll also build your reputation as a captain in the Caribbean by doing things like sailing into ports, hiring new shipmates and acquiring goods to keep your crew from declaring a mutiny. As you disembark from your vessel and wander around each town, you can barter with shopkeepers, explore various homes for items, or stop by the tavern for a drink, gossip and games of chance. Players can also choose to explore the various caves and dungeons around, searching for hidden and cursed gold buried by pirates (even if they're willing to take on the undead for a bit of treasure). If exploration isn't that appealing, you can attempt to do the bidding of governors of a territory to defeat pirates or recover lost cargo. Even better, you can depose the leaders of a location and establish your own safe haven. Needless to say, there's a huge amount of depth within Age of Pirates 2, and this, coupled with the seemingly unlimited cutthroats and wayward criminals that you'll come across, can keep you playing the game for quite a long time.
However, there is a major issue that arises with Age of Pirates 2, however, which makes it particularly difficult to discover all of these facets of gameplay – there is absolutely no tutorial for the gameplay whatsoever. Apart from an extremely small crash course in swordfighting basics (the problems of which I'll get to a bit later), there are no hints, directions or guides to be found within the entire game. It would be one thing if this was restricted by difficulty level; Age of Pirates 2 provides ten separate difficulty levels for you to test your skills (which feels like way too many and only seems to serve as a way to hasten the speed that your enemies will kill you). However, even set on the beginner level, you aren't provided with any information as to what you need to do to control your ship, access menus or get basic character details about yourself. As a result, you'll find that you'll stumble your way through much of the game without a full sense of how to do anything. The manual doesn't really help either; many of the explanations about game features are very generic or descriptive without indicating specifics of what you would want to do.
Along with the lack of a tutorial comes the lack of info about certain gameplay elements. For example, you will come across in people in your travels to various towns that will ask you different questions related to ship life to gain special items or information. Some of these are riddles while others are glossary terminology for parts of a ship. Unless you have an internet browser open or have a certain amount of familiarity with ships, you're not going to get some of these questions right. Considering that this was a facet of onshore play, particularly as you're exploring the islands and settlements on the coast, you'd hope that this was better developed. Another issue is the lack of understandable maps or directions as you maneuver through the hills and jungles of a location. It's possible to completely get lost on foot because there's no easy indication of where you're going, what locations are nearby or what you can run into. While it would be understandable for a general "fog of war," maps that you pick up or purchase don't even fully give you information that is useful, making for a lot of frustration as you stumble through the wilderness of each area.
Another problem that arises with the gameplay is that it places a higher premium on direct combat than indirect means or even peaceful skills. For example, repairing your vessel that may have been damaged in a storm or trading goods in town doesn't earn you nearly the same kinds of experience boosts that wielding a sword and firing a cannon at enemy ships will. In fact, trying to play as a peaceful trader who didn't attack anyone was an exercise in futility, as I never came close to improving my skills, making the option to be a merchant academic. Clearly, attacking and boarding ships are the focus of the game, which isn't a surprise (it is called Age of Pirates 2, after all). The problem comes within the nautical view for the game, which forces a slow and clunky maneuverability on your vessel regardless of class or weight on the ship. It can actually take you up to ten minutes or longer to sail from one settlement to another with the nautical view selected, and turning from port to starboard or vice versa can take a lot of time as your sailors respond to your commands. During peaceful voyages, this is an understandable element for simulation, and can add to the gameplay.
However, you're rarely on a peaceful voyage; sailing into, or even on the edge of, storms will frequently obliterate any control you have along with causing an immense amount of damage to your ship, and maneuvering your ship into place to line up a volley from your cannons is extremely tricky to do. Even worse, the firing and reloading of cannons, even with a skilled crew, can take at least twenty seconds with a fully crewed ship. Get into a battle with a fleet of ships, and you can expect the reloads to come even slower. Now, switching to the map view allows you to travel much faster, but this can also raise a few issues. First, you're still propelled back to the horrendous nautical view if the two previously mentioned "incidents" befall your ship. Secondly, the speed of the map view makes you wish that you could either simulate battles in this faster mode or would allow you to instantly leap to boarding your opponent. Unfortunately, this isn't an option at all. I don't expect these large vessels to be speedboats that would turn on a dime, but I'd hope for more responsiveness at least during a naval battle.
Then again, I could easily say the same for boarding ships or sword fights during the game. Instead of epic clashes with rapiers and daggers on the deck of a ship between skilled duelists, the game degenerates into hacking and slashing mobs of three or four enemies against one. While the game system is designed to take a character's energy into account, in theory preventing a Dynasty Warriors-styled button mashing approach to attacks, any character can be overwhelmed regardless of whether they're blocking or not by the sheer numbers thrown at you. The lone equalizer comes with pistols, which can inflict a large amount of damage on your enemies. However, many of your shots will simply injure or severely wound your opponents, while shots from attackers will frequently kill you with one round.
Along with some of these gameplay issues comes a certain amount of visual issues that can complicate play. The game engine appears to be at least ten years old, which really stands out whenever you're in town, with rather generic character models and buildings that appear to be repurposed from location to location. As a result, if you go to a new location, you can sometimes find yourself feeling as though you've already been there, because the layout will feel rather familiar. Character animation can also come across as somewhat stiff, particularly as you move and prepare to attack during combat. Additionally, for some reason allies and enemies will sometimes pause during combat as they're being attacked without attempting to defend themselves, as if the animation for movement had been paused. This results in providing a free opening for someone to attack them, which can be capitalized on. Particle effects, smoke and fire are okay, but distinctly generic as well. For instance, the lightning strikes that hit boats and cause gunpowder explosions in the middle of a storm don't provide the same visual impact that you know such an event would cause (or equal the kind of damage that you're told about once you make it out of the dangerous waves.
Musically, you've got the kind of sweeping soundtrack that you'd expect to come from an Errol Flynn movie, which does a pretty decent job of getting you excited to attack other ships and exact your own justice on the sea. However, the sound effects seem to have been an afterthought, particularly during fights. Much of the time, you find yourself in a battle that feels a bit muted and dies down instantly as soon as the final blow is struck. No clanging from falling weapons or sounds from dying enemies – instead, you've simply got a resolution of most sound and dynamic battle music, which sounds weird.
One other thing for those players looking for multiplayer – you're not going to find it here. Unlike the first game which featured naval battles online for people to battle over, Age of Pirates 2 is solely a single player experience.
Closing Comments
If you were looking for a solid buccaneer experience, Age of Pirates 2 probably won't give you what you're looking for. While the gameplay is deep, you're plagued with serious control and play issues, and a lack of tutorial and in-game instructions to help you fully explore the title. If you are willing to dedicate a huge amount of patience and time in attempting to grasp what you can do, you may find some enjoyment with the game. However, the curve is so incredibly steep that most people will abandon this title long before they approach this threshold.
pc.ign.com/articles/100/1003698p2.html
July 15, 2009
Two and a half years ago, Akella and Playlogic released Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, an adventure/sim/RPG hybrid of life on the seas in search of treasure, fame and glory. Apart from boarding ships and swordfighting with sailors, players could trade goods and take over cities and forts as one of two characters. Trying to build on this sailing adventure, Akella and Playlogic have recently reteamed for the sequel. However, Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships is bogged down by unintuitive gameplay, controls that feel clunky, and elements that aren't explained in the instructions or during your adventure, which will severely tax your patience.
Unlike the first game, which attempted to string together a storyline as you sail around the Caribbean, players are allowed to essentially make their own story and life on the sea as one of three characters: a merchant, corsair and an adventurer. These characters have their individual stats dictated by what's called the P.I.R.A.T.E.S. system, which governs things like how quickly you can draw your sword, how much loot you can carry and how much health you have. The same system also governs ship behavior as well, such as your navigation and combat abilities with your vessels. This system is rather complex and plays a major role in how you level up your character and improve your skills; in particular, the more you use a skill, the more it improves. This can lead you to specialize in certain abilities as well, so if you show some skill with your blade, you can become an expert fencer and inflict additional damage on enemies.
Apart from building your skills, you'll also build your reputation as a captain in the Caribbean by doing things like sailing into ports, hiring new shipmates and acquiring goods to keep your crew from declaring a mutiny. As you disembark from your vessel and wander around each town, you can barter with shopkeepers, explore various homes for items, or stop by the tavern for a drink, gossip and games of chance. Players can also choose to explore the various caves and dungeons around, searching for hidden and cursed gold buried by pirates (even if they're willing to take on the undead for a bit of treasure). If exploration isn't that appealing, you can attempt to do the bidding of governors of a territory to defeat pirates or recover lost cargo. Even better, you can depose the leaders of a location and establish your own safe haven. Needless to say, there's a huge amount of depth within Age of Pirates 2, and this, coupled with the seemingly unlimited cutthroats and wayward criminals that you'll come across, can keep you playing the game for quite a long time.
However, there is a major issue that arises with Age of Pirates 2, however, which makes it particularly difficult to discover all of these facets of gameplay – there is absolutely no tutorial for the gameplay whatsoever. Apart from an extremely small crash course in swordfighting basics (the problems of which I'll get to a bit later), there are no hints, directions or guides to be found within the entire game. It would be one thing if this was restricted by difficulty level; Age of Pirates 2 provides ten separate difficulty levels for you to test your skills (which feels like way too many and only seems to serve as a way to hasten the speed that your enemies will kill you). However, even set on the beginner level, you aren't provided with any information as to what you need to do to control your ship, access menus or get basic character details about yourself. As a result, you'll find that you'll stumble your way through much of the game without a full sense of how to do anything. The manual doesn't really help either; many of the explanations about game features are very generic or descriptive without indicating specifics of what you would want to do.
Along with the lack of a tutorial comes the lack of info about certain gameplay elements. For example, you will come across in people in your travels to various towns that will ask you different questions related to ship life to gain special items or information. Some of these are riddles while others are glossary terminology for parts of a ship. Unless you have an internet browser open or have a certain amount of familiarity with ships, you're not going to get some of these questions right. Considering that this was a facet of onshore play, particularly as you're exploring the islands and settlements on the coast, you'd hope that this was better developed. Another issue is the lack of understandable maps or directions as you maneuver through the hills and jungles of a location. It's possible to completely get lost on foot because there's no easy indication of where you're going, what locations are nearby or what you can run into. While it would be understandable for a general "fog of war," maps that you pick up or purchase don't even fully give you information that is useful, making for a lot of frustration as you stumble through the wilderness of each area.
Another problem that arises with the gameplay is that it places a higher premium on direct combat than indirect means or even peaceful skills. For example, repairing your vessel that may have been damaged in a storm or trading goods in town doesn't earn you nearly the same kinds of experience boosts that wielding a sword and firing a cannon at enemy ships will. In fact, trying to play as a peaceful trader who didn't attack anyone was an exercise in futility, as I never came close to improving my skills, making the option to be a merchant academic. Clearly, attacking and boarding ships are the focus of the game, which isn't a surprise (it is called Age of Pirates 2, after all). The problem comes within the nautical view for the game, which forces a slow and clunky maneuverability on your vessel regardless of class or weight on the ship. It can actually take you up to ten minutes or longer to sail from one settlement to another with the nautical view selected, and turning from port to starboard or vice versa can take a lot of time as your sailors respond to your commands. During peaceful voyages, this is an understandable element for simulation, and can add to the gameplay.
However, you're rarely on a peaceful voyage; sailing into, or even on the edge of, storms will frequently obliterate any control you have along with causing an immense amount of damage to your ship, and maneuvering your ship into place to line up a volley from your cannons is extremely tricky to do. Even worse, the firing and reloading of cannons, even with a skilled crew, can take at least twenty seconds with a fully crewed ship. Get into a battle with a fleet of ships, and you can expect the reloads to come even slower. Now, switching to the map view allows you to travel much faster, but this can also raise a few issues. First, you're still propelled back to the horrendous nautical view if the two previously mentioned "incidents" befall your ship. Secondly, the speed of the map view makes you wish that you could either simulate battles in this faster mode or would allow you to instantly leap to boarding your opponent. Unfortunately, this isn't an option at all. I don't expect these large vessels to be speedboats that would turn on a dime, but I'd hope for more responsiveness at least during a naval battle.
Then again, I could easily say the same for boarding ships or sword fights during the game. Instead of epic clashes with rapiers and daggers on the deck of a ship between skilled duelists, the game degenerates into hacking and slashing mobs of three or four enemies against one. While the game system is designed to take a character's energy into account, in theory preventing a Dynasty Warriors-styled button mashing approach to attacks, any character can be overwhelmed regardless of whether they're blocking or not by the sheer numbers thrown at you. The lone equalizer comes with pistols, which can inflict a large amount of damage on your enemies. However, many of your shots will simply injure or severely wound your opponents, while shots from attackers will frequently kill you with one round.
Along with some of these gameplay issues comes a certain amount of visual issues that can complicate play. The game engine appears to be at least ten years old, which really stands out whenever you're in town, with rather generic character models and buildings that appear to be repurposed from location to location. As a result, if you go to a new location, you can sometimes find yourself feeling as though you've already been there, because the layout will feel rather familiar. Character animation can also come across as somewhat stiff, particularly as you move and prepare to attack during combat. Additionally, for some reason allies and enemies will sometimes pause during combat as they're being attacked without attempting to defend themselves, as if the animation for movement had been paused. This results in providing a free opening for someone to attack them, which can be capitalized on. Particle effects, smoke and fire are okay, but distinctly generic as well. For instance, the lightning strikes that hit boats and cause gunpowder explosions in the middle of a storm don't provide the same visual impact that you know such an event would cause (or equal the kind of damage that you're told about once you make it out of the dangerous waves.
Musically, you've got the kind of sweeping soundtrack that you'd expect to come from an Errol Flynn movie, which does a pretty decent job of getting you excited to attack other ships and exact your own justice on the sea. However, the sound effects seem to have been an afterthought, particularly during fights. Much of the time, you find yourself in a battle that feels a bit muted and dies down instantly as soon as the final blow is struck. No clanging from falling weapons or sounds from dying enemies – instead, you've simply got a resolution of most sound and dynamic battle music, which sounds weird.
One other thing for those players looking for multiplayer – you're not going to find it here. Unlike the first game which featured naval battles online for people to battle over, Age of Pirates 2 is solely a single player experience.
Closing Comments
If you were looking for a solid buccaneer experience, Age of Pirates 2 probably won't give you what you're looking for. While the gameplay is deep, you're plagued with serious control and play issues, and a lack of tutorial and in-game instructions to help you fully explore the title. If you are willing to dedicate a huge amount of patience and time in attempting to grasp what you can do, you may find some enjoyment with the game. However, the curve is so incredibly steep that most people will abandon this title long before they approach this threshold.
pc.ign.com/articles/100/1003698p2.html