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Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Bethesda EAN: 0093155115903 ESRB Age Rating: Teen Format: CD-ROM Label: Bethesda Softworks Manufacturer: Bethesda Softworks Platform: Windows 98, Windows 95 Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Release Date: December 05, 2000 Studio: Bethesda Softworks Accessories: Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Sea Dogs casts you as a young English privateer who had the misfortune of getting boarded and captured by the Spanish during the golden age of piracy. Left to rot in an island prison, you soon make your escape, capturing a small ship and making for the nearest English port. There the adventure begins as you accept a letter of Marque, which grants royal authority to attack and plunder Spanish ships. Sea Dogs offers three games in one. A third-person perspective lets you guide your character through the various towns and ports and interact with the citizenry. The shore-side adventure plays like a good 3-D RPG and allows you to uncover plots, hire pirates, and buy supplies. But the gameplay on land is merely a prelude to the real action: piracy on the high seas. The combat model is excellent, enabling quick-thinking captains to maneuver their ships to fire broadsides into enemy vessels. You pick from the surprisingly wide variety of cannon shot in order to bring down mizzenmasts and mainsails, clear the decks of crew, or simply blast the enemy ship into matchwood. When you board or are boarded, a third option pops up that lets you duel with the enemy captain. Your health is a representation of the amount of crew you have relative to the enemy. It's a decent system pirated straight from Sid Meier's Pirates!, the original high-seas adventure. Another bit of stolen Pirates! booty is the ability to pursue your own destiny. Unlike most other games, Sea Dogs does not impose a restrictive plot upon the player. Stay loyal to the English, join the Spanish, plunder the French just for the fun of it, or renounce all nations and become a pirate king--the options for adventure in Sea Dogs are as limitless as the ocean. Where Sea Dogs takes on water is its difficulty. It took an awful lot of dying and reloading before we came upon an encounter that we could handle with our meager initial force. Getting thrown to the sharks wouldn't be quite so bad if gamers were given a chance to hone their skills, but Sea Dogslacks any kind of tutorial to let you practice ship-to-ship combat and swordplay. If your interest is only casual, this one won't shiver your timbers. But if you're in it for the long haul the game delivers a fantastic pirate experience. --Bob Andrews Pros:
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Amazon.com Product Description: Combining elements of role-playing, naval combat, and strategy, Sea Dogs provides a boundless, endless pirating experience. Set in the 17th century, players begin with a small ship, allegiance to the British, French, Spanish, or pirates, and some general guidance on what to do next. The campaigns are nonlinear, meaning players can accept quests or play the game any way they want. Towns are a focal point in the game and allow players to repair, resupply, and upgrade their ships, pick up new crew members, look for work, or simply listen to rumors. Through trading or combat, players obtain additional ships to build and command an entire fleet. There are 20 types of ships to choose from, ranging from small corvettes to large battleships. Location-specific ship damage allows players to send enemies' sails up in flames, bring their masts crashing to the deck, or shoot holes in their decks. Players can customize their ships with a variety of cannon and shot types to create devastating attacks. Wind and weather effects give advantages during combat and determine how ships sail in general. Players can choose to change allegiances at any time, giving up pirate life to join the cause of a country, leaving one country to fight for another, or choosing to serve only oneself as a pirate. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Beautiful, fun gameThis game's biggest flaw is its difficulty. It's TOO hard, but really fun once you get the hang of it. You will have to spend some quality time with this game if you want to be successful. Yes, the game has some bugs, but they probably won't bother you too much. The dialogue can be awkward due to this being a Russian game, so be prepared for that. Also, you'll probably need a walkthrough at some point, because you'll probably have a hard time figuring out where you're supposed to go next in order ... Read More Rating: - Very challenging, but fun when you get the hang of it. When I bought this game, I was really hoping for it to be the "Morrowind" of the high seas. I was dissapointed. Thats not to say the game isn't cool - it is. Being a pirate is always awesome. However, the plot isn't what I would call revolutionary or unpredictable. In addition, the contact with NPCs is not what I expected - you can't really develop any 'relationships'. Also, be aware that you can only play as a man and that the character is not customizable. On the positive side, the graphics ... Read More Rating:  - Good thing you found this, buy it before its too late. Before you dismiss me as some pirate loving freak who has only played this game and therfore thinks its the best ever, hear me out. I was givin this game as gift about 6 years ago and I play it to this day. Its quite simply the most fun I've ever had in an RPG, I've played all sorts of games and this is definitly the best overall. There are several different factions you can join, English, French, Spanish, and Pirate. These mean different things obviously. You begin ... Read More Rating: - Addictive!This is a great game of piracy. It's extremely addictive to a modern-day gamer as well as the pirate-at-heart. The game was released in 1998, and the graphics are just amazing for that time era. I've seen games on Playstation 2 that didn't look as good. The locations and characters are entirely fictional, but have been developed around historical documents and evidence of piracy, so it feels very real. You can work as a privateer or a pirate, and you can change your mind as you wish to do so. The sailing ... Read More Rating: - Everything You Could Want in a Pirate GameYes, this game is not easy - although there are plenty of walkthroughs available on the web. Thanks to those who have played for a long time and made the effort to share their knowledge, you almost don't mind that the manufacturer never bothered to issue a player's guide. Yes, it does require you to pay attention - the suggestion to use a notebook is quite a good one! There is so much going on and you visit so many places, talk with so many people and with lots of story lines to keep track ... Read More |
