Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12926 in Video Games
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com Review
This is one of those games that, while it fails to knock your socks off, is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. Playing as the anatomically improbable Katarina, you roam the sea in a variety of boats and travel by foot over islands filled with forts, monkeys, and pirates. The game includes a story about a secret birthright, a one-eyed bad guy, and some handsome dude whom I call Marquis de la Moustache--you can fill in the blanks. All you really need to know is that you have to wander around collecting stuff and killing giant crabs. This turns out to be surprisingly pleasant, in no small part because of the heroic soundtrack. Dispatching enemies to the sounds of swelling strings and resounding brass is guaranteed to make you feel spiffy. It's like starring in an expertly crafted B movie.

Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat is in fact surprisingly fun given that none of its component parts are all that impressive. The graphics are nothing to write home about, the combat system is ordinary, the characters generic. But everything about the game, even its standard-issue story, has an earnest, irresistible charm. Though there are plenty of battles, the vibe of the game is gentle. After all the bloody, "edgy" games we have seen lately (and believe me, the deluge of blood and edginess has barely begun), there is something refreshingly old-fashioned about a game whose vanquished characters disappear in a discreet poof. With a straight face, the game asks you to collect magic seashells, travel through magic portals, and talk to birdies. I almost found myself looking around for My Little Pony.

The only really annoying thing is Katarina's inability to walk uphill. Here's a woman who can dispatch three pirates simultaneously while doing a backflip, but who can't walk up the gentlest grassy incline. Ascend more than a few feet, and Katrina slides down like a snowboarder. She looks darn sporty doing it, but when you're trying to investigate a burning mansion or some other interesting feature, it's very frustrating.

This game is a good time, even if your socks are still on when you finish. --David Stoesz

Pros:

• Stirring soundtrack
• Free-wandering adventure
• Straightforward, pick-up-and-play fun

• Inability to walk uphill
• Awkward camera management
• Short (about 20 hours)

Amazon.com Product Description
In Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat, you'll take to the high seas as fearless pirate Katarina de Leon. You'll master a dozen pirate ships, from a simple gunboat to a massive man-of-war. There are 12 vessels in all, drawn from history and legend. You will discover and explore increasingly dangerous and fantastic island worlds, and develop swordplay skills to defeat evil pirate bands and loot their treasures. The game includes witch doctors, mermaids, mythical beasts, skull apes, and other beings to befriend or battle. The hand-to-hand battle system allows you to swordfight with two-handed combo moves, while ship-to-ship combat lets you to go head-to-head against the computer or another player.

Customer Reviews

Very Unique Gaming experience
I just picked this game up yesterday and have just partly gotten into the game. So far, this is a very tightly programmed, visually stimulating offering from Westwood Studios and EA Games. You play as a young female pirate (Katerina) whose mother was a pirate long ago. You play in two different modes, one is like tomb raider, exploring islands for treasure and mystical items while running your sword through baddies. The other mode is the very well done ship battles where you pilot your pirate ship, blasting forts and other ships out of the water with your cannons and assortment of other special weapons. In additon to the main game, there is a great two-player option where you and a friend can sail around fighting each other's ships. The more ships you sink, the more powerful ships you can take over use. The voice acting is very professional and music is heroic. The cut scenes are very well done and don't interfere with the playing while giving you the backstory. Overall, this game offers a little bit of everything to the adventure gamer. It's not the best game ever made, but it's very entertaining and addictive (which is important). Like the Legacy of Kain and Final Fantasy titles, I've found it hard to put the game down because I can't wait to see what's around the corner or on the next island.

Nice visuals, okay storyline, fun gameplay.
My wife and I actually got fished into buying this one after playing the demo. (It is a one player game, but still fun to play together.) Even in the demo the game's strengths were readily apparent - some minor flaws came to light as we continued with the full version, but no show-stoppers.

First, the good stuff. The game environments are gorgeous. The islands look great, the water is clear and blue, the clouds in the sky look real. As you're sailing along, you can see schools of fish swim around, solitary squid wiggle by, and playful dolphins leap out of the water and leave splashes when they land. The creatures are different in different parts of the map. Near one island there's a great looking whale and you can even hear the whale song in the distance. Very, very cool.

The two different styles of gameplay also keep things interesting. The "exploring the islands on foot" part is pretty standard fare. You collect treasure and quest items while defeating various enemies. (This is not a platformer, so there are only a few quest items rather than hundreds.) The "rule the seas" part of the game is great - you sail around fighting the bad-guy ships and defending yourself from other pirates. (The graphics shine again during the sea battles. Each cannon shot is rendered individually with a puff of smoke at the cannon. You see the cannonball flying through the air and if you miss it splashes into the water. If you hit, you see chunks flying off the target. When you do enough damage to the enemy ships, they explode. Sometimes you'll get an instant replay of the ship's destruction showing the final cannon shot up close in slow motion.) Switching between the two styles of gameplay is a lot of fun.

The (PS2) control scheme is pretty easy to pick up (though because this is an adventure game, X is an attack and sometimes I still hit X to jump like I was in a platformer.) The controls are pretty much the same for exploring or sailing, which makes it easy to switch between the two. The left stick controls movement and the right controls the camera. I don't have many complaints about the camera. It stays where you leave it relative to Kat or the ship unless you move it around. In the ship battles you can pull way back to get a great tactical overview or zoom in close for detail. While exploring, you can pull back enough to see around corners or get right behind Kat's head to see what she sees. The only thing I don't like is this: she can't look up.

There are some other minor flaws that I'd like to see tweaked a little in a sequel. For instance, the inventory system only lets you carry a certain amount of each item, no matter how much other stuff you are carrying. (Both personal items for exploring islands and ship related items for the open sea work the same way.) I don't mind a maximum inventory, in fact I kind of expect it, but I'd like to be able to decide for myself what to stock up on and what to leave home.

Also, as Kat grows in skill and power she gets better swords so she can dish out more damage, but other than gaining more health levels her defense doesn't grow. She gets no shields or armor or anything like that. Get surprised by some of the critters in the game and you can lose half your health instantly. Perhaps that was a conscious decision on the part of the designers to encourage careful play, but a little armor would sure be nice.

The storyline is not going to win any awards for dramatic writing, but it works for the game. The cutscenes are pretty good and the voice acting is well-done. The score is great, with some fine dramatic music (a few more tracks would be even better.) I'm not the first to make the comparison to a B-movie matinee or a formulaic novel: it might be a little cheesy, but you didn't come here for literature, you came to have a good time. "Pirates" certainly delivers that.

Simply a fun and wonderful game
The best way i can describe Pirates "The Legend of Black Kat" is to say it is akin to going on a very long disney ride. This game is that fun. It is perfect for those who do not want the overly complex challenges that so many newer games have. While still challenging, the game actuallyn allows you to just sit back and enjoy its beauty.

As mentioned in other reviews, you have both land and see battles. The land battles feature some very simple to use but extremely fun, sword techniques. One improvment I would suggest is to have a sprint button..many times you want to be able to move faster but cannot. You also have many special weapons on land including this really awesome mini barrel bombs that you need to really time to maximum the effect. The graphics are so nice that you may just want to explore each island for sheer sightseeing enjoyment.

The sea battles are awesome. You literally shoot cannonballs and watch them soar into the distance..trying to shoot at the right angle for a connection. It is truly addicting and you have limitless angles from which to view.

Overall this is just a wonderful game that truly lets you escape to a fantasy world.

I give it my highest recommendation