Reviewed: May 18, 2002
Reviewed by: Josh Lamb
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
Westwood Studios
Released: February 20, 2002
Genre: Adventure
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen
6
6
6
6
6.0
Supported Features:
A few weeks ago, I received my copy of Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat. I opened it, examined the case, and began reading the back cover. My lord, it’s a leather-clad sword-swinging vixen with fiery red hair and a fetish for blowing things up with lots of cannons. All good so far. Hastily, I loaded the disc into my PS2 and started my quest of jewels, battling sea-hardened scallywags, and seemingly autistic crabs that are easily distracted by your big shiny sword from three hundred yards away. Then I paused the game, set the controller down, and cried like a little girl with a skinned knee. I was severely disappointed. A heaving bosom and tight pants are obviously the hook here. I bit, and it was sour. Katrina De Leon is a lot like Lara Croft with malnutrition.
Twenty minutes later, after reading an FAQ on the game, I came back and attempted once more to enjoy a game with high potential and low delivery. Black Kat is a great idea, but it feels like it was pushed out the door in a hurry to meet a deadline. It could have been much, much better with a little more time. However, I must admit, my expectations were a little high.
You play as Kat, a female buccaneer with a crew of sea scoundrels, trying to piece together your mother’s death, who was also a pirate, and learn just how you fit in to all of it. You wear leather pants, command a ship named “The Wind Dancer”, and you dig up treasure without a shovel. You also have the magical ability to jump six feet into the air in a pair of boots reminiscent of Harley Davidson swag.
Black Kat is a third person action game (think Syphon Filter without high tech weapons) with two modes of play: “Shore Leave”, where in you hike around on islands of sand and palm trees collecting riches, weapons, and beating the ever-living crap out of several different enemies, ranging from cannon turrets to striped shirt enemy pirates that like to throw kegs of gun powder at your face, with ease. Lots of ease.
Shore leave doesn’t present many challenges, but that’s a good thing. You’re free to run around all over the place and do all kinds of zany things, like open treasure chests, find maps, and talk to parrots. You get the idea.
The other mode of play, where in you pilot your ship around the ocean, is my personal favorite of the two. There’s all sorts of stuff to do: you can ram your boat into enemy ships, blow up fortresses, and travel to far off lands. My only real concern with life at sea is that there’s no way to actually control where your cannons fire. To aim, you have to sail your ship parallel with your opposition and unload your cannons at the sides of their boat. You have a general idea where it’s going, but crosshairs would be fantastic in that situation. A lack of an aiming device invoked plenty of rage with the game’s characters.
The game’s controls are simple enough. Four basic command buttons and movement with the analog stick. The eleven year old audience, which the game was obviously intended for, will have no problem with the button mashing.
The areas in which you traverse are fairly large. Sea travel is pretty much infinite, basically allowing you to sail for as long as you like with no real sense of direction. Land terrain is good, but sometimes the levels are spread pretty big. Stomping across an entire continent for one key is a bit aggravating, especially considering that Kat isn’t exactly an Olympic sprinter.
I have to say the real joy in Black Kat is upgrading your ship. You start off with your standard two cannon sail boat and work your way up to the thirty-six cannon Man O’ War. Special weapons include stink bombs, incendiary explosives, and chains with spiked balls attached. These devices keep things interesting, especially when you have a surplus of fire bombs to incinerate your enemy into a blistering pile of ashes.
This brings me to a fine aspect of the game’s visuals: explosions. Watching an enemy vessel ignite and eventually detonate with what appears to be liquid fire pouring from its hull and sails will certainly brighten your day. In conclusion, fire works are fun.
In-game graphics leave a tad bit to be desired. High end PS1 visuals are about what you get. CG cut-scenes are nice, but spread thin. Rare, and not completely state of the art, they’re not much of a reward for two hours of bland sand. I definitely would have like to seen Katrina walk around in MGS2 quality cut-scenes, but Westwood Studios says “No soup for you.”
Character movements are a little unanimated, save Kat’s slow saunters around on the beaches. Enemy boss movements draw a lot of attention from your eyes, and they’re a bit repetitive. The same attacks and maneuver sequences take place over, and over, and over again. The frame rate never dropped on me, at least I didn’t catch it. The camera movements are nice and smooth, and transitions from one area to another don’t glitch and jerk around.
Water. It’s not the best I’ve seen, but it’s good for the game it’s packaged with. Cannon balls create very realistic splashes, and your ship’s hull carving through the liquid is pretty much stunning the first time it actually happens. Use the breeze speed-burst effect to see what it’s all about.
The music is, in general, irritating. It’s recurring, annoying, and it drove me insane. Not unlike an ulcer, or a cut on the roof of your mouth. Variety wasn’t paid attention to, obviously, as running around on sand brings some nice jungle beats in, and water brings in a sort classical music that was apparently meant to excite you for the next level. It failed miserably.
Sound effects are good. Water actually sounds like water; sailing at high speeds brings a combination of wind howls and splashes that are quite soothing. Sword fighting sounds a little like silver ware, and that’s a little discouraging. I’d like to hear my sword sing through the air, but I’m denied my joy.
Rent the game for two days, and if you’re actually gung-ho on beating it, you could easily finish it off in under twenty hours. I’m not sure what the actual time is, but I got through half the game in about five hours. Not much to warrant a purchase, so a trip to Blockbuster or a borrowed copy should suffice.
Two player battle is cool to toy with for an hour or so. I wouldn’t count on having a boat-load of fun though. It’s pretty much what is implied, sail around with a buddy shooting at each other for the better part of ten minutes and see who comes out afloat.
Black Kat is basically what the name implies, booty right along with it. It’s essentially one of the many mediocre titles out there destined to collect dust on a department store shelf. Two-player mode is worth the rental if you’ve got a buddy around willing to partake in a few hours of sea-battle.
And just to make your rental cash well spent, the developers included a code to change Kat’s clothes. I suppose if I was four years younger I’d probably like it, or maybe if I was really bored and this was the only option I had opposed to talking to a toaster, it would be alright.