REVIEW – Back in the old ages it was dangerous to sail on uncharted waters. A lot of times the explorers searched for treasures that were on hand drawn maps, that sometimes were highlighted as fearsome monsters. Well luckily in Raven’s Cry you won’t meet a lot of these sea monsters, suffice to say it will be zero, however there will be lots of treasure maps. As mentioned in the preview the game’s issues were seen back then. During the gam there can be lots of freezes, crashes, sometimes I had to restart the game.

With regards to the story, Raven’s Cry is reminiscent of the old Epic Swashbuckling stories. Unfortunately I was not able to complete the story as the game stops at a certain point, but you’ll have to ransack a lot of ships until then.

Raven’s Cry is divided into two entirely different gameplay elements. The best element plays out on the sea, in the form of epic naval battles upgradeable, purchasable ships, from the tiny Schooner to the giant Man O War. During our sailing we’ll meet randomly generated fleets that are part of either the English, French, Spanish or Pirate faction.

The naval battles are fast, and play out in real time, plus they require great tactical skills. Selecting the correct ammunition is crucial, as not all of them have the same range and effectiveness. The first problem arises with this aspect, as setting up and aiming with the cannons are not too precise. So we’ll probably curse a lot while trying to hit that sweet spot. The three types of ammunition have to be selected carefully, as some damage the ship’s hull effectively, while the second one is for the sails, and the third one is good against the personnel of the ship.

Are you tough enough to be a pirate?

Managing the ship starts by selecting the crew. There’s not too much to muck about, we just decide how many we want, and they sort of get “refilled” in the nearest docks. Officers can be found in every city in the Caribbean, all of them have positive, and also negative traits. It will be up to us to decide who will we hire. For example one is a good shipwright, and can repair the hull, and the sails, only of course if he has enough raw materials. This way you can spare a trip to the docks. Upgrading the ship is the most important part, having better hull, or sail, and we can also hire more crew for the ship.

Where to my captain?

Exploring the seas is pretty streamlined. You just pick a destination on the map, and the ship will travel distance automatically. When this happens we’ll need to keep our eyes out, as during this, other ships will appear for a moment, and only by clicking on it will our ship be able to interact with them. This is really bad. Well with a better navigator we can get these markings to appear earlier on the map, but still it boils down to not blinking when watching the map and clicking on it as fast as possible. If we’re able to click on it, then the fun part begins, the naval battle.

The options are always ours to decide on how to handle the situation. We can sink it with cannon fire for XP, or ransack it and leave them stranded on the open seas. I recommend the latter option, as you’ll be able to sell off whatever you picked up from the captured ship. My favorite part in the game is when I attack a convoy, kill all of the crew, and then ransack the ships one by one. Then I sell the loot, and upgrade my ship. Best way to be a pirate.

Shallow waters around these parts.

However once Christopher lands on an Island we are in an entirely different one. A monotone, linear corridor running boring side quest game. While running I got stuck in trees, the controls are horrible, and the melee combat is not too good. Some of the cities are maze like, with a lot of dead ends, so a lot of long and annoying hikes will be made to reach a vendor or a shipwright. This part literally kills the game, and any good moments there were out on the seas, looting and shooting.

The worst is when the melee is required to progress. The combat system is made up of two parts. Light and heavy attacks, there’s also a quick pistol attack, block, doge, all packaged with an absolutely shitty hitbox. The targets are selected bafflingly, some of our hits do not register, and there are times when we get stabbed from nowhere. We do have the options to develop special moves, but these are pointless, as light attacks are better. Furthermore thanks to the bad AI, all of the fights can be won, by simply running away, and chipping away the enemy’s health, since after a while they go back to their original post.

There are also treasure maps in the game, and we can pick up strangers on our journey. But most of the times they screw us over, and force us into melee combat. I avoided them most of the time.

LAND!

In terms of atmosphere the Caribbean is modeled exceptionally, with the docks, and city life being authentic. My favorite parts are the pubs, not just because of the drinks of course but because they bring back the privateer era so accurately, some pirates just sing, others tell their stories. I could spend many minutes in them, and enjoy the feeling of it.

However the sound effects are the worst for Raven’s Cry. When we get lost in the city, it is downright annoying to listen to the same bird sounds, and the sea sounds. The voice acting is generic, and sometimes it feels like the actor fell asleep next to the microphone, and then suddenly someone wakes up the VO. The VO uses the same intonation for every scene including from simple lines to threats to screaming from pain. Due to this important conversations turn out quite funny. There are times when the sound cuts off, and only the other half can be heard later. Or the subtitles get also delayed at times. The camera view will sometimes just show the feel, or the wall, and no way to see the character. Bugs and bugs everywhere so many times I skipped the cutscenes.

The ship has sunk

Luckily when I was getting fed up with all the bugs, and I was almost having an aneurism, my swashbuckling adventures ended. After a few hours of gameplay, on the “The Sleeper Awakens” mission the game kept freezing on the same point. No matter what I did I could not skip this mission, and I stopped trying, but even If I was able to progress I might have not played this game anyway.

Raven’s Cry is a good basic foundation for a pirate game, and if we never had to step on land, it would be a really good one. Still we have not seen such a game since Sid Meyer’s Pirates. Although I think the graphical requirements have diverted a lot of effort to actually make such a game, however I don’t believe such details are needed.

-Malachit-

Editor: Topware

Developer: Reality Pump, Nitro Games

Genres: adventure, action,

Publication: February 2015