Cutthroats Review

6.8

Format PC

Developer Infocom

Publisher Eidos Interactive

Genre Unknown

Paul Mallinson sails the high seas in search of buried treasure

Cutthroats is a strategic game of piracy and high-seas domination set in the Caribbean during the 17th century. Terror, violence, robbery and extortion are the order of the day in this historically accurate real-time 'loot 'em up' - the aim of the game being to make as much money as possible from the misfortune of others by generally being a bad boy with a skull and crossbones.

The game starts off in 1625 when piracy as a 'profession' was in its relative infancy. You begin with a single ship, a few guns, a skeleton crew and a hold full of supplies, and are forced to prey on innocent merchant ships, destroying their vessels and stealing their consignments to better your fleet, as well as your own personal bank account.

It's booty time

The game is pretty much a menu-driven affair. Starting off with an overview of the entire Caribbean, you plot an initial course and set sail. After a short while you come across other fleets, and are prompted to enter the crow's nest screen which offers a more intimate view of the surrounding seas. From here you can assess other fleets and determine whether they're worth attacking. Spot one lone ship and it's odds on you'll have no problem battering it into submission; take on three or more battleships and you'll realise you've made a hideous mistake.

Once a decision to attack has been made, the view changes yet again to a pseudo 3D perspective and the cannonballs start to fly. Much frantic clicking ensues as you attempt to take out enemy ships, while fighting the direction of the wind at the same time. Triumph, and their booty is yours. Fail, and you sleep with the fishes.

Too many problems

Of course there's far more to Cutthroats than boats shooting at each other at sea. Land battles can be initiated, new ships can be bought and old ones sold, port Governors can be bribed or intimidated to meet your needs (although this more often than not results in an early demise), treasure can even be buried and dug up when the time is right. But despite this apparent originality, depth and detail, Cutthroats is quite a dull and painful game.

The main problems lie with the repetitive nature of the gameplay, the slowness of the combat (especially on land), and the long-winded menu system. Having to constantly chop and change from map view to crow's nest view, combined with the laborious and convoluted process of re-supply, soon makes Cutthroats a tiresome and tedious experience. On top of that there are numerous other annoying features that prevent this game being what it should have been - such as the pointless and drawn-out chases when trying to follow enemy ships into the wind (or the hopeless standstills when there's no wind at all), and the grating call of the lookout who insists on stopping the proceedings to tell you about ships you've just conversed with/ attacked and left in your wake.

Despite these faults, Cutthroats is not a complete failure and is fairly well presented (albeit in a not entirely convincing, old-skool 'Amiga' kind of way), with good music and decent atmosphere. Big-time pirate fanatics and budding historians cum real-time strategy nuts may find something of worth here, but your average PC gamer will undoubtedly lack the patience to get their money's worth out of Cutthroats.