Between the twangy, complainy music (the music in the first station is just disgusting) and the first mission putting you into a combat scenario where you can be easily killed in less than 30 seconds while still trying to figure out the unintuitive controls (broadsides? really?), I did not have fun. I know I could power through it and try to learn the controls enough to survive and maybe the gameplay gets better, but I'm not willing to put up with that horrid music just to play another 2D flight-sim game with naval controls. Pass.
Around the time I was building my second computer, I got this game for free with the video card I bought. Being a bit starved for games at the time, I installed it, despite the usual low quality of "free" games. To say it surprised me is an enormous understatement. I have installed (and attempted to play) it on every computer I have purchased since then. It is among my top 5 games, along with Deus Ex and Arcanum. The Good: Better stealth than has been found in almost any game since, including Thief 3. Water arrows for torches, noise arrows for distracting guards, camera arrows for taking a peak around that corner, and more. The guards are optimally placed to make it challenging, but not impossible. The surface on which you are walking actually matters, with stone making more sound than carpet. Harder difficulties encourage no-kill runs. A main character with character. Finally, there is a way to determine how dark that shadow is: The light gem. (I still catch myself looking for the light gem in Skyrim.) The Bad: Guards aren't the brightest, though it can provide amusement sometimes. The later levels prevent stealthy runs. Some of the harder difficulty objectives are absolutely brutal. Zombies. The Ugly: The graphics are, to say the least, dated. Fortunately, the cutscenes are usually 2D painting-style. If you have ever played Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls, Splinter Cell, or any other game which purports to contain stealth in it, and you enjoyed those parts, get this game now. If the thought of sitting in darkness for 5 minutes, watching guards patrol back and forth, waiting for their patrols to sync up, so you can steal that delicious golden statue, doesn't appeal to you, then you probably don't want this game. As one final note: This is the first review I have ever written online. I have been gaming for 23 years, and have had my own computer for 14 of those years, yet I have never felt strongly enough about a game to write about it until now. Thank you, GOG, for allowing me to retire my poor game discs.
