INTRODUCTION
Since the days of Elite, strategy trading games have been a very popular genre. Now Impressions, the masters of strategy, have turned their talents to the high seas and combined the usual dose of trading with a rum punch cocktail of sea shenanigans, pirating and combat.
STORYLINE
There is no storyline to the game as such, more a brief background. You are cast in the role of a merchant sea captain during the 17th and 18th century, eager to prove your worth and win back your family’s honour.
Your Father was a Viscount serving the Earl but when the Earl died his son took over and to cut a short story even shorter, he was a bit of a bad sort. Your Father, being an honourable chap, would not stand for it but the new Earl, being far more powerful, strips him of his wealth and title.
And now you seek to regain your family’s honour by working your way up the ranks on the high seas. You start as a mere peddler and you strive for the ultimate title of Viscount. You must increase your rating in daring, honour, loyalty and nobility.
PLAYABILITY
Gameplay is divided into many distinctive parts. For one, you have to navigate your ship. This is done by choosing the port you wish to go to and plotting a course to it. A problem arises though, because when you place the cursor on the map you can scroll it around. This is supposed to be a plus point but if you move your mouse too far, the map jerks unexpectedly off the area you want, and even moving your cursor to the instruction panel of the same screen can result in losing your place on the map.
While on the high seas you will have to deal with pirates and attacks from enemy ships. You do battle by firing cannons and you have a wide range of artillery at your disposal, from the small Swivel Gun or the Demi-Culverin to the Cannon. This works well and brings variety to the game.
And the main part, as you’ve probably gleaned from the name, is trading. As you sail between ports you will have to buy certain goods and then decide where to sell your cargo for maximum profit. This, as you’d expect, is the game’s strong point and is quite in-depth.
A good captain will also take care of his crew, making sure conditions are good and ensuring there will be enough supplies for the voyage. Wages will also have to be set according to morale and funds available. If you neglect these, you will find you will have a sickly and mutinous crew on your hands. When morale gets low you can boost the rum rations or entertain them in the local tavern when you reach land.
FLASHBACK
Just recently, Black Legend brought out their venturing game called Voyages of Discovery. Although a very similar concept, they both have very different gameplay. Voyages uses a turn-based system and places emphasis on discovering continents and building an Empire as well as trading.
There is more to Voyages of Discovery, but High Seas Trader looks far more attractive and is probably easier to get into.
SOUND
The game implements different tunes for certain areas of the game. For example, above deck you have a different tune playing to when you go to your cabin. All the music fits in with the time and atmosphere of the game, but as stand-alone tunes they’re not exactly brilliant. If you particularly want to have in-game music it is adequate enough but more than likely you’ll turn this off to have just the sound effects option.
But again, I’m afraid, they’re not very good either. There is the occasional creak of the boat or the splosh of the anchor as you plot your course on the map, and there is also a rather dubious seagull cry throughout. I feel as though a great deal more could have been done to increase the atmosphere.
40%GRAPHICS
High Seas Trader has been very nicely presented, however I do feel that some of the visuals have not been exploited to the full. For example, when the crew mutiny, you only get a still screen (albeit a very nicely drawn one) of you having to walk the plank. The same goes for the market. Although you do get a well set-out table which contains all the information you need, I would like to have seen some visual representation of the goods you can trade, or just something with a bit more appeal.
The game boasts to have a ‘stunning’ 3D perspective. This is apparent when you are sailing the ship and you can see the ocean ahead and supposedly the helm of the ship. Again, I feel this could have been done better by maybe showing the front of the boat or having the wheel more prominent to give more of a realistic feel.
The actual effects do work well though, from the lapping of the waves to the storms with the darkened skies and bolts of lightning. Overall, the graphical style is good, although limited, and the ports look nice. The inside locations such as the tavern or the cabin fit in with the period and also look very good. Although everything is very nicely drawn, I do feel that some animations would have not gone amiss.
65%OPINION66%
On the while, High Seas Trader is a competent trading simulator, with more variety than you usually get ina game of this sort. However, it’s not without its drawbacks. The 3D view gives the game a certain graphical appeal, but I can’t help feeling this could have been implemented more effectively. Also, the navigation of the ship is far too fiddly and as this is a major aspect of the game it does become very irritating.
There are elements that do work very well though, such as keeping your crew in order and morale high. Combat with enemy ships also adds variety. The trading aspect works well too, especially with various events affecting the economy such as wars or locusts which will alter the price of harvested crops, but by talking to the bartenders you can pick up all the news you need.
Those heavily intro trading simulations may well want to give this game a try. It is quite fun for a while but there were quite a few negative aspects which would put casual players off returning for another go.