Galleon: Islands of Mystery

An exquisite experience from start to finish. Its huge set pieces, impressive vistas, and engaging mechanics are as strong as the sense of personality and creatorship behind them.

A marvelous example of great graphics and sound bundled with a great storyline.

In the grand scheme of all things gaming, Galleon is an important title that deserves playing by anyone interested in the art of game design.

One of the most balanced, well thought out action/adventure titles out there. It's a bit of a shame that it took so long for this title to be completed as it would have had a much larger impact on the market a few years ago then it will now.

Underneath the simplistic visuals is a well designed, exceptionally fun game to play. It's packed with eccentric personality quirks, a great assortment of spacial puzzles, and an interesting storyline that ties it all together.

It's innovative in ways that "Tomb Raider" hasn't been for years. Moreover, it's just plain fun.

The level design/layout is perhaps the real expertise of the Confounding Factor and the rewards picked up throughout, the way the puzzles were formulated, was sheer class. Just when you were about to give up, hey presto, you've found an object or power up. This we are sure is no coincidence!

A game that could so easily have been one of the greats, with its sense of beauty, scale and innovation helping it stand out from the platforming crowd. Unfortunately, it is also let down by restrictive level design and some missions which waste the advancements made by Raman's control system, which result in many dull and monotonous moments.

The best aspect, however, is the fighting, which is easy to learn and control and varies in style from martial arts to drunken brawling.

There are some people who truly do love Galleon, but most of those have gone beyond the not that spectacular graphics and invested a few hours into it. The gameplay can at times be quite dynamic and enjoyable, but there are also times when it feels like a generic 3d platform game.

It proved me wrong that games with bad graphics can't have great storylines. It proved me wrong when I thought the game would become among the typical 3rd person action games out there when it actually could have been among the elite ones if the graphics were done right.

The linear nature of the title will hamper replayability. However, if you are able to overlook that, you may just find a nice little reminder about the style of gaming that lead to where we are now.

The story is strong and keeps you interested all the way, the control system is hard to master but allows fluent exploration of the environments (which are huge).

The enjoyment is in the details; it's just that here, the details rely on skilled understatement. [Oct 2004, p.77]

The story of Galleon is fantastic and does a great job of keeping a player's interest till the very end, and the gameplay, depending on your preferences, is a unique twist on an all too common platform. However, the graphics and audio feel as though the game was being designed for a lesser system than the Xbox, of which it is an exclusive.

This is a sorely flawed game, but also a truly majestic one... a beautiful and ambitious manifesto for what games can give you that nothing else can. [June 2004, p.98]

Confounding Factor certainly bit off more than it could chew, and set itself too high a challenge, but what we have here is a wonderful failure.

Its large cast of likable characters and engaging, swashbuckling story go a long way in redeeming the game as a whole despite its several niggling problems.

An action adventure game that absolutely permeates with potential, but Galleon just didn't come together as a fully cohesive or entertaining experience.

Galleon is some weird sort of Tomb Raider+. It recaptures the elusive feeling of exploration and adventure felt in Tomb Raider, while greatly expanding on its running, jumping and climbing gameplay.

All told, Galleon provides the standard 30 to 40 hours of game play, a little less if you keep exploration to a minimum.

The dry humour evident in the cut-scenes is of a high standard not often found in games, and like me, you may find yourself actually looking forward to them.

Galleon may not have the sharpest visuals around (it harkens back to a first generation visual fest), but the rest of the production values appear on par and the gameplay is excellent, especially as your quest gets deeper in scope and adventure.

Just try getting Rhama to climb up a wall, and watch the camera flail around behind you. Puzzles are clever, but that doesn't mean they're fun. Boss battles are repetitive, and at times, insanely drawn out. [Sept 2004, p.74]

The greatest challenge in the game is really overcoming the controls and camera though, so if you are the kind of person who is easily put off by unconventional control schemes, perhaps you should look elsewhere for buried treasures.

The only real challenges served on this 12 hour adventure are tasks that are more annoying than hard, such as having to negotiate ocean currents in an attempt to reach a beach.

It arrives on Xbox as both a has-been and simultaneously a never-ran. [Oct 2004, p.120]

The melee combat feels laboured, the boss fights repetitive and contrived, while the timed sequences largely frustrate to the point of desperate exasperation.

It will grab you, but you'll have to make an effort to reach out and hold its hand for a while through the rough spots. The problems are the times when it lets go, leaving you lost without a hint of what to do. Or when it just turns on you and beats you down after hitting the same boss twenty times straight.

By all means once it appears in bargain bins (and believe us, that'll be sooner rather than later) Galleon needs to be purchased, if only so you can see how such a potential epic has strayed so far off course. Tragic, simply tragic. [XBM]

Galleon has great backgrounds and voice acting, but lousy controls, character models, combat, and platforming.

Despite all these flaws, the game has character. More character and charm than most games with nearly perfect gameplay. If you're into a good story with interesting characters and plenty of puzzles and action, then Galleon should serve you well.

Occasionally one of the most frustrating games in recent memory. It's either completely on rails, or completely random...Often confusing, irrational, and doesn't feel like it's been play-tested enough.

Put simply, this game looks awful...An excercise in frustration with clumsy controls and uneven level design. [Nov 2004, p.150]

I can either pity this title, or I can tell you the truth - Galleon just isn't worth your time. [Oct 2004, p.140]

Well-designed platforming bits and clever puzzles remind you of what people saw in the original "Tomb Raider," but the game's dismal controls muck up these potentially enjoyable levels. [Oct 2004, p.98]

Various publishing houses have pushed and pulled the direction of the game and the resulting product dazzles with its incoherence and dated nature. [June 2004, p.114]

The fact that early on, a tutorial message appears to announce that "Rahma may go out of view occasionally, but don't worry" pretty much sums it up for me. I don't want my main character to go out of view and the camera system should stop it from happening, but rather than fix the problem, we've got a nice smoke and mirrors message to excuse it. I don't want excuses.