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).