Uncharted Waters Review by: Fireproof - 10/10
Uncharted Waters SNESThere's only one word needed to describe this strategy game; KOEI. Having been a KOEI fan most of my life, I enjoyed many of their still great strategy games including Uncharted Waters. I own the Sega Genesis console and still play this great game today. This game places you in the role of "Leon Franco" whom you have the option of changing the name. There is only 1 way to win this game, but there are multiple objectives you can accomplish as an explorer of the game itself. You may also go about winning this game in different ways as well, which makes this Koei game unique to the others.
Overall: 10
The RPG/Strategy behind this game is wonderful. You have the option of building fame through trading, exploration, battling or doing favors for other merchants. You have many ports to search for with the entire world as your boundary. Even though this game is almost 20 years old (or could be) it is still a cut above strategy games we see now within our more modern era. If you think this game isn't worth playing, you're wrong. I ask that you try it once and give it a fair chance. You may agree with me. This is a KOEI strategy game, nothing goes wrong.
Graphics: 5
I personally have no problem with the graphics, but I ranked them half-way because of the comparison between today's graphics and Snes capable graphics. This game could be a perfect example of trading good graphics for good game play. Which would you prefer?
Sound: 7
There aren't many different sounds you find throughout this game, but of the music and sounds you do encounter, they are pretty decent. These are mostly related to regions which is a decent way to go about the music. I would have asked the developers to add something different for the sailing portion as you sail around the world and add more region based music as well. Overall, the sound isn't bad.
Addictiveness: 10
There's nothing wrong with having an addiction for a game you enjoy. I ranked this a 10 because it's enjoyable even several times after you play it. There are several ways you can go about exploring this game which maintains it's own unique entertainment value. This game wasn't very popular in the "English" world, but I would bet that more players would enjoy this game if they are strategy seekers. You can't go wrong with this game, even when you lost all your crew through a mistake there are possibilities in restoring yourself years into the game.
Story: 7
Why? The story itself is your RPG control of the main character "Leon Franco". You start up the game and can learn of about how "Leon Franco" must restore his family's status. Using the aid of his father's best mate set sail into the world. The end of this game starts up the beginning of the second game. That is the story in it's entirety and although it isn't much, it works well for this game. I could see more of a plot behind this like it does in Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons but overall I can't complain.
Depth: 9
In this world you set sail on your small ship to become famous. After setting sail, the main components to your game are battling pirates, trading between many different resources, exploring the world, battling other nations and doing favors for merchants and kings. The more tactical components of this finely tailored game include the customization of your ships where you can buy/sell or even build, adjust figureheads for security, arms including crew/cannons and even sails. You also have to invest in ports which unlocks more to the port that could be beneficial to trading or constructing your new armada. You may also buy items and weapons or capture spoils of war including these. You must also recruit your crew, handle foreign affairs, experience, stats and loyalty. The biggest fight in this game is your ability to manage your food and water, because without it, your crew dies and your ships vanish. Strategically plan out your trips and always be prepared in case anything goes wrong. You must also battle weather, which can be quite ferocious and very dangerous. Do you have what it takes to handle this?
Difficulty: 6
This is ranked low because there is both an easy way to play this game and a hard way to play this game. This itself is up to the player's discretion. You have the ability to choose your stats at the start of the game. This allows the opportunity to have high stats or low stats, which will affect your game play greatly. What you do here will determine how you play your game. Having all 60 stats will make mate recruitment difficult and costly while stats in the 80s makes crew recruitment, especially in the early stages of the game. As you progress further in your more difficult scenario, trading may not be done the same way and some exploration may not be wise. The rest of this, you should determine for yourself.
The games of 20 years ago still seem to be the best games. This industry of today hurts and the generations that are making these games have insulted these games. I play games like Black Ops for CoD on the 360, but it is no where near as great a game in it's entirety as games like these. CoD is not strategy, but it could be and not treated as such. True strategy comes from the in-depth features of the game and a player's ability to play the same game multiple ways and for that, I enjoy this game.
Graphics
5 Sound
7 Addictive
10 Depth
9 Story
7 Difficulty
6
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