Review: Redjack: Revenge of the Brethren

By: Kirk Hiner

Let's face it. For the most part, every time someone tries to entertain us with pirates these days, they fail miserably. Do I have to mention the Geena Davis vehicle, "Cutthroat Island?" Her career may never recover, which is a shame, because I'm still hoping for a sequel to both "Beetlegeuse" and "Earth Girls are Easy." Or how about that Christian pirate show you sometimes stumble across while trying to figure out to where your cable company moved the Sci-Fi Channel this week? A Christian pirate! It's about as logical as a Geena Davis pirate.

Still, production companies keep skirting the rocky shores of the pirate genre despite the overwhelming odds that they'll end up in a watery grave. And thank heavens for these buccaneers, because every now and again they offer up something as great as "Redjack: Revenge of the Brethren."

"Redjack" was developed by CyberFlix, the same company that produced "Titanic: Adventure Out of Time." As good as that game was, "Redjack" is that much better. A slick combination of action and adventure--possibly the first time this has ever been pulled off with real success--the game pulls you into the story from the opening sequence and doesn't let go until the the credits have stopped rolling.

You start out as seventeen-year-old Nicholas Dove, yearning for adventure but stuck in the seaside village of Lizard Point. Your brother wants you to get a life, your love interest wants you to get some money, and you've got what appear to be purple-pirate-ninjas stalking you. All this is incentive enough, and you're soon trying to earn your way onto a visiting pirate ship. Having accomplished this task (provided you're not hacked up or eaten by a shark first), you begin your adventure on the Spanish Main, making a few friends and many enemies along the way. The more people you meet, the more you learn of the history of the Brethren and of your destiny with them.

Unlike with most adventure games, nearly every character in "Redjack" has real personality. I actually found myself liking most of these people in much the same way that I grow attached to characters in a good book. My favorite was Lyle, the crass but lovable pirate who teaches Nicholas how to defend himself and tells what may be the funniest joke I've heard in a computer game...although I've since learned it's only funny coming from him.

But perhaps bringing these characters to life more so than the writing is the animation. The 32 bit graphics (you have the option of running at 16 bits to improve speed, and can switch at any point during the game) are stunning during both the cinematic cut scenes and gameplay. The exotic locales are meticulously vivid in both color and sound, but even more impressive are the characters themselves. Any gaming company can make people look real these days, but few bother to make them look cool. Not so with CyberFlix. The characters in "Redjack" are just as much fun to watch as they are to listen to, and that does a lot in making a game more fun to play.

The interface in "Redjack" is also impressive, but can be equally annoying at times. Rather than just let you move right, left, forward or backward with keyboard strokes, you can use the mouse to rotate around the 360 degree environment, including looking both straight up and down. However, you have to get used to pulling the mouse back to the center of the screen in order to stop the scrolling. This was quite frustrating when trying to click on an object towards the sides of the screen, as it would automatically start rotating. More often than not, I simply used the keyboard and let the game center my point of view.

The interface during the action sequences also had its ups and downs. Sword fighting was simple enough; you just move the mouse up, left or right to defend, and click these same areas to attack. When firing guns or cannons however, the 360 degree interface again becomes annoying. The screen slows down tremendously as you center your shot, and only returns to normal speed once you've returned the mouse to the center of the screen. Of course, when you're firing at moving targets, leaving the crosshair sitting in one spot means quick death...and that's not good. The simpler interface of "Titanic" worked much better.

One of the more interesting features of "Redjack" is the way the game is installed piece by piece as you play. The game pauses to install the necessary components with each new sequence, and allows you the option to cancel and play off CD. I don't recommend this for two reasons; 1), the game plays faster off your hard drive, and 2), watching the titles load provides clues on how to win the battles. If you see a file labeled "smash" getting installed, you know that your sword alone won't be enough to win this battle.

It's too bad that "Redjack" was released at essentially the same time as "Unreal" (see the Applelinks review), "Tomb Raider II" and "Myth II," because it may get buried beneath all their hype. That'd be a shame, because "Redjack" is simply one of the best computer games I've ever played. Maybe not the most challenging, but certainly one of the most engrossing. CyberFlix is swiftly becoming one of my favorite Macintosh game producers. Their software gets more impressive with each release, and--more importantly--they seem dedicated to delivering their Mac titles at the same time as their PC counterparts. You have to love that.

And one other thing. The inscription on Nicholas Dove's tombstone could be a battle cry for the Apple gaming community: "Live fast. Die young. Live again." Thanks to companies such as CyberFlix and THQ, Inc., we are indeed living again, my friends.

I'm just glad the same can't be said for "Cutthroat Island." What were you thinking, Geena?

Genre: Action/Adventure

Platform: MacOS

Format: CD ROM

Developer: CyberFlix, Inc.

Publisher: THQ, Inc.

Requirements: PowerPC 603, 24MB RAM, 70MB hard disk space, MacOS 7.1, 4x CD ROM.

Network feature: No

Retail price: $39.95

Availability: Out now

Raised on Intellivision and "Tron," Kirk Hiner has been an avid gamer ever since he was tall enough to look through the viewfinder on the Battlezone upright. Although he makes a living using a PC (not by choice) to design websites for Dynamics Online, Inc., Kirk never strays from his 9600/200 or 3400c for computer gaming. When he's not playing the latest Logicware release, he can either be found working on his next "never to be published" novel, rereading anything by Kurt Vonnegut or watching RAW is WAR.

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February 09, 2010