by Mark Arsenault
At ComicCon San Diego 2007, I had the extreme delight of meeting Troy Hewitt,
Community Manager for Pirates of the Burning Seas from Flying Labs Software. Now
here is a man with a passion for showcasing what should be an incredibly fun
(and somewhat addictive) title to the gaming masses. After talking with him for
just a very short time, his enthusiasm made me immediately wish that the game
was already available for purchase, or at the very least, in a form of beta that
I could partake in. Much to my surprise, they were indeed sporting a closed beta
program. I was given a key, told to email Mr. Hewitt to get an account activated
after ComicCon, and I would be off to the races. There are indeed benefits to
attending public conventions where game developers are strutting their stuff.
The backdrop of the MMOG is set in the Caribbean during the early 18th century,
in a bold new world where one man (or woman!) can make a difference, and carve
out of piece of that world to capture and call their very own. The game is
broken up into two distinct combat forms: first person melee fighting, and ship
to ship combat. You are, after all, a pirate - what other things could you
possibly want to do in your quest for fame, glory and riches?
To show us what melee combat was like for a swashbuckling adventurer, there was
a demo running at the Flying Labs booth. It was an example of an early instanced
quest, almost a tutorial of sorts. There were 3 separate bars to take note of:
the Initiative bar, which builds in combat and appears to determine the order of
attacks between the player and their foe, the Balance bar, which affects how
well you hit and how well you avoid hits, and finally the Hit Point bar, which
is simply the line between life and death. In order to give time to let people
get a feel for the combat, characters were set to a form of god mode, where all
attacks were blocked and parried. The demo was more for showing the different
melee attacks, graphics and style of game play, than it was for immersing
players in the realistic feeling melee combat that is sure to follow once
development is complete.
The most fascinating component of combat was definitely the ship to ship
fighting. The battles that I saw took place in open water, where wind and the
elements play factors in determining an appropriate strategy for winning the
fights. Your ship is equipped with cannons, which can be loaded with various
types of shot, depending on what kind or scope of damage you want to impart on
your enemy's vessel. Fights play out exactly as you might expect - using the
wind to your advantage to slowly circle your enemy in an attempt to get a shot
at him with your cannons, in such a manner that he is unable to return fire. Or
at least not as often as you can, since naval fights of this type are one of
attrition - the ship that manages to not sink is the winner.
Unfortunately, I did not get much of an opportunity beyond this to actually sit
down and explore the full limits of the game. What I did see impressed me very
much, and definitely left me wanting to see more. I guess that is always the
point of showcasing an upcoming title - to tease gamers into a frenzy of
interest, and get some feedback about what they liked and did not like. The
information that they have available on their website http://www.burningsea.com/pages/page.php?pageKey=home
is extensive. I would suggest that if this genre of online game appeals to you
even the slightest bit, to go explore that web site and see everything that the
game will have to offer. I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed in
what you find - and who knows, you might even realize that at heart you've
always been a bit of a scallywag. Now you'll have an opportunity to explore that
side of your personality without all of the potential financial risk and bodily
harm.
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