The laws of physics have been broken, but there is certain wonder in that. The ship seems only to be 20 yards or so long from the door leading to the stern cabin, but open that door and the 30-35 yards or so revealed is a wonder, marked by a living tree in the aft end of the room.

Belief is suspended, and rightfully so – Galleon, an Atlus/SCI Games/Confounding Factor release for the Xbox console system, sparkles with imagination and adventure, but the game has some failings that bog down the game, and put a few shackles on what might otherwise have been a grand tale.

But to understand the game, you really need to think about its origins. Galleon: Islands of Mystery was conceived back in 1997. The foundations for the story were laid down. Had the game been published by the year 2000, the view of this title might be different. But when comparing what this title offers with other titles on the market, Galleon is antiquated in design.

The tale is from the third-person perspective and follows the adventures of Captain Rhama Sabrier. The good captain, who is somewhat an expert in rare items, is called to the island of Akbah by Areliano, a mystic of sorts, to appraise an artifact the latter man has found. The first person Rhama encounters is Jabez, Areliano’s assistant. The game makes it painfully obvious that Jabez is not to be trusted

Aboard the mysterious ship are clues to its origin, as well as a valued jar of herbs. These herbs are vital to a potion that could save the lives of 100 or so people – just from the seven found. Areliano cares nothing of the money, but is more concerned with saving people. He commissions Rhama to sail the ship to the island where the herbs may be from, so help secure a trade agreement and thus aid in healing countless people. But that night, as Rhama is sleeping, Jabez reveals his true colors, murders Areliano and sails off in the mystical ship.

To say that Galleon has a terrific storyline is an understatement. The game will pull you along, but unfortunately it has some failures that prohibit it excelling. There are load times that do interrupt the flow of the game. You can save in several areas, and the game is powered down the linear storyline with a lot of cutscenes.

Graphically the game uses old-style wire-frame models that move awkwardly at times. But when Rhama is fighting or performing some of his special movement skills, the animation is excellent.

The majority of the puzzles in this game are simplistic, and just by using the wide range of skills Rhama has, you will be able to work through all of them in little time. While the designers have stated that this game has roughly 40 hours of gameplay, you can barrel straight through it in ¼ of the time. What will lengthen the game is the array of items you can pick up and use. Finding everything available in the game will take the time.

Because the storyline is powered along by a number of cutscenes, the flow of the game is interrupted and you will have a tough time finding immersion in this tale.

Kudos go to the developer (Confounding Factor) for the controller scheme. This is straightforward and simple to use.

The game itself is rather simplistic, but when you consider the origins, this is a tale that pays loving tribute to the past with the graphical style, and backs it up with a solid story and superb sound. Unfortunately, there are little annoyances (on one occasion Rhama died and the screen went to black and would not return without a reboot of the Xbox), and some clipping problems. 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, as well as finding an adventure that is an enjoyable sail.

Gameplay: 7

The game has some load times, and seems a little slow in responding to controller input. And there was that one big problem with dying and the screen fading to black, and not coming back. This is likely a problem with the review copy of the build GameZone received, but still needs to be mentioned.

Graphics: 7

The wire-framed models present a certain stylish quality to the game, until you realize that almost everything in this title is angular and really harkens back to the earlier days of adventure gaming. Some of the effects are rather good and the animations of the principle characters are well done. However, the game has characters sliding to a stop, or moving awkwardly at times. This is a major distraction in trying to find some level of immersion in the game. The game also has some clipping problems.

Sound: 8.5

The musical score is very good and the voice acting is excellent and really fits the theme of this game quite well.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

The game itself does not seem overly hard, but there are holes in the game that create problems. You can walk, and crawl across a grill several times, then suddenly, in yet another pass, fall through and into a fiery pit. The camera angles can also complicate things at times, such as scaling rock walls.

Concept: 7

This game really is a step backwards in terms of graphics. The storyline is decent and some of the action sequences are fun, but the game has some major flaws that will scuttle it before it has a true chance to sail the gaming seas.

Overall: 7.5

This was a hard title to rate. On one hand you have a loving tribute to a gaming style of the past, but on the other you need to look at how it fares against the competition. While the game does not have the graphical quality to compete with the current class of adventure games, it does present its own style, which is a tribute to an early era in gaming. The storyline is fun and entertaining, albeit quite linear, and the soundtrack is very well done. But Galleon stutters in many areas, and that holds this back from being a great tribute to the past.