Cutthroat Island the video game
Cutthroat Island is a video game based on the film of the same name, which is sadly famous for being a box office failure, generating losses of more than 100 million dollars and causing the bankruptcy of its studio. To promote the film, it was decided to simultaneously launch an adaptation of it for Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Game Boy and Game Gear, all of them developed by the British studio Software Creations. Distribution in the North American market and the United Kingdom was handled by Acclaim, as with most film and TV adaptations of the time, and in the Brazilian market Tectoy did the same. The developer company already had good experience and up to that date had launched more than twenty games, several of them based on popular licenses such as Indiana Jones, Spider-man, Terminator, Tom & Jerry among others. However, with rather mediocre results in general and this case would not be the exception.
To make the whole thing even more hype, the games included a contest, at least in the Sega Genesis and SNES versions. To participate, you had to finish the game having collected all the treasures. After achieving this feat, a poster with instructions appears after the credits. You are asked three questions, which you must answer with the information in the game manual, then send a letter with the answers to the address indicated.
The deadline to participate was December 31, 1996. Regarding the prize, the back cover of the game indicated: “Enter to win a real-life treasure hunt.” The manual for the game detailed the prizes, a grand prize consisting of “an exciting treasure hunt for two in the Florida Keys (includes first-class hotel, accommodations, and daily excursions on a treasure-hunting boat) worth USD 5,500.” Four first prizes were a $500 solid gold bar, plus movie tapes and tickets to see it in theaters. The raffle was only for residents of the United States and Canada. Also, considering that the film’s production company declared bankruptcy in November 1995, with December of the following year being the deadline to participate, it is most likely that the prizes were never awarded.
Mechanics
The game is a traditional Beat’em Up with platforming elements and the peculiarity that in the options menu we can select two game modes: “swordplay” which gives us the possibility of performing combos with our sword and “brawling” which replaces sword attacks with punches. It is the only option that can be modified from the menu. We could define the first option as the “easiest” since our attacks will have more range and the second as “difficult”, although it only changes the type of attack without being a difficulty selector in itself. We also have the option to choose whether to play with the pirate Morgan or with Shawn, the manual does not indicate that there is any difference in their statistics, personally I have the feeling that Shawn has a little less range but it is not something that I have been able to confirm. There are no differences in the speed of movements or in the damage caused, so the decision is based solely on which sprite we like best.
Controls
Regarding the controls, these vary depending on the type of controller used. In the classic 3-button controller, with A plus the desired direction, we throw the throwing weapons that we can obtain in the various scenarios, such as daggers, pistols, bombs, etc. B is the attack button that allows us to perform combos and C to jump. We can also perform a double jump but only if we jump up twice. To block, we must press A and B at the same time. To crouch, we must press the jump and down buttons at the same time. In the case of using the 6-button controller, the control scheme is the same but we block with X, Y or Z. There are also changes in the execution of the special attacks that we will unlock throughout the adventure. These special movements can only be executed when the aggression indicator fills up and begins to flash.
At first glance it seems like a normal layout but when it comes to playing it works in a rather strange way. At times we can move up and down like in any Beat’em Up, but there are stages in which we can only move sideways and sometimes the change between one and the other occurs in the same level.
Special Levels
To break the monotony, in addition to the action sequences we have the typical driving sequence in which we climb aboard a mine cart and must dodge all the obstacles to advance. There is also a complete level where we must fight on the roof of a carriage while dodging obstacles and enemy cannon fire, honoring one of the most fun parts of the film. In fact, despite its difficulty, it is one of the most entertaining sections of the game. From here on, the rest of the levels will consist exclusively of combat and platforms, and as we advance the scenarios will become more and more labyrinthine, reaching truly absurd points.
Dynamic
As in any Beat’em Up our objective is to advance by defeating all the enemies that get in our way, generally appearing in pairs, on rare occasions we will face three at the same time. Although the mechanics work correctly, the low number of simultaneous adversaries added to their lack of variety and poor level design results in a rather mediocre experience. There is a considerable gap between regular enemies and level bosses, since the former, for example, implies a jump in difficulty. Curiously, in these battles the depth of the stage is deactivated and our movements are limited to left and right, as if it were a 1 vs 1 fighting game.
Level Design
Regarding the level design we could classify them into 3 groups, the linear levels where we simply advance from left to right until we reach the end, the boss fights which are fought in narrow scenarios with very little or no scrolling as in Street Fighter. And finally, the labyrinthine levels, the first of which and the least complex being the town, do not give any clue as to where you have to go to complete them.
The Jungle
This gets enormously worse when we leave Jamaica and arrive at Cutthrhoat Island, this is where the game becomes unfair and unbearable. The first level of the island, the jungle, is extremely frustrating not only because of the quicksand, which is impossible to get rid of if we have fallen into it. But we must add platform sequences in which we climb the targets on the trees and we must jump from branch to branch to advance, all this without any type of visual indication that allows us to determine which branch we can land on and which ones we cannot. At the height of the trees, the damage from falling is lethal, so each mistake means having to repeat the level and since the game does not allow you to activate continuations if we lose all our lives we have to start from scratch. This aspect is one of the reasons why this title generates so much rejection, without continues or a password system it is excessively difficult to advance in the adventure and learn the correct paths at the most advanced levels. Combined with a level design that is between regrettable and ill-intentioned, there are plenty of moments in which traps or incorrect paths are undetectable and we basically feel like they make us think that a certain route is the correct one to end up falling into a death trap.
It is so absurd that at a certain point we reach a dead end, completely blocked and in order to advance we must enter in the rocks only to exit a second later through the same entrance and see how in just an instant it has become night. By retracing our steps we can reach the end of the level. All this, of course, without any kind of indication or even a clue, the only way to discover it is either by mistake or already in the modern era by watching some gameplay, something impossible to do in the era in which this game was released.
The Cliffs
The next level “the cliffs” consists of having to descend to the bottom of it again without knowing it and although it is “logical” following the approach of the film on which it is based (and which many will not have seen) the reality is that Until now we always moved to the right. Furthermore, this descent is not at all clear, we begin by jumping from platform to platform, we must enter a cave and on the other side we continue jumping from one place to another to advance. At times to the left and at times to the right, orienting ourselves is almost impossible since the background is always the same and we have no indication of where we are coming from or where we are going. If we are infinitely “lucky” to reach the bottom of the cliff, we must move to the right until the entrance to a cave.
Once inside we must find the treasure chamber, this scenario is very similar to the previous one but with a darker and even more monotonous background, we must also advance between platforms and climbing chains, avoiding traps and eliminating the occasional enemy. The forced difficulty makes an appearance again along with the bad level design, forcing us to make leaps of faith in which we must land on invisible platforms, come on, if we haven’t seen it before somewhere it won’t even cross our minds make those jumps. If by some miracle we manage to finish the level we will find the treasure but a sudden tremor forces us to leave the chamber back to the damn cliff.
Just like the previous time we must wander from one side to the other hoping that by chance we find the right path. Which entrance to take and which not to? Only God knows. In the final part of this level we reach the maximum point of ridiculousness, to advance we must drop down the cliff, into a dead space between one platform and another, something most unnatural. Until now, those kinds of gaps meant certain death, but suddenly and without any kind of warning, that same gap, identical to all the others, is the way to go, not even a measly arrow indicating, a dialogue or a text, nothing at all. It seems that terrible level design, by malicious or simply negligent, is the characteristic trademark of Software Creations.
On the bright side, with this the mazes are over, next is a battle with a boss, the boarding scene in which we face hordes of enemies and advance to the left and the final battle against our main antagonist Drawg Brown inside his cabin. If we manage to defeat him, congratulations, we have finished this terrible adventure. I hope you have collected the 5 treasures scattered around the map, otherwise we will not have completed it 100%, anyway, good luck with that.
Aesthetics
Graphics
The title takes the pirate setting of the film on which it is based, compressing everything so as to fit into a small cartridge and although on many occasions these adaptations gave good results, this is not the case. Graphically it is quite mediocre with very little detailed and almost completely inanimate scenarios, the sprites of both the enemies and the characters are also quite simple and the animations are very basic. While the graphics are not entirely bad, they are not up to par with such a late installment in the life of the console. The game was released on the Mega Drive in 1996, by which time the Saturn was already on the market. But if we compare it with games on the same console from that same year and even older, such as Alien Soldier, Earthworm Jim 2 or Ristar that were released a year earlier, graphically they are light years away.
Audio
Regarding the audio, things get even worse, the sound effects leave a lot to be desired and the music is really bad, which is a real shame since the soundtrack was one of the few quality aspects of the original film. The compositions are uninspired and repetitive, and the quality of the “instruments” is truly a joke. The sound controller used was Sound Images v1.2, which is very recognizable for its excessively shrill metallic sound, although it is clear that they did not have the best tools in this regard. Other developments have managed to get more out of this sound driver. In this aspect, they have not known how to adapt the technical limitations in order to resolve the sound aspect in a minimally dignified way. In addition, some design errors were made, such as not pausing the music at the end of a level and accessing the map (something they did do in the Super Nintendo version with much better results). This, added to the small number of tracks, gives us the feeling of listening to an eternal loop and in the moments when the track changes it does so abruptly.
Final impressions
Cutthroat Island is the typical case of the adaptation of a cinematographic work to the video game format, in general these conversions are usually a failure, Acclaim in particular has a long list of these examples. A basic game, developed in a hurry to launch it as close as possible to the film’s premiere and capture the largest audience possible. In this particular case, the failure as a video game must be added to the cinematographic failure.
Software Creations did get it right in the chosen genre, a beat’em up is the most logical considering the amount of fights, with weapons and fists, that the film includes and the option to play with a friend is a plus. Everything else has been a fiasco, poor graphics and animations, a very bad sound section, the combat mechanics are decent although a little confusing and the level design is a true aberration.
More Frustrating Than Difficult
The difficulty is too high and not because the enemy AI is very demanding but because between a labyrinthine level design, automatic death due to falls in platform scenarios, without continuations or passwords they turn this adventure into an unbearable hell. It is not clear if this forced difficulty omitting continues and password was made like in other games thinking about the rental market so that you would have to rent it several times until you could finish it. Or to prevent someone from being able to claim the prize, equally not all the gold in the world justifies having to invest so much time and effort in this sad excuse for a game that fails to entertain anyone and only generates frustration and rejection.
In Cutthroat Island the only thing that shines is the SEGA seal of “quality” which clearly does not reflect the quality of the game itself, the same goes for its Nintendo counterpart. An unfair marketing practice that, instead of avoiding disappointments like this, on several occasions convinced us to purchase truly defective products.
Score
It is a mediocre and repetitive Beat’em up without anything really innovative, visually it leaves a lot to be desired for a title from the latest batch of this great console. The quality of both the sound effects and the soundtrack is regrettable and if played with high volume it can cause headaches.
The level design is an aberration, going from the most absolute simplicity to unsolvable labyrinths without any type of indication or clue to help us find the way. Although the title is “playable” on a mechanical level, it is not enjoyable, and since there are no possibilities to continue the games, it is almost impossible to learn the levels. Although the movie on which it is based is quite bad and boring itself, it is much more interesting than playing this pathetic cartridge.
Gameplay
HOW TO PLAY CUTTHROAT ISLAND WITHOUT CONSOLE OR EMULATOR?
If you want to experience the game for yourself but don’t own a SEGA Genesis or don’t like downloading and setting up emulators, there is the option to emulate it online without downloading or installing anything. Courtesy of RetroGames.cc you can sign up on the site to save and load games from the cloud.
