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Imprecise controls and a sluggish camera wreck this mediocre experience.
While most of the pieces of this game seem like they should function, the cumulative result is something that is neither engaging nor fun. In fact, due to unclear direction, tons of boring back-tracking, and the terrible controls, the sum is far less than the parts.
The story, what little of it I got through, was uninteresting. The main character is a blank slate of sorts, which should mean it is easier for the player to imprint his/her persona onto the main character. This was not working for me and I found the main character to be bland and unmotivated. You get the "Black Buccaneer" power early in the game, but nothing about this Mr. Hyde type of alternate personality made any sense. Worse, since the character received no introduction of any kind, I was completely bored by its very existence.
The layout of the game borrowed heavily from Metroid. That is, you are introduced to numerous blocked paths, locked doors, unreachable ledges, and the like, which you will clearly return to after receiving appropriate upgrades. This kind of setup inevitably leads to lots of repetitive trekking through already explored territory as an artificial means of extending gameplay. In short, it's lame.
The combat was equally lame, due in part to some dodgy collisions and frustrating cool-down timers with the Mr. Hyde personality. Even performing multi-hit sword combos was unrewarding somehow.
Overall, this game is terrible. The concept sounds reasonable, but the heavy use of back-tracking in the design and poor implementation of controls combine with the bland story setup to make this game one to avoid.
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