Lots of potential and equal amount of flaws.
In Galleon you play as Captain Rhama Sabrier, a sailor who commands his own boat and crew. Rhama finds out that a strange boat carrying a mystical herb is landed on the island of a healer called Areliano. This herb has great healing properties if used correctly, but it’s also is a dangerous power if used incorrectly. Of course this herb gets stolen and so it’s the job of Rhama and his crew to stop the evildoers and find out the origin of this mystical herb. Story of Galleon is actually pretty interesting and it’s been told by a lively cast of different characters.
Graphics are in a word different. The game has a special look in it, but I can’t say that the graphics are good. There isn’t much detail neither in the character models nor the environments. Sound design is descent, but not great. Luckily voice acting is pretty good and helps to bring these many characters alive.
Gameplay is where the trouble starts. For one thing you move Rhama AND control the camera with a left thumbstick. It actually isn’t as bad as it sounds, but I personally never got use to it: not even when I had beaten the game after 10 to 15 hours. Second issue is jumping in which it’s important to press the jump button exactly at the right moment. This can and will get frustrating very fast. You’ll also do lots of combat and the system for it doesn’t really pan out. In short there is a constant feeling that you actually don’t have control over Rhama’s moves during fights. So don’t expect any smooth flowing combat like you did in Ninja Gaiden. There are more than one big boss fights, but the strategy in winning them is ALWAYS the same: just climb on their backs and hit them in the head or neck with your weapon. Aside all these problems the gameplay still works, but towards the end the problems become increasingly annoying.
Galleon has a tremendous potential, but its flaws are also great. If you don’t have anything else to play and you like action adventure games, then perhaps you should check out Galleon. But remember: this is not worth of a full retail prize.