Armada of the Damned Previews

[Thagarr]

[imgleft]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9308/homepagepirateslogo.png[/imgleft]Since Disney shot us down last month, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the developments of Armada of the Damned lately, but thanks to a heads-up from Don Juan, over at Gamespot they have a pretty good preview up with some new screen shots and some pretty good in depth descriptions of gameplay and various other aspects of the game. There is some good info here that answers a couple of the questions we were going to ask, there is no mention as to whether the game will be mod-able or not. Also according to Gamespot, the release date has slipped to Q1 of 2011, somehow, I am not surprised!

Propaganda is Disney's action role-playing game team, so it is focused on making this an authentic, open-world experience for pirate fans, as well as RPG fans. The Caribbean is yours to explore as you play as Captain Sterling, a young pirate who is given a second chance at life to seek revenge, along with fame and fortune. We were given an outline of the story, so if you're worried about spoilers then you should skip ahead to the next paragraph. It's a character-driven story that centers on Sterling, a man who spent his childhood dreaming about taking part in many heroic adventures at sea. When he is old enough to set off into the world, he is sorely disappointed by the fact that pirates are not the brotherhood that he dreamed of but a band of brigands and desperate thieves who only look out for themselves. On his maiden voyage, his ship is attacked by the ruthless Spanish Admiral Maldonado and Sterling is tossed overboard to head toward Davey Jones's locker. Without giving too much of the overarching story away, he is saved and wakes up on a beach with new found powers.

At some point in the game, you must make an important choice where you decide whether or not you want to take the legendary route to fulfill your destiny or the dreaded route. Alex Peters, the game director, emphasized that choice is a key element to the RPG experience; you can play how you want and your actions come with consequences. As a legendary pirate, you'll play the role of a dashing, womanizing swashbuckler, like Jack Sparrow from the movies where women will swoon and men will want to have a drink with you. If you prefer to take the dreaded route, the tone of the game will be darker and heavier where people tremble at the sight of you. Similar to games like Fable and Fallout, how you approach quests will determine how people will react to you and affect what quests are made available. If you decide to follow the legendary route, you don't have to play nice either. On the flip side, you could be a dreaded pirate with a heart of gold. Regardless of whom you play as, the story will remain the same, but how it unfolds will be quite different. We were told that everything you do will have an impact on the world, as well as your appearance and combat technique.

You can read the full preview HERE! There is another preview up over at IGN with basically the same info, though not quite as detailed, you can find the IGN preview HERE!

This post has been promoted to an article

 

[Stallion]

I wonder if any of those are even real screenshots? :

 

[Thagarr]

I doubt it, they say their "might" be a trailer at E3, well, if it's the same one I am thinking about most of the screen shots I have seen so far appear to have come from it. I haven't seen it, but from what I have been able to find they contracted someone to make it for last years E3, but E3 wouldn't let them show it because they didn't have any actual game footage! Gotta love Disney PR!

 

[Korsary4]

Here has found screenshots

 

[rupertlittlebear]

looks a little more like artist's renditions than screenies.

 

[Thagarr]

G4 has a couple of new video interviews up, the first one is with Alex Peters from Propaganda Games. You can watch that interview HERE!

The second is an interview is with Propaganda Games general manager Dan Tudge, and you can find that one HERE!

There is not much new in either of the interviews, still no actual gameplay footage, and I doubt very much that we see any before E3.

 

[rupertlittlebear]

G4 has a couple of new video interviews up, the first one is with Alex Peters from Propaganda Games. You can watch that interview HERE!

The second is an interview is with Propaganda Games general manager Dan Tudge, and you can find that one HERE!

There is not much new in either of the interviews, still no actual gameplay footage, and I doubt very much that we see any before E3.

What would you expect


Substance???


from a company named Propaganda

 

[Thagarr]

What would you expect


Substance???


from a company named Propaganda

I would expect more substance from a company named Propaganda, than I would from a company named Disney. Unfortunately they are one and the same. Purely speculation on my part, but I would be willing to bet the pushed back release date was because Disney censors didn't like some of the things the Propaganda development team proposed and sent them back to the drawing board.

 

[rupertlittlebear]

because Disney censors didn't like some of the things the Propaganda development team proposed

Wow the idea that

Disney could Censor Propaganda



now there's a word combination that you never thought you would see in your lifetime.

 

[Thagarr]

Over at IGN, they have another update, this time they have got there hands on an actual playable demo, I'm assuming since it was posted in the Xbox 360 section of IGN, that the demo was played on a Xbox 360. they also have some new screen shots up, I assume from the demo they were playing. If these newest ones are actual screen shots, the graphics do look quite impressive! I won't buy it completely until I see some actual game footage though!

For today's demo we played as a Legendary pirate. We arrived on a large island in search of a figurehead for our ship – you know, one of those wooden carvings of a woman's bust that juts out from the front of the vessel. We were soon greeted by a shaman from the island's indigenous tribe, but all is not well with the people. The shaman is deformed and has trouble communicating. In fact, his right arm is beginning to look a lot like a crab's pincher. Turns out the figurehead we seek is indeed on the island, but it has cursed the inhabitants and is turning them into mindless, savage crab people. We agreed to take the figurehead off their hands in the hopes that they will turn back to normal.

The figurehead resides in the volcano at the highest point of the island. As we made our way there (following the objective icon on our mini-map, of course) islanders in varying stages of crab transformation needed to be dealt with. Combat is fairly straightforward, allowing players to string together light and heavy melee attacks. You can also throw in shots from your pistol for good measure. Once you've damaged an enemy enough you can pull off an impressive finishing move. By holding the right trigger and hitting them with a light melee attack you can curse the enemy, allowing you to pull off even more acrobatic feats.

...yeah, crab people!

Anyway, you can read the full article and have a look at the rest of the new screen shots HERE!

 

[Thagarr]

Pirates of the Caribbean Armada of the Damned E3 Trailer