Lets start with the graphics, shall we? The game is simply gorgeous, this no one can doubt. From the solid framerate, slick textures, and fantastic water effects, Blood Wake more than takes advantage of Microsoft's powerful system. What does lack polish is the lackluster story telling. It seems the developers took so much time refining the game's engine that the CG was totally left out. What we are treated to is mediocre, if not overly cheesy, voice acting blending in with drawn illustrations to tell the tale. This does hurts the presentation side of the game. What does stand out is the game runs silky smooth even with four players. The game sports great textures not only in the boat models, but the backdrops as well. Blood Wake's big draw is the water effects. Simply amazing, and even surpasses Splashdown's water effects in my opinion. Not only does the water react accurately, but the winds and storms effect the water's reactions as well. This is one site to behold, especially in a first person mode that will cause many to have motion sickness in the process. Overall the game should be played, or displayed to show off what a first generation Xbox title can do, and do well.

Next we have the audio, which has its ups and downs. The only real downside is the aforementioned tacky voice acting in the story mode. It's not Resident Evil bad, but it's pretty bad just the same. On the bright side the game does have some incredible sound effects, from the ancient period music, to the damage effects to your boat, the surround sound is used quite nicely in Blood Wake. The sounds are very crisp and show dynamically what a wet and wild ride you would find as a pirate, mate. Impressively the best sounds are when the bullets damage and ricochet off the surface of your boat. This has to be one of the most realistic sound effects I've heard in a video game. Voice acting aside, the audio is quite pleasing to the ear in many aspects.

What hinders Blood Wake from being not only the stellar title I was hoping for, but also from being sleeper hit of the year, is the questionable game play. The controls seem fine as you steer your boat across the wavy waterways, which is until the water physics take a hold of you. Now don't get me wrong, the game plays perfectly fine, and reacts quite wonderfully if you are just riding along minding your own business. Unfortunately the controls take a turn for the worse when an enemy's missile, rocket, or whatever hits you. For some reason, no matter how heavy or light your boat may be, no matter how heavily equipped it may be with weaponry and armor, your boat will unrealistically catapult into the air. This really throws the game play out of kilter when you are facing numerous enemies. And may God help you if you drift onto a dock, as the collision detection seems to get lost on shore. If not for this foreseeable aspect of the controls, the game would have been a fine addition to anyone's collection. Not that the game is unplayable in the least, it just makes for a frustrating ride along the way.

Blood Wake does offer a good amount of play modes to keep you interested if you can stick it out. You have a good number of single and multiplayer modes, and even some goodies can be unlocked, the problems is the game becomes monotonous and repetitive after a few plays. Multiplayer is the game's strongest point, as you aren't forced to play through mind numbing, and trifling boring missions over and over again. There is plenty to see and do, and with optional storm effect, many ways to do it.

Overall, Blood Wake falls short of being the masterpiece I once drooled over while working at EB and watching the marketing video, but the game is gorgeous nonetheless. Looks can only go so far, and if the game has controls issues and becomes down right boring, the game can seem mighty ugly after a while in terms of pure enjoyment. It starts off fun to play, but the fun turns stale after a while and just leaves you kind of wet in the end.

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