It sounds shallow to let graphics affect a title's overall score so much, but the graphics in Cutthroats are just really bad. The units are poorly detailed and small, the "fights" encountered when boarding enemy ships simply consist of two stick figures brandishing swords in a tiny little window. The economic/port interface is probably the best looking part of the title. The sound is adequate, but it just really falls short. The title is littered with classic pirate tunes, but it all just seems so uninspired. The sounds of battle offer nothing more than simple sounding sword clashes and creaking wood planks as ships go in for close engagement.

By this point I hope I have demonstrated how sincerely bad this title's presenation is. Now I would like to tell you what this game is really all about. The first thing I would like to take note of is the world that Cutthroats takes place in. It isn't completely static as I had originally thought it would be. Although there is a specified timeline that the title follows, most of the future events that take place can be brought about by the players actions in the past. For example if a player is a real jerk, and spends all his time pillaging the high seas, his approval rating in certain towns may go up or down. The same could be said if the player decides they want to be a hero.

The opinion of any coastal town you stop in is very important. Not only does it make the waters around this town especially hostile, the townspeople try to rip the player off. Trade rates are affected by the attitude towards you, and the location of the town. As the game progresses it seems the scripted events that form the backbone of the timeline also effect the trade that takes place during the game.

The battle system is really also quite good. Ship battles are not limited to point, click, and hope for the best, a lot of it depends on which way the wind blows, what type of cannon shot you would like to use, and several other pirate tricks that can be used. Targetting different areas of a ship has some very different effects. Shooting at the masts of a ship might cause it to slow down, while shooting at the hull could cause it to sink. Different cannon shots also do better damage to certain targetable areas of the enemy's ship.

Mobility of your ship depends greatly on the course of the wind, how strong it is, and how many sails you have up. Success in running away as well as attacking greatly depends on the type of ship you are in. Smaller ships of course have an easier time running away while the warships are expectedly much slower and depends on their firepower and crew to make up for it.

Overall the interface used during battles and while on the world map is very straight forward. There are several options on the world map that can be set to make your journies more eventful or maybe even pleasant. When battle insues the interface changes very little, but adds a few easy to understand drop down menus to help command your fleet in battle.

Business while in port is actually pretty easy to figure out. I have heard a few people complain about it being "stat heavy", but this is nothing compared to the title based on Braveheart. Most of expenses involve practical things such as ship repairs/sales, food, rum, ammo, and several other trade items.