Captain Blood is a name that conjures up nostalgic memories for older gamers, the title being first used for a critically acclaimed Amiga game featuring a galactic storyline. That’s not the Captain Blood that’s going under the microscope today, though this is still a game with its own fascinating history. Originally planned for release in 2010, the game had already been affected by delays and a shift from the original Xbox to the 360, but was cancelled due to legal issues and the team disbanding. Jump ahead a decade and a full build was leaked online to spark a small amount of interest, and no, in the grand old year of 2025, Captain Peter Blood is set to finally ship out, sail the seas and bring piratical justice to the Spanish on behalf of good old Blighty. Does that tortured history mean that this is a treasure being brought to the light or is it a dodgy mug of grog that’ll see you heaving over the side of the boat?
First up, Captain Blood looks its age. It is presented in a higher resolution than would originally have been possible, but the textures and character models have a chunkiness that scream of the mid-2000s. Personally I really dig that as it’s an artstyle that has been somewhat lost to time – most nostalgic aesthetics go back to an earlier date. It reminded me a lot of the Toby Gard cult classic Galleon, but with a PS2-era God of War makeover. This is very much an old school beat ’em up with hundreds of cannon fodder enemies and a vast amount of blood to be spilled.
I was impressed by the music here, with many of the background tunes having just enough of a Hans Zimmer Pirates of the Caribbean vibe to feel perfectly suited whilst clearly being legally distinct. The same praise can’t be granted to the voice acting, however. Not because it’s bad per se, but because the mix is bloody awful and you’ll mostly miss out on whatever is being said and have to rely on subtitles instead. This is ironically a problem that mostly affects modern film and TV, so it’s not something that can be put down to the nostalgic presentation.
Despite his ominous moniker, Captain Peter Blood is very much the scoundrel hero in this story. Taking place in the 17th century during the various skirmishes and sea battles over control of the Caribbean, the narrative is surprisingly down to earth and lacking the kind of supernatural aspects I was expecting after years of Disney’s takes on the setting. The enemies are made up of dastardly pirates and the even more despicable Spanish (within the game of course) with a limited range of enemy types and several boss battles. Blood is happy to serve the orders of the British, but is more concerned with riches than patriotism.
In terms of gameplay, the majority of the action is a very standard early God of War clone with far more simple mechanics and little in the way of subtlety and sophistication. Ironically this makes it stand out far more nowadays than it would have if it was released when originally planned since this is a genre that has fallen out of fashion – especially considering the direction Kratos himself has taken in recent years. While clearly a fully 3D title, the combat has a lot in common with traditional lane-based beat ’em ups and button mashing combos are the order of the day.
The vast majority of your fighting will take place with your trusty cutlass, but secondary weapons can be picked up and used for a limited time, with the two-handed sword being great for clearing out groups of enemies. There are some oddities here, though, with one weapon labelled a hatchet but clearly being a large sword. You can even find the odd musket to give you a ranged approach alongside your normal pistol – a rechargeable gun that is mostly used to stagger enemies and interrupt their attacks.
There are a decent amount of combos to unlock with the gold you’ll find along your journey but I found that a couple of these were far more useful than others – especially ones that have an unblockable component so much of the game involved spamming the same two or three attacks. There was even a trophy to unlock for only using one combo for a whole level which seemed as if the developers knew this was a valid approach. Despite the effectiveness of such combos, it is far too easy to get stunlocked and killed by mobs of enemies and I died more to this than the boss battles. There are several ship battle sections which see you manning cannons to sink your foes whilst fighting off any that board your vessel. These are fine but don’t add much other than variety.
Bosses are often puzzles to be solved, with environmental aspects needing to be considered and a couple being mostly QTE sequences – did you forget this was a mid-2000s game? These sequences are fine but definitely feel like an aspect that add little to the experience. Another thing that hasn’t aged gracefully is the representation of women here. There are a grand total of two female characters, one being a stereotypical damsel in distress and the other a femme fatale (the whole spectrum of femininity in games of this era) but both are dressed in skimpy outfits and have built in buoyancy aids. This actually makes Disney seem progressive in comparison!