Cutthroats 2.0 — Details Revealed
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief, with information provided by Michael Mumbauer, Sony VASG Director
Okay. Here it is.
This is what you’ve been waiting for. HomeStation’s been teasing it, revealing pieces at a time, and now we’ve been formally approved to reveal all the details of Cutthroats 2.0 — the largest reinvention of a Home game ever seen.
“Wishlist Saturday” is a new initiative HSM started recently, on the theory that we’ve demonstrated enough capacity for critical thinking to justify offering up once-per-week installments of what we’d like to see that we think would benefit Home. And this is a somehwat odd Wishlist Saturday article, because we’re covering a wishlist that actually came true.
Before we begin: this is a big deal. An avalanche of money was poured into this project. We’ve all seen Home games languish and wither away from neglect, whereas Sony has meticulously studied user feedback and committed rather vast resources towards turning this into something truly epic. The foundation is strong: a 24-player PvP game with no lag is a remarkable achievement for Home, and if you knew what kind of technological magic was working underneath the surface to keep all that cannonball collision detection going, you’d be truly amazed. But for all of its selling points, it honestly felt a bit like an unfinished product upon its initial release.
All of that changes. Now.
So much has been improved upon that there’s almost no way to discuss everything. First, check out the checklist of details here, in the HSM forum. We’re going to discuss some of the highlights.
First up: the commerce process has been streamlined and clarified. It was a little odd to go to one commerce point for coins, and then a second commerce point to redeem them. The iconography has blessedly also been improved, which is good; the original game had very confusing images with no explanations as to their meaning, leaving the user to guess what did what.
When it comes to the actual gameplay and interface, however, a lot has changed. The new interface utilizes a skill wheel, and it’s the same for captains and gunners alike (except for the exclusive captain abilities). You can also quickly select the cannon of your choice rather than button mashing to try to maneuver around the boat to a specific gun, which could cost your ship a firefight in a pitched battle.
Where it gets interesting is that boats now randomly respawn around the map — eliminating the dockside clumps that took place far too often — and there are additional Skull Caves placed throughout the area. Further, coins are now dropped in the chests, introducing a grind economy to the game. This is a big deal; with the original Cutthroats, there was no method to acquire coins except by purchasing them, which created little incentive to keep playing the game after the level cap had been reached. By offering a grind economy, it’s now possible (albeit time-consuming) for someone to acquire power-ups if they keep at it long enough, which should spur sales on from players who want to acquire a power-up at a faster rate.
A *CHICKEN* CANNON!?
Another new strategic element: different levels of damage based on distance (including different wick times). This is fantastic; it creates a new strategic element to the game which rewards different play styles. In the original game, a fireball cannon shot did exactly the same damage at maximum range as it did at point-blank range; in the new game, damage is much more precise. The whistler cannon, for instance, can really nail a ship at long distance — if you have a gunner who’s accurate enough to hit a target that far away. Meanwhile, the scattershot cannon, during a close-quarters broadside duel, can absolutely trash a ship.
The big thing, though, is voice chat. This makes a huge difference. One of the fatal flaws of the old game is that there really isn’t any easy method to communicate in-game with your shipmates. When I playtested the game at the Sony VASG offices, people were shouting, cracking jokes, celebrating…it was a real party atmosphere. You don’t get any of that in the original game. By adding voice chat to the game, you can now hang out with your friends and socialize while you’re playing, which makes a huge difference in the enjoyment level. Now that the leaderboards reflect kills and killstreaks instead of experience points and levels, it definitely creates a different set of parameters to “win” the game.
The new Scattershot cannon — ship-to-ship broadside shotgun!
Two other major strategic elements added to the game are mines and teleportation. In the original Cutthroats, you knew that no matter what you did, you were more or less toast after one or two engagements. It became a repetitive, monotonous grind of taking turns with invincibility. By adding these two new captain abilities, it’s possible to stay alive a lot longer; you can teleport your ship out of danger (think of the Battlestar Pegasus “blind jump” escape and you’ve got the idea), and the ability to lay down mines forces ships to incur heavy damage if they go for ram attacks and point-blank broadsides. Further, now that you can actually repair the ship without having to use a power-up (although those help), it becomes much more challenging to sink a ship — which is good, because the old game was a repetitive grind of sinking and being sunk. With a leaderboard emphasis on killstreaking, there’s now a much greater incentive to play smart and stay alive.
A few other minor enhancements which add a lot to the depth of the game: sound cues for victory and defeat, your ship on fire, and lightning striking from the sky. Oh hell yes. Coupled with a new water effect during speed boosts and a new explosion animation when a ship is sunk, this game is a lot more visceral than it was in the past. And that’s what it needs; the more unhinged and frenetic it appears, the more emotional reaction it stirs. If the game is a fairly simple formula — sail around, sink opponents, keep yourself alive — then all these additional moving parts and little flourishes make the process of playing the game infinitely more fun.
The final item, though, is one which I like the most: outfits which offer permanent upgrades in the form of unlimited ammunition or buffs to the ship. For the hardcore Cutthroats player, this is a no-brainer. Spend some money up front to pick up unlimited ammo types (albeit not for all weapons, clever), boosts to ship speed and turning, and especially mutiny immunity? Sold. The game now offers a mix of permanent and temporary power-ups, which is fantastic.
How do I personally think the game will be received?
Frankly, I think it’s going to be the megahit it should have been at the beginning, had all this content been there. Everyone’s mileage will vary, of course, but Cutthroats 2.0 makes a very, very compelling case. Try it for ten minutes when it comes out in September and you’ll see for yourself. Particularly if you see a chicken cannon in action. Because pirates and poultry are just awesome.
September 1st, 2012 by NorseGamer | 9 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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The more I hear about this upgrade the better I like it. The other game was too easy in a way and I didn’t like the pay system either. I hope this one has the leveling up bug fixed in it as well because the main reason I never played much is no matter what i did, I couldn’t hold my levels at all. Every time I left the game and returned, I was level 1. It is still that way for me now so I hope this fixes that.
Have you tried the work around, going to the info desk before you leave should get you to save
I`m really looking forward to this.
I know I will be out there.
Woot! We need a “Sink Deuce” night!
As if that is possible.
You’ve just given me a wild idea for a public HSM event, though…how many Home users would love to have the bragging rights of being able to say they tested their skill against the game’s creator? Methinks this could be an *insane* event.
OMG do eeeeet! That will be absolutely brilliant!
tro kool g bien aimer ce mini jeu jaten la suite tenez vou prez moussaillon