Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.
Think of the worst gift you've ever been given; then imagine someone took that gift back and then months later gave it back to you in a new box. Does it make that gift any better? Reality Pump Studios and Topware Interactive sure hope so. Earlier this year they released Raven's Cry, a terrible third person action game that you've probably never heard of, and for good reason. Now, the game is being re-released under a slick new title: Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry and the result is a slightly less terrible third person action game...that's still really, really bad. There are moments here where the game will surprise you but they're fleeting at best and quickly replaced by another game breaking bug or glitch. Do yourself a favor, just skip this one...regardless of what they choose to call it.
In Raven's Cry, or Vendetta: Curse of whatever, you take the reigns of Christopher Raven, a pirate who's busy doing pirate type stuff in the 1700s. The entire Spanish army is after him and all he wants to do is make a buck but it isn't long before Raven finds the wreckage of a ship formerly captained by his arch enemy, a man who raped and murdered his mother when he was a child. Yep, things get ugly real fast here and unfortunately they stay that way. The re-release is definitely miles ahead of the original Raven's Cry but the game still seems determined to fail at telling it's story in any way possible. Characters, motivations and story beats are introduced and then quickly forgotten about for long periods at a time and it's a grimy game that doesn't care who it offends. Look, I get it pirates in the 1700s weren't the most moral folk but hearing how trivial this game makes racial slurs and topics like rape makes me want to shower.
Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry and it's successor is really the worst type of bad game because it's not the so bad it's good type and you can see moments where this could have been at least a decent game. Where the game works, at least in part is with it's dynamic sailing mechanics and naval combat. Most similar to a game like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, the naval battles here are all randomly generated and feature a surprising amount of depth. There's a lot to customize here including completely upgradable ships, ammunition types and crew members that can really make a difference in battle. The new re-release features a new acceleration system but it still does get pretty repetitive, none the less though, it is easily the game's best feature.
Unfortunately, you're going to have to get off your ship, and that's when things get really ugly, really fast. While the re-release of the game has improved things a bit, the mere act of moving on land feels sluggish and unnecessarily difficult. While I didn't get caught on random objects quite as much in Vendetta, it did happen and it was incredibly disappointing because of the developer's promise to clean the game up. In truth, the game felt just as full of bugs as the previous release did, but to be fair fewer of them were game breaking. During my time with Vendetta I only encountered one or four bugs that caused me to completely quit and restart.
The bigger problem though is just how boring the vast majority of the game's content can be. If you like fetch quests, and let's be honest who doesn't, you'll love Raven's Cry. The vast majority of the quests have you simply running from one point of the map to the other and boy is it tiresome. Combat is just as inconsistent as it features merely two attacks and a few special moves. Yes, you can unlock more as you progress through the game but I never felt like I needed to since most of the enemies are that easy to get past. Hell, I'm not even going to lie to you and tell you that I finished Vendetta, I got through the original Raven's Cry and I'm no masochist.
Playing through Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry is a lot like going back to a girlfriend or boyfriend that cheated on you. They swear they're different and that they've changed but before long you realize that they're full of the same crap they always have been. To say that Vendetta is better than the original Raven's Cry release isn't false, it's just not saying much either. Shiver me timbers, this game still sucks mateys.
