''Galleon'' is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by

Confounding Factor In statistics, a confounder (also confounding variable, confounding factor, extraneous determinant or lurking variable) is a variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious association. Con ...

and published by

SCi Games SCi Entertainment Group plc (formerly The Sales Curve Limited and SCi (Sales Curve Interactive) Limited) was a British video game publisher based in London. The company was founded in 1988 by Jane Cavanagh and floated on the stock exchange in 1 ...

and Atlus for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

. Designed by

Toby Gard Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

as his first independent project after leaving

Core Design Core Design Limited (known as Rebellion (Derby) Ltd between 2006 and 2010) was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as C ...

, the game was announced in 1997, but suffered several delays and changes in the consoles it would be released to. It was released in Europe on June 11, 2004, and in North America on August 3 to mixed reviews from critics. A mobile spin-off entitled ''Galleon: Dawn'' was released on August 26, 2004.

Plot

Rhama Sabrier has received a letter from Dr. Areliano, stating that he is fascinated about his ship and its origins, and wants Rhama to come help investigate this situation. Arriving at dock, Rhama is introduced by Dr. Areliano's servant, Jabez. He is in quite a hurry, as he is aware that Areliano would be back soon, however Rhama would like to visit the shop, as he is low on stock. Jabez notices that Rhama's ship is behind his, so he consumes another herb, starting a massive storm. While trying to help steer the ship, Rhama falls off. He manoeuvres through the water so that he isn't blown away by the wind. Eventually, Rhama arrives at land, exhausted.

Development

Announced in ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

'' in 1997, the game went through various incarnations and publishers. The designer of

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...

left

shortly after the character's first game, ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...

'', was released. ''Galleon'' was to be his first independent title following ''Tomb Raider''. ''Galleon'' started development on PC and moved to

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

, then GameCube (as ''Galleon: Islands of Mystery'') and eventually to the

. The title was originally going to be published by Interplay but after numerous delays was cancelled and subsequently picked up by SCi. Gard's company Confounding Factor closed its doors after the release and he returned to Eidos Interactive as a design consultant for the ''Tomb Raider'' franchise. The graphical style of the game was intended to have a comic book feel as well as being influenced by

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...

's ''Sinbad'' films and Burt Lancaster vehicles. The soundtrack was originally composed by Lee Nicklen, and has since been made available for free.

Reception

Galleon: Islands of Mystery received "average" reviews according to video game

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Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galleon (Video Game) 2004 video games Action-adventure games Atlus games Cancelled Dreamcast games Cancelled GameCube games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Video games about pirates Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set on fictional islands Xbox games Xbox-only games