Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond (Switch) Review
Release Date: November 20. 2020
Publisher/Developer: Zordix/Ravn Studio
Platform: Switch (reviewed), Steam
Price: $34.99
A while ago, it was pretty much guaranteed a children’s movie guaranteed a decent tie-in game. Kids could go to the theater and pick up a cartridge on the way home to continue the fun and experience. Lately it seems that trend has given way to random freemium apps to download on a phone. Whilst maybe not well known where I’m from, Norwegian children (and adults, the character has been around since the 90’s) will be glad to know that Captain Sabertooth (Sabeltaan) has received a solid, fun game that’s best described as a pirate-themed My First Metroidvania.
Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond ticks all the boxes of family-friendly Traditional Pirate Adventure, wherein you play as a young child (you can choose between a boy or girl) with great aspirations of being a respectable pirate one day. This involves scouring several locations for gold, gems, and artifacts and equipment that grant new abilities whilst fending off the local creatures. You’re set loose on the island with not much more goal than becoming a great pirate, but that’s enough of a goal for the demographic this title is primarily aimed at. Despite that, even as an adult I’ve had a good time adventuring around the islands.
As I said, I felt very much as if Captain Sabertooth was a great introduction to Metroidvania style gameplay. Adventure far enough, and you’ll run across doors that are locked, and characters who say where they heard the key was, which puts a marker on your map of where to go next. Picking up a new powerup, such as boots that let you jump off of walls to reach higher platforms, result in you coming upon a little course that teaches you how to use them and reminds you of where you’ve seen those kind of walls before. There are a few minigames scattered throughout, such as finding buried treasures in the levels or cannon practice off the ship’s bow.
There are a few lighthearted audio clips here and there. They’re more for color and fun than anything else, but are well voiced. Some of the general ones pop up when you are hit or jump in the water or such, and hence can get repetitive, but again, this is aimed at a younger demographic.
Enemies have predictable patterns and regularly drop at least one heart to refill your meter. Fully expending your health results in restarting the area from not too far back, and you can recollect the few coins you lost in the process by getting back to the place you perished. Sometimes I ran across some jumps that took a bit more dexterity than I thought a young player might have, but not too much to frustrate young ones and keep them from playing. The only issue I came across was that, while the game is a 2D platformer, there are quite a few 3D elements that look like they could be part of the environment, such as boxes on the path just in front of our hero.
Early teens will have a fun romp through a simple pirate-themed adventure. While it doesn’t have any hardcore challenges, there is enough adventure for adults to enjoy helping their kids with any tricky parts. Captain Sabertooth’s newest game actually made me interested in this world and want to seek out the movie that it is based on. As a fan of Metroidvanias, I can see this as an excellent way to introduce young ones to the genre.
Pros:
-”My First Metroidvania”
-Logical progression with goal stars to help young ones know where to go
-Great for young ones, but entertaining for parents
-Enough health and power-ups to keep kids progressing
Cons:
-Some 3D parts muddle into the 2D landscape
-Repetitive voice bites
-A few platforming bits that might be difficult for littler ones
Special thanks to Zordix/Ravn Studio for providing a code for review!