Uncharted Waters is easily one of my favorite Strategy games of all time. In these waters, you take on the role of a Portuguese sailor who's attempting to redeem his lost family name. His great grandfather was a skilled explorer but after being lost at sea, the family name lost it's value. You start with a small ship and must build fame and fortune from intelligent trading or smart battling. Many ports line the coasts of the world waiting for you to find them while many pirates are out at sea waiting to stop you. During your adventure you'll be summoned by the King of Portugal to carry out different missions or summoned by a market to find that market select goods. Building your fame is essential to becoming one of the greatest explorers of this time!

Overall: 10
Uncharted Waters is a simplistic strategy game where you can advance in multiple methods thanks to it's extensive depth. What makes the game simplistic is due to your ability to sail throughout the seven seas discovering ports, building fame and creating your own fortune. You can do this by trading, carrying out missions or battling. What I like most about Uncharted Waters is the fact that no matter where you are in the world, you can still recover from a major battle or mistake providing you aren't on the west coasts of North and South America where there are no ports to make gold. The other aspect I love is your ability to build your own ships. This ability allows you to use your ship's cargo space however you want and although larger ships have less power and handling, it allows you to make the most of the trading/fame system in place.

One of the things I disliked about the game is the lack of different kinds of missions. When the King or Market summons you, they'll ask you to carry out a mission. In the early stages of the game, the King will ask you to find him a certain trade good and you'll need a certain amount. The Market always asks for a trade good and it's not nearly as diverse as I would like it to be. As you progress through the ranks when completing missions for your King, you'll earn different missions like excavating an artifact or battling pirates. I would have enjoyed having more missions overall and it still would have been simplistic overall but it isn't a big dislike either. The game is still quite enjoyable for those of us who loves a good strategy game.

Graphics: 5
Uncharted Waters was designed for 3 consoles; NES, SNES and Sega Genesis. There are slight differences in the graphics between all 3 games, however, the quality is still on a NES level, which would have been better than other graphics presented on the NES but weaker than other graphics on the SNES. Because these graphics were released in the SNES, the game didn't actually take advantage of the SNES capabilities and is actually quite disappointing overall. I could easily see an improvement in the graphic quality had the developers taken the game to the next level. This version of the game doesn't present anything that really stands out. Most graphics are very basic or picture based and doesn't really stand out. I would love to see Uncharted Waters if it were made on the N64 if the game was done almost exactly the same way.

Sound: 7
Unlike the graphics, the music can be enjoyable and annoying. When you go on a long voyage, you'll listen to the same tune over and over again. It will be imprinted in your brain because it's so constant. On the other hand, when you visit different areas of the world, you'll hear different songs which aren't nearly as bad. When you're in the arctic or tropical regions you'll hear a different sound. I also believe you hear different tunes when you enter each of the ports throughout the world. For the most part, some tunes can literally be too much but the diversity can be enjoyable too. One aspect that I liked about the music and sound effects related entirely to battles whenever you are attacked or do the attacking. I probably enjoy it most because I love battling.

Addictiveness: 10
Gamers interested in exploring, trading or battling pirates in a core strategy element can enjoy the best this game has to offer. Gamers with no grasp on strategy may find the game to be challenging and hard to keep up with due to mistakes and lack of tactical intuition. Unlike other strategy games on the SNES, you don't have to micro manage as often as you would in a warring strategy game dealing with loyalty. Opposed to other strategy games, you'll be actively participating in your adventure as you endlessly sail from port to port. Battling pirates and exploring the seven seas offers the best in terms of game play. The only thing I dislike about the game making it so I might not play again for awhile is the less diverse missions offered by the market and King of Portugal. Everything outside of the missions, is perfectly placed and used in the game.

Story: 4
When the game begins you learn about the story of Lord Alcobaca and his great grand father. He was called upon by Prince Henry the navigator to sail in the name of Portugal to find the legendary kingdom of Prestor John. Sailing with the fleet of King Juan I he headed toward the West Coast of Africa only to wreck during a violent storm. Only 1 ship returned. The family endured hardship from the loss of the head of the family and all the family's servants. Neighbors seized the family land and destroyed the noble name. Leon Franco (nameable main character) sets out on an adventure to sail the seven seas. During this adventure is entirely up to what you do as the player. Some key moments take place in the game, during which you'll have missions assigned by the King of Portugal but there isn't anything beyond that extent.

Depth: 9
Strategy games like Uncharted Waters always offer a lot in terms of it's depth, being there's a lot of things you can do and explore in the game. One such thing you can do is gamble, although, there's not much to earn from it. 5 card draw and blackjack are the 2 mini-games you can find at the tavern, among other options like; mates, gossip and tips. Another cool thing about the game is your ability to customize your ships. What's a sailing exploration game without allowing you to customize your ships? After building an investment in any port, you'll unlock larger ships, better figureheads and ship building material. Unlike buying a used ship, building a new ship allows you to control the quality of your durability, crew bunks, sails/masts/ cannon slots and cargo space. Adjusting the different settings on the different ships will change the ship's stats like power and handling.

Other big aspects of the game include your ability to navigate the entire world, whether it's sailing to the newly established Caribbean or trying your luck in Southeast Asia. Besides the West coasts of North and South America, you'll be able to trade just about anywhere to turn a profit. You're also able to purchase items from the item shop. Despite the fact that the game doesn't actually tell you what each item does, you'll need to believe me when I state that each of the items do benefit you. These items come in handy as you play. Last cool concept about the game is the ability to enter the Castle at any time after you've earned enough fame. Doing so allows you to request crew or funds if in an emergency as well as deposit or withdraw money.

The centralized idea of the game involves your ability to navigate the globe while battling pirates, foreign nations or trading. Each aspect is important and you're unable to complete the game without focusing on all these aspects. Consider the fact you're able to earn fame, sail experience and battle experience, you'll need each in order to progress further into the game. Lastly, first mates. You're able to invite first mates to join you on your adventure and when they join, they're only good for sailing your other ships. Unfortunately they won't do much unless they commandeer their own vessel, which then their stats and experience will alter their abilities. High sailing increases ship power and tacking while higher battle increases damage dealt in battle.

Difficulty: 7
Considering the fact that a new player who plays this game fresh and from the start, without any guides or help, the game may be somewhat challenging at first. Considering there is so much to do and players don't know where to go, they'll need to figure out how to get their hands on gold. Also consider that gamers who aren't very talented at strategy, won't do well. Having a little experience in this game makes it a lot easier to play because even if you do something reckless, you'll know how to bounce back.

After a vigorous battle on the East coast of Africa, I lost 90% of my crew, lost 1 ship (Thanks Marco) and suffered heavy damages by a Spanish Warship (Looking for revenge of course) and I had little money before that battle. I traded between a few cities on the African coast and bounced back, just enough to sail back to Lisbon to fix my game. For the record, the damages to my ships would not allow me to travel at all and I couldn't repair them, so I had to go to land to "land" and go back to sea as my way of traveling since it could move me around some areas of land that I could not sail around, otherwise I would have died. I won that battle at a heavy cost but even with such a close call, you're able to build yourself back up. To a newer player, this sort of challenge might detour them from the game. At the same time, the game isn't really difficulty once you know the basics very well.

Conclusion
Overall, any strategy seeking gamer would enjoy the beauty in a simple strategy game like Uncharted Waters. Made by KOEI, Uncharted Waters is still one of my all-time favorite strategy games I have ever played. Despite the fact that I know a great deal about the game, I still find enjoyment in trying different playing strategies. Uncharted Waters is a big game with many things to do and explore. The worst part about the entire game is your waiting time spent while at sea, however, that's not always so easy either. Given that the game was made 20 years ago, Uncharted Waters may easily be the best strategy game of all time, despite it's age. In an attempt to keep the game alive, Uncharted Waters Online is available to all (It's not the same to me, ruined entirely by level requirements).

First of ll, I have to say I am impressed by the review. This is the best review I have read from someone at the newbie level (even though I noticed you have been here for 83 days). The next time an announcement is made that reviewers are being hired, submit reviews like this, and you should get a position. I think I might give this a try sometime.

That is very kind of you. Even though I am new to this place, I have participated in other gaming communities. I haven't actively participated here, but I have played a lot of my old favorites and even a few new games which I enjoyed. I now noticed a few mistakes in the post I made, but time was running short and I had to get ready for work. The spell check feature froze and I just closed it and quickly submitted what I had.

If a position may come available, I may apply depending on the requirements. Thank you for the kind reply,