The 3D towns looked good, weather effects were convincing, and the ocean and sky were often spectacular. On the other hand, many of the special effects, especially cannon fire, lacked oomph. I wanted to see smoke billowing about the battle field as cannons blazed away, broadside after broadside. Ships never showed structural damage either, though sails were shown tattered and torn. Overall a mixed bag, but on the whole a good looking game that puts just enough graphical splendor and realism in the mix to keep things interesting.
Sounds effects are on the weak side.
The roar of cannons is sadly muted, the clash of swords ring hollow and there is little spoken dialog of note. The music is quite good, but there are only a couple of short tracks so you rapidly get tired of it. Overall the sound design doesn't live up to the graphics, which isn't a huge problem, but the game could have been that much more immersive if it did. Unfortunately there are more than a few bugs in Sea Dogs . I had terrible visual problems running with high resolution textures, random game crashes, quests that somehow got out of order, and a host of smaller problems.