Pirate's Plunder is Flight Control styled game where you direct trade ships to the appropriate port, avoid high seas collisions, pirates, sea monsters and other dangers along the way.
Along with the main objective of docking your ships, there are a handful of side games with Pirate's Plunder that crop up to keep things interesting. Animations are nice, game play challenging, but the game has a cluttered feel to it. Still Pirate's Plunder has a bit of appeal to it and is worth a try.
The main menu for Pirate's Plunder presents you with options to play the game, continue any saved game and access the game's options. Options are basic and cover music/sound controls and a reset button to clear any game progress you have made.
As you start a game, Pirate's Plunder will take you through a series of story boards on the game's background. You can scroll through these screens or hit the skip button and go straight to the game play map.
Pirate's Plunder is a multi-level game that is spread across thirty ports. You also have eight bosses to battle throughout the game. The levels are progressive in that you have to successfully complete the first before you can advance to the next.
The first side game is on the map page, Torutuga, which is basically a slot machine you can play to boost your gold count. Gold that can be used in the Shop to fortify your ships and ports.
The game screen for Pirate's Plunder is fairly simple but the pace gives the game a bit of challenge. You have multiple docks with colored beacons on them. Ships will enter the area from various spots and your job is to navigate the ship with the corresponding colored beacon to the appropriate dock. Just tap on the ship and trace a line (a course) for the ship to follow. To keep you on your toes, every now and then the color beacon changes after you dock and you'll need to send the ship off to the right port of call.
If the ships get too close, they will collide and sink to the bottom of the sea. Each ship that successfully unloads earns you gold and once unloaded you'll need to navigate the ship safely off screen to make room for the next ship. To complete each level, you'll have to meet an earning goal which is highlighted in the upper right corner.
As you play Pirate's Plunder, dangers will crop up that include whirlpools and sea monsters. You'll need to navigate away from these dangers. Bonuses will also appear in the water such as treasure chests.
Along the way a merchant ship or Royal Navy ship will enter the screen and if your ship crosses path with them, a mini game will launch. You also have a mini-game when pirates attempt to raid your ships. The mini-games break down in this manner.
Merchant Ship: You try to sink the merchant ship before it escapes by blasting it with your canons from the canon point of view. You fire your canon by tapping the screen and aim your shot by tilting the screen.
Royal Navy: You battle the Royal Navy vessel from an overhead view. A virtual ships wheel appears to navigate your ship and a canon fire button as well.
Pirate Raid: You defend your ship from raiding pirates by tapping/holding the screen to aim your canon shot. You not only have to wipe out the pirate ship but also the pirates as they row smaller boats to board your ship.
Game play with Pirate's Plunder is challenging but the game has a cramped feel to it. Pirate's Plunder is an ad-supported game with the ad banner in the upper left corner. This gets in the way at times, most notably during your battles with the Royal Navy. Even without the banner, the game play area is a little cramped for the amount of ship traffic present. It adds to the game's challenge but also gives the game a little frustration factor.
Another nit with the game is the lack of a help section to define what is what. For example, there's a pirate head that pops up from time to time that can be collected. What this does is a mystery. There is some direction before each mini-game and at the start of each level but there really needs to be a reference section.
Pirate's Plunder is a fun game to play but has some room for improvement. I like the detailed graphics but I would rather see a $.99 ad free version with a trail to open up more game space and maybe slightly smaller graphics to give the game additional elbow room.
There is a lot of gaming involved with Pirate's Plunder to keep you busy and if you're patient the game can be a fun way to pass the time with. It may not appeal to everyone but it's worth a try.
Pirate's Plunder is a free, ad-supported game that you can snatch up here at the Windows Phone Store.
