Draw Wars Save Yer Booty is a Windows Phone game that brings the rather unique conflict between pirates and vikings to your Windows Phone. The arcade games calls for you to defend your pirate ship from those pesky Nordic warriors who are trying to sink it. If one of the vikings gets past your ship, your booty is lost and the game over.
Draw Wars Save Yer Booty is a wonderfully animated game, has a decent premise but comes up a little short with respect to game play. Still, for a free game it isn't too shabby. You just need a little patience.
The main menu for Draw Wars Save Yer Booty is laid out simple. You have buttons to mute the sound, view the help screens, see the about screen and play the game.
The game screen will have your pirate ship in the lower left corner, your current and high score at the top center and a pause button in the upper right corner. A green glowing skull is hovering above your ship and the villainous vikings will attack from the right.
You have two weapons at your disposal, a canon and a battle axe that acts more like a boomerang than an axe. You use your canon on any viking ships that approach by tapping the canon button that is just below your ship. A dotted line will appear to mark the canon's trajectory and when you get it lined up right, release the button and the canon fires.
Everything else is taken out with your axe. To throw your axe, tap and hold on your ship and trace a line (here's where the draw comes into play) along the path you want your axe to travel. When you finish drawing the line, release your hold on the screen and the axe will slice and dice its way through the vikings. When the axe reaches the end of the drawn line, it returns to the ship to be thrown again.
Ah... but what about the green, glowing skull? Well, you have flying vikings, vikings riding balloons, vikings riding hang gliders, and vikings riding killer whales. You also have green, glowing vikings that appear. While your axe can take out most of the vikings, it must pass over the green, glowing skull to take out the green glowing vikings. Oh and to keep things interesting, the vikings that have shields have to be hit from behind or below and the vikings on balloons have to be hit twice.
The object of Draw Wars Save Yer Booty is to take out all the vikings before they reach the left side of the screen. If one passes through, your ship is sunk and the game's over.
And that's where I get a little frustrated with such a promising game. It doesn't take long for Draw Wars Save Yer Booty to pick up speed and it doesn't take long before one viking gets past your defenses. I would have preferred to have seen three lives to give the game a little longer playing time.
Game controls are simple but do take a little time to get accustomed to. I would have liked to have seen the ability to have two axes thrown at the same time or canon balls taking out more than just the viking ships. In many ways, you are fighting a losing battle because the vikings will quickly overtake the screen. I don't mind the challenge of the game but something needs to be in place to balance things out. Maybe a nuke option to wipe out all the vikings at once?
Overall, I liked Draw Wars Save Yer Booty but don't get too frustrated when you don't break ten points after your first few games. It takes a few tries to get used to the controls and the game's pace. I have to admit the game does have an addictive quality because no matter how low of a score I made, I kept coming back for more. Draw Wars Save Yer Booty has potential but, as is, the game isn't' too shabby.
If you're looking for an decent arcade game to pass short bits of time with, Draw Wars is worth a try. Draw Wars Save Yer Booty is a free game and you can grab it here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.
