Pirate Ship Battles

Fans of the classic two-player game ‘Battleship’ will definitely love Pirate Ship Battles.

For those of you who remember the famous cry of ‘You sank my battleship!’ you will soon no doubt hear this replaced by ‘You sank my pirate ship!’… or at least you should! This game is in a word fantastic - simple, addictive and enjoyable – just as a game should be.

As you would expect from any game that is made for the mobile phone, there is a little bit extra added to the overall game. Sometimes this isn’t a welcome change but in this case it is. The story of you seeking the infamous Blackbeard and more importantly, his treasure, is certainly not the most original, but it’s a simple case of defeating pirates, the un-dead, trade ships and coastal forts in a fun ‘cat and mouse’ guessing game.

In Campaign Mode you start out with just a small naval force, you are thrust into the Caribbean setting and left to pick your battles and avoid obstacles to your hearts desire. By picking wisely you will soon be leading a jolly bunch of pirates which all have special abilities which will help you explore the map and conquer enemy. If you don’t have enough time to play a full campaign or even a few battles (which can last up to 15 or so minutes each) there’s an option for a quick game to pick. You can determine how large the battle area is between small, medium and large.

For those who are looking to compete against a friend, you can pick the ‘Hot Seat’ option. You can pick your wits against another human player – taking turns to place your ships and then locate your “enemy’s” in a friendly battle.

Some of the novel twists this game offers are each ship has its own special abilities. These ‘special weapons’ range from allowing you to spy a small section of the board and hopefully locate your opponents pieces through to blasting a large section of the board up at a time. Another fun thing is that with every piece you or your opponents lose, the number of shots per turn is depleted – including that ships’ special ability.

So to sum things up – you will like this game if you are a fan of the original board game, have a few minutes to kill, want to live your childhood dream of being a pirate out just a little bit, want to tax those little grey cells a tiny bit or just try your luck, if you don’t like it – walk the plank!

Rating – A very Yo-Ho-Ho-tastic 95%

Positives

Very enjoyable and highly addictive

Simple and tricky

Random every time

Some nice touches

Negatives

It can get quite easy in campaign mode once you’ve got enough money and ships to control the sea.

Some of the special weapons make it easy – but you can switch them off!