Platform: Android, iOS
Of all the attacks it’s possible to have, a Pirate Attack is definitely our most preferred, but what exactly is the prognosis when it comes in a hyper casual, mobile form?
For a game with the name Pirate Attack, it’s a surprisingly polite turn based affair in which two ships (player and computer, no multiplayer here I’m afraid) take it in turns shooting cannonballs at each other until one of them sinks.
Players drag on the touch screen to aim their shot before releasing to fire. Rinse and repeat until the enemy drowns, spitting out tasty loot that can be used for ship upgrades. Very simple stuff but the cannon mechanics and the feeling of watching your ship grow are satisfying enough to keep you going, at least at first.
With that said I can’t help but feel like there’s something missing from the core cannon gameplay, namely an element of challenge to taking shots. In classic sniper game fashion, as you’re aiming your shot there’s a bit of swaying that you have to fight against, and the game offers a level of mastery by giving you specific targets you’ll want to bullseye for more damage, but there isn’t a time limit or anything else impeding you so there’s nothing really stopping you from scoring perfect shots every time.
With most of the skill removed each level essentially boils down to battles of attrition that favour whoever has the highest stats (just like real life), and in all honesty this was probably intentional. Put simply it does feel like this game gives you the bare minimum in terms of gameplay in order to create an effective engine to get you to watch adverts. It gives you just enough hooks in the form of numbers you want to increase, little bonuses to shots and visual upgrades to your ship to make you want to hit the watch ad button again and again. For what it’s worth it doesn’t do a terrible job of it.
As you’ll see from the games reviews, the ads are fairly plentiful both in the form of mandatory ads at the end of each level and several incentivised ads constantly offered to you in exchange for various goodies. Each level feels like it’s set up to make you want to watch a string of 2-4 different ads. I generally don’t mind incentivised ads in theory but that’s mainly because I like the opt-in nature of them, this feels more like a Hobson’s choice though. There’s also static banner ads at the bottom of the screen but I’ve long since learned to filter them out of my vision.
Understandably these ads will probably be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but to each their own. There is something funny about the idea of the enemy ship waiting patiently as you methodically upgrade your cannons, build a bigger ship and repair right in front of them though.
On the plus side the art is quite good and there’s a few nice details and touches like all your cargo getting flung off the ship when you’re hit (in general the impacts feel great) or a ship I thought I’d defeated rising back up with a full skeleton crew. I did notice something very familiar about the art straight away though and it’s come to my attention that there’s a very popular, low poly pirate asset pack making the rounds right now, but hey they use it well.
Unfortunately though even with competent visuals, satisfying if incomplete feeling gameplay and a few moments of charm, the levels start to feel quite samey pretty quickly, with stats and configurations of ships you’re facing being the only thing that changes.
I don’t think the gameplay on offer necessarily justifies the amount of ads, but In truth I’d be lying if I said I didn’t jump straight into the next level each time it rolled around, it has that ‘one more go’ addictive nature to it and even with the ads, the length of each level is still pretty bite size. It’s also still being updated with new features fairly regularly too, so who knows how it’ll grow?
If you’re just looking for a bit of a piratey time waster, it certainly delivers and I’m still compulsively playing it when I get spare moments. At the very least it might be 80% of a template for a potentially cracking pirate mobile game.
Is your touch screen hand numb? Is your aiming reticle swaying back and forth? Are the backs of your eyes sore from watching so many misleading mobile game ads? Please consult your doctor, you may be having a Pirate Attack.
Shiver Me Pixels! 