Tortuga Pirates of the New World (PC)

Author's product rating:   

Gameplay/Playability
Graphics
Sound
Longevity
Value for Money

Advantages:	Simple fun, addictive gameplay, novelty value !
Disadvantages:	Too restricted by linear scenarios; gameplay can become bland and uninteresting

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Why is life just so complicated? There we are, with a million and one things to juggle, and still finding time to relax and have fun! Mind you, even having fun these days is not without its complexities – especially when you think of most modern PC games. There have undeniably been a great number of superb quality games released for the PC in 2003, and they all seem to have one thing in common…

Complexity.

I’m not just talking about complexity of, for example, the control interface or how you physically play the game; I’m referring to storylines, groundbreaking new features and dynamic new surroundings. One recent game has even gone as far as to map the city of Los Angeles, USA with more than a nod towards accuracy!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could go back in time, to a simpler age of gaming? Perhaps – which leads me rather well into the latest offering from software house ‘Ascaron’, a German-based developer.

Set sails and splice the mainbrace, me hearties, it’s time to sail the seven seas with ‘Tortuga : Pirates Of The New World’.

***OVERVIEW***

Complexity in games is not a bad thing – let’s make that clear from the start. It’s a part of human nature to push boundaries, ask questions and thirst for completeness – and game developers know this. Without this complexity we wouldn’t have had half the storming games we’ve had in 2003. With the complexity in stories, plotlines and environment in PC games, usually comes a complexity in the control interface for those games – again, not necessarily a bad thing, as we can do more, see more and potentially have a more involving and rewarding PC game experience.

‘Tortuga – Pirates Of The New Word’ sets the trend for complexity on its head, providing what might initially seem like a simple and unchallenging gaming experience. If you hadn’t already guessed, ‘Tortuga’ is based around Piracy and Buccaneering (a kind of legalised piracy; pirate-hunters if you like) in the Caribbean, during the 16th and 17th Century.

I’m sure most of you have seen the film ‘Pirates Of the Caribbean’, or at least heard of it – and with the film ‘Master and Commander’ flying its colours on the horizon, what better time that to review a game about piracy, loot and treasure on the high seas?

***GAMEPLAY***

‘Tortuga’ gives itself away right from the start as being a relatively simple game; only one CD-ROM is needed to install and play the game, and the instruction manual is flimsy indeed – only a few pages long. Flicking through, you can see (from an appendix at the back of the booklet) that the game is controlled entirely with the mouse – no complicated keyboard shortcuts, just a simple ‘point-and-click’ system.

You might be forgiven for getting a little nostalgic at this point – some gamers might remember a remarkably similar game from 1994 called ‘Pirates!’ – but I’ll delve into that point later on.

The idea of the game is to, quite simply, amass a vast fortune for yourself as a freelance buccaneer in the Caribbean. Disappointingly though, the way in which this is accomplished is done in a rather linear fashion. The game is sectioned into numerous scenarios, or ‘chapters’, and progress through the chapters can only be made by completing a set goal within the current scenario. This usually involves attacking and annexing an enemy town for your home nation.

There are a number of different time periods in which the game is set; these are historically fairly accurate (for example – Spain was the dominating power in the Caribbean by the end of the 16th Century, but 30 years later, it was the English and French who were making headway. You will always be aligned to one particular nation – England, France, Holland or Spain – but sadly, this is determined by the scenario or chapter and cannot be freely chosen. That’s a real shame, because in my book, it would have been nice to try and play, for example, an English buccaneer during the war between England and Spain.

The first scenario is fairly easy and serves more as a tutorial than anything else; here you can get used to the screen layout and the feel of the game; you also learn that the world you play in is actually rather more dynamic than you might give it credit for. The towns all have an interlinked, dynamic economy – it is entirely possible to bring a town to its knees by simply buying up all its food stocks, or by sinking transport ships bound for that town with goods!

Progressing through the game is done by taking on missions from the governor or any town you’re aligned with – in the first scenario, it’s Spain – and by completing these missions, you earn cash and prestige. Simple! Through encounters with pirates (or indeed any vessel you choose to attack) you can capture their ships, selling them for more loot or keeping them if they’re larger and more powerful, to use in the future.

Ship-to-ship combat is where it’s at in this game, and there’s a fair amount of it. Although you can amass a fleet of up to ten ships, you can only go into battle with one of them – and you are often facing more than one enemy ship.
There are three different types of ammunition for your cannons, which introduces a slight tactical element to the game – you can shove cannonballs into the enemy hull (causing damage all round), or you can choose chainshot (which damages the enemy sails, meaning they lose speed and manoeuvrability) or grapeshot – which does little damage to the ship’s hull but does rather well at killing off their crew!

Control in these sea-battles is simple and direct – thankfully – and with a little patience and time, it’s possible to learn how to disable enemy ships whilst dodging their own cannonballs, then capture them! Personally, I didn’t find this hard to master at all, and by the time I’d captured and equipped the best ship available, I found myself ignoring the regular encounters and looking for the ‘infamous’ pirates – who attract a greater reward for their capture / death and are a tougher challenge. The battles do require some fast reflexes though, as well as a well-thought out strategy. Although the enemy AI (Artificial Intelligence – how they behave towards you in any given situation) isn’t great, they are savvy enough to take advantage of superior numbers or speed, as well as the different ammunition types, to make short work of you if you’re not careful.

Mind you, if your ship is sunk or captured, all is not lost – you are usually given a tiny sailing boat with which to sail to the nearest town and re-establish yourself.

It’s also fairly obvious from the outset that, even though you can buy and sell goods at different towns for profit (supply and demand, don’t y’ know – I told you the game world was dynamic!), you could never make as much money trading in this manner as you could by hunting and capturing ships. True, there are a good variety of missions to complete, which can be obtained from your nation or from a bloke down the pub (I kid you not!), but the main meat of the game is in its combat.

That’s not to say that some of the missions aren’t entertaining – there are a variety of reconnaissance, search-and-rescue and delivery missions to undertake as well – and during these missions, which are usually timed, you’ll want to avoid combat – miss your deadline and you don’t get paid!

Repairing your ship after a scuffle is easy enough to do, you just need to dock at the nearest port (providing you haven’t been sinking that nation’s ships or looting their towns – otherwise they won’t let you dock!) and a few clicks later, you have repaired your ship and recruited more crewmembers to your cause.

So in summary, the gameplay is good clean fun, if a little on the repetitive side!

***GRAPHICS***

Being set in the Caribbean, the surroundings are naturally rather lush, and good use is made of some bright, vivid colours to get your imagination going. Sailing into any port gives you a nice, pre-rendered screen of a Caribbean town, and by hovering your mouse cursor over the various buildings and clicking on them, you can perform various tasks such as selling / buying goods, recruiting crew and so on. However, there are only four different screens – one for each nation – so after a short time, it does get rather boring looking at the same old pre-rendered shot!

Whilst sailing around the sea, the view is two-dimensional – it’s here that you get to see a few nice touches, such as whales surfacing for air occasionally. Paying attention to visual clues is vital as well – sometimes you can get hold of a treasure map left afloat in a bottle, or pick up some stranded official and rescue him (for a price, naturally!).

The ship-to-ship combat is all done in 3D, and the models of the ships are great (you can even see little men scurrying around the decks!). Each ship looks different; and the ships all fly their appropriate flags (yes, pirates do fly the ‘skull and crossbones’!). The weather effects are superb as well; ships leave a wake in their path, and visibly take damage when hit. They also roll around when moving; even though the combat is arcade-style in its simplicity and control, it still manages to keep an authentic look, I feel.

***AUDIO***

There’s very little in-game audio, so this section is going to be rather short! What there is, though, is suitable for the game – there are relevant sound effects when fighting, trading or sailing around – ranging from ringing the ship’s bell to indicate a victory, to the blast of your cannons as you engage an enemy.

There is plenty of background music, which keeps the swashbuckling atmosphere constant, but it is quite limited and repetitive – it won’t annoy you, but after time you just won’t notice it either.

One small irritation – and it’s more amusing than anything else – the game was developed by a German team, and if you listen closely whist docked at a town, you can hear German voices saying things like ‘Schwein’!

To be honest, there’s not an awful lot more Ascaron could have done with the game, given its simple nature. What there is, is perfectly adequate for the game.

***CONCLUSION***

I mentioned earlier that advancing through the game was accomplished by completing the special scenario missions (annexing enemy towns). If I had one criticism of the game, it would be that.

Advancing through the game in this manner does get tedious, although the game’s simple fun will keep you coming back to earn more loot. Personally, I thought pirates and swashbucklers were supposed to have mysterious, free-roaming lives – the restrictions placed on the game seem to take the wind right out of your sails (pun fully intended!) and are completely self-defeating.

However, I also mentioned that the game was similar to a 1994 release called ‘Pirates!’. I remember at the time (when I was a young lad) that this game was quite popular – ‘Tortuga’ is a great homage, albeit nine years late, to that game. To be honest though, my only complaint is that it isn’t quite enough like ‘Pirates!’ – that was open-ended and completely free roaming. You could pursue a central storyline if you wanted to, pursue a career in the Navy of any country you chose, or just go looking for loot.

That’s why I bought this game – because I was looking for an experience similar to ‘Pirates!’ – and on that front, it doesn’t disappoint. However, it should likewise appeal to gamers who are just looking for something a little different – and with a bargain price tag of £19.99, this one gets a worthy 7 ½ out of 10 from me – reflected here as three stars.

Ascaron have got a decent pedigree for games of this ilk, but with more emphasis on trading and complexity (Port Royale, Patrician III). This game is a worthy addition to their stables, and although you might move onto something new within a month or so of purchasing it, I bet you’ll come back to it every now and then. I know I have!

This game has been given an age rating of 12 by PEGI (Pan European Game Indicator) for the violent nature of the game. However, I would stress that you never see any physical violence – you only shoot cannonballs and sink ships.

The official website for the game is at www.ascaron.com.