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Ever since Sid Meier released Pirates! way back in 1987, the pirate game has more or less existed in its own little sub genre that included a mix of trading, sea-based combat, and some other swashbuckling-related antics thrown in to round out the package. For many, the mix is irresistible. The modern remake of Sid Meier’s Pirates! helped to bring a new generation of gamers into the fold, but the addictive Port Royale series certainly helped too. Tortuga: Two Treasures comes from the same folks as Port Royale yet delivers a very different and unfortunately less interesting take on the pirate life than its predecessors.

A Pirating We Go

One of the key elements of your typical PC-based pirate game is its open-endedness. They’ll typically have some minimal and generally unimportant stab at a plot about them, leaving you free to become a terror of the seas, a valued protector of your flag, a cunning trader, or some combination of the above. Tortuga takes a different approach, delivering a very strongly story-based game that rarely gives you the opportunity do your own thing.

Here the tale surrounds a pirate by the name of Thomas “Hawk” Blythe, an associate of Blackbeard and definitely a crook, but of course a charming and honorable one. He’s ordered to help unearth the treasure of Grinning George and, along the way, gets hung out to dry by his closest associates, leaving him with nothing but a little dinghy to find some answers and some revenge. The story is told through voiceovers and in-game dialogue that generally delivers, but there won’t be any awards for great acting delivered to this group of scallywags.

Even though it offers less freedom than them, like those other pirate games Tortuga mixes a variety of gameplay types as you work through that story. The plot events offer opportunity for no shortage of sea-based ship-to-ship combat of course, but you’ll find yourself included in boarding parties as you go onboard enemy vessels to eradicate the last bits of resistance. You’ll also spend a surprising amount of time running around on land dispatching landlubbers with your saber. The different gameplay types help to keep things interesting, but none of them are terribly fun to play.

Jack Sparrow of All Trades, Master and Commander of None

Ship-to-ship combat is definitely the highlight of the game here, offering the most playable and fun aspect of the title as well as the best looking. The controls are easy; you use the familiar WASD combination to make your ship turn left or right, or to accelerate or slow down. These of course have nothing to do with any aspect of real-life sailboat navigation, so those looking for realism should look elsewhere.

As you sail from place to place you will encounter enemy ships of a variety of types, sometimes one sometimes many. As you do they will often change course and come attack you, leaving you to return fire or try to flee. Unlike most other pirate titles there’s no loading or jump into a small sea-based arena as you move from navigation to combat, it all blends seamlessly together, making combat a lot more interesting. However, the strategy here seems somewhat watered down, requiring you to just spiral around enemy ships and fire when you have them broad-side, then pull in close for the kill at the end. Difficulty is definitely low.

Graphics quality at sea is high, though, particularly when the sun is low on the horizon and colors fill the sky and reflect off of the sea. The game sports transparent water, which not only looks nice but enables you to spot reefs and other underwater trouble spots that threaten to damage your hull. That water is awfully flat, though. Ships look generally good and offer some nice damage effects like torn sales and flaming masts as they suffer the effects of your fire. 

On land things aren’t nearly as nice to behold. Characters look a little too simple and their animations are awfully stiff. Towns feature ugly textures and low details, resulting in some rather murky environments. Combine that with some drab on-land combat and an irritating camera and you’ll be dreading the times when you head in to port. As you progress through the game you as Hawk will learn special attacks, but for the most part you’ll just be click-click-clicking away at the left mouse button to make him hack and slash through whoever happens to be standing around. Despite some attempt at jazzing things up with bonuses for combo-kills and the like, swordplay is as repetitive as it gets and, even when you’re swarmed by dozens of opponents, you’ll rarely find it to offer much challenge.
 
Too Scripted

Since the game’s storyline and restricted gameplay keeps you from ever just branching off and doing your own thing, what you’re left with here is basically a sub-par pirate-themed adventure game that offers some fun sea-based combat and some boring sword-to-sword stuff. Graphics too are a mixed bag, so it’s hard to imagine just who would really have fun with this one. Perhaps a pirate-fan with low expectations, matey.

Article by: Tim Stevens
Video produced by: Matt Keil