The game is a pirate themed 2D browser MMO game published by Bigpoint that was released last year, where you can play as a pirate captain who will venture to explore all the seas and oceans in order to face sea monsters, other nasty pirates, and gain treasures and glory. But is as fun as it sounds? Well, check it out!
Being a game browser, Pirate Storm is very accessible, and thanks to the connectivity with Facebook, you can sign up and play with a few clicks. Once inside the game you will be guided with a tutorial which will teach you to get used to the controls and the most important features needed to survive. The controls are very simple, because the entire game can be played with a mouse; click where you want to move, click an enemy to attack him, or click on the ports to dock your ship. You can collect items just by moving your ship next to them, and there is a zoom that lets you zoom in and out to have a better view of the map. Simple but effective.
On the left side of your screen, you have a menu you can find the inventory, the merchant, the auction house, the PvP modes, the game shop and others. The game takes place in different maps where you can find some scattered islands, monsters and other players. The first thing we saw was that the chat was full of life, and we didn't expect this number of players even in the low level maps. Despite being a fairly simple browser game, it has a large community of active fans.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Let's now speak about the game's graphics, and we have to say that here is where the boat begins to sink... The game features very simple 2D graphics, which are not able to shine either ships, monsters or maps; the level of detail is very low and uninspired, with just a couple of sprites for each model. The environments are also quite disappointing. In our play session we managed to explore 3 different areas, which were almost identical, with clonic sea texture patterns and the same islands scattered everywhere. The only thing that changed was the position of the ports and the islands, but its visual style was the same, without deserts, volcanoes, populated islands or something different. Certainly boring.
The sounds are another element that certainly doesn't make the game to stand out. The "music" is basically the constant and repetitive sound of the sea, which maybe someone could find relaxing, but probably a lot more would just find it annoying in the long run. The combat sounds are a mash of low-quality repetitive noises which will be reiterated over and over for every fight, and fights are basically the only thing you can do in this game.
GAME MECHANICS
How I commented before, in the game you basically are going to explore different maps, killing monsters, participate in PvP skirmishes, improve your boat or buy new ones, and trade with other players. The maps are small and very similar, each maps contains three different types of enemies and a port, where you will find the NPC that give you missions, where you can improve your boat, have access to the auction house etc. Actually, you can do all these things even while sailing through the main menu, so the ports do not have a real purpose, rather than decorate.
The game features missions that should help you to break the monotony of simple old school monter grinding, and rewards you with a good amount of experience. We write "should" because the quests are just "go to kill x amount of enemies or monsters" that's all, and there are only 3 types of enemies on each map, so you can get an idea of the repetitive and boring that missions can become.
You can buy new ships or improve those that you already own by equipping them with new cannons or harpoon launchers, and load them with all types of ammunition; sadly, the progression is very simple, and all the players have to follow the same path, that doesn't let you have so much freedom in customizing your ships.
The combat system is pretty dull as well. Click on an enemy and when is in range you'll attack automatically with the ammo you've chosen. The only interesting thing in this system is that you can move, escape, or pursue your enemies while firing. Defeating enemies will give you experience, and occasionally gold or items.
We also tried the PvP of the game, which is very chaotic and where huge groups of ships hunt low-level players without giving them the opportunity to do anything.
CONCLUSION
Pirate Storm is a game that looks and feels way older than it actually is. Graphics, sounds and gameplay are below average, and with a lot of extremely valid browser-based titles around these days, being a browser game is not an excuse anymore. Actually, we can't understand how this game can be so alive when a title such as Kartuga was shut down almost immediately. Anyway, Pirate Storm is still here and still healthy, but we would suggest it only to die-hard pirates fans which don't mind a lot of old school mob grinding and a poor general production.
Pirate Storm seems and feels older than it really is. The graphics, gameplay and sounds are below average, and with the lot of valid browser-based games around these days, being a browser game is not an excuse to be a bad game. The truth is that we do not understand how this game is still alive, when titles such as Kartuga were shut down shortly after being launched. Anyway, Pirate Storm still very alive, but we would suggest it only to die-hard pirates fans which don't mind a lot of old school mob grinding and a poor general production.
RATINGS
- Graphics: 7
- Sounds: 5
- Gameplay: 7
- The good: Lively and active community
- The bad: Low general production value | Extremely repetitive
Overall: 6.5
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