Pirates: Duel on the High Seas

Recently I had the opportunity to preview one of the latest games coming out of Oxygen Studios. This game is one of two in a brand new franchise called Pirates, both will be released very shortly, one of the Nintendo DS and the other will exclusively be available via the WiiWare system. Pirates: Duel on the High Seas is the DS game that I managed to get my hands on, and it’s shaping up incredibly well.

The aim of the game is for the player, as a pirate, to fend of the British Navy, other vessels and monsters in the effort to find treasure and save the Captain and crew from a nasty curse that’s been set upon them. This top down action game for the most part takes place on water and the player controls the pirate-ship and not the characters themselves. This is done with a unique control scheme in which the shoulder buttons (the L and R buttons) on the DS are used to move forward and backward, whilst the D-pad is used to turn the boat in circles. This may sound a little more complex than just pushing right or up on the D-Pad but in fact; this control scheme is incredibly easy to use.

Naturally there are enemies between the Pirates and the Loot, but for a DS game there is a vast amount of enemies. These range from other vessels, such as the top of the British Navy, to various other monsters from a little see monster, to the Kraken and then there are fire-breathing sea dragons to consider! Not to mention other famous Pirates as well! With this in mind, it’s important to select the difficulty correctly, yes, there’s no “one size fits all” with Duel on the High Seas. The player can choose between various difficulties, and depending on the setting depends on what sort of boat the player will get.

Duel on the High Seas also utilises the touch screen technology well, and not just in a gimmicky way either. The top screen is where most of the action takes place, and the 3D models are all there with good graphics, whilst the bottom screen is used as a “map” and the player can see where they’re going and where they have been. It also allows the player to select which area of the ship they want to give a boost.

This selection can come in very helpful as when the player is battling against a strong enemy, sometimes the standard attacks of a cannon or some form of rocket just isn’t strong enough! With the option to boost the range of the weaponry it can aid the player in destroying the enemies that stand in their path. There are four “boosts” and they are a navigator who will extend your map, a navigator who will improve the speed of the ship, a shipwright who will quicken repairs and a master gunner which will better the range of the weapons.

In between the in-game scenes there is some truly brilliant artwork as well. This artwork isn’t animated per-say but the screens do change, which is similar to forms of early animation and will remind many of comic strips, personally they remind me of old silent movies. That aside, the graphics on these story development areas are stunning and the artwork is very unique.

The main game session’s graphics aren’t of the same standard as the cut-scenes, but they are still of a good quality and do not hinder the game in any way.

Multiplayer fans will be glad to know that Duel on the High Seas will come with a multiplayer mode, which will be online and against your friends on the full build. The preview version didn’t have this quite working yet, but with 35 multiplayer modes, this is sure to be a great multiplayer game.

Pirates: Duel on the High Seas will be out in the UK on the DS in the 22nd of August, and will be available at all good retail stores and the WiiWare version of this game is already out! Be sure to check out our interview with the developers as well.