Pirates: Duel on the High Seas is the 2nd game in the Pirates series, this time following a pirate captain trying to get his hands on 7 keys hidden throughout the world after getting handed a map by a dodgy bloke in a pub one evening. The story, that runs along side the 1st title available on WiiWare, involves traveling around the world finding the keys kept by different bosses. It’s not complicated or compelling, but it sets the scene and explains the motive which in this game is enough to keep you playing.

Gameplay is exactly the same as the WiiWare title, except on the DS and its two screens. There isn’t anything new here so don’t expect to be wowed by anything it throws at you which i think is a missed chance. I really would have liked to have seen some kind of connectivity between the Wii and DS on this title as they had the perfect opportunity to make additional content for either game such as more weapons, single player missions or even multiplayer maps. It would have been an incentive to pick up the other copy of the game in a similar way Geometry Wars: Galaxies tried and it worked well.

Presentation is fairly good with the graphics being crisper than the WiiWare version mainly due to the size of the screens being so small but sound is pretty abysmal with bad background music in story sections and no music in the actual levels themselves which make them feel boring and underwhelming. The game feels like it lacks certain polish all over but to not have sound during stages feels like a basic concept that’s been completed ignored.

If the game has a decent selling point it’s definitely the multiplayer. Having both single-card and multi-card play available is great with almost no penalty for not having 4 copies of the game, aside from a minute load time before each match and the inability to do matches in a row, with the game demanding single-card players turn off the machine after each match. The game plays well in multiplayer aside from the issues, with some fierce battles and large maps making it fun, it’s just a shame you can’t have bots like the WiiWare version.

Closing Comments
it’s a real shame but the game is severely lacking in several areas with simple polishes and finishing touches completely missing from the game. It’s like having a house with no furniture or a console with no pads, a great item but incomplete without other components.

Did you buy and enjoy the WiiWare game? Then you will enjoy this. Anyone else probably won’t and as I didn’t advise anyone to spend £7 or 1000 Wii Points on the WiiWare version, it would be wrong of me to recommend this more expensive title with the similar issues. With a few tweaks and changes to how the single player works, some additional connectivity between the two games, multiplayer improvements and possibly online play, this game could have scored a lot higher. As it sits now it’s a more expensive version of a poor game that has already been released but this version is just on the move instead.

Score 5.0

+ Controls are solid
+ Power-ups are good
+ Multiplayer is fun

- Gameplay isn’t as fun as it could be
- No new power ups or weapons
- Lack of innovation, no Wi-fi or connectivity