Plunder Pirates Review

Another week, another Clash of Clans style game, right? That’s what you’re probably thinking when looking at Plunder Pirates, and who could blame you. It does look a lot like yet another one of those kind of games. Fortunately, Rovio Stars has a few tricks up its sleeves, ensuring that Plunder Pirates has more going for it than you’d expect.

Starting out, it’s a lot like any base building game. You have an island with the basic structures already in place, and it’s down to you to develop it and become the greatest pirate out there. Or something like that. This is done through a number of different methods. Developing each building and upgrading them while also placing new things is vital.

As usual, there’s a mixture of resource-focused buildings and defensive placements, but there are also exciting new structures that open up more options. Reasonably early on you can purchase an academy, which unlocks skill trees for your crew and adds to the depth of the game considerably. This is where Plunder Pirates starts seeming like its own game and not just a clone.

While you can attack other players’ islands in the hope of gaining plenty of plunder from them, you can also explore the high seas. This is timer-based so sometimes you have to wait a few minutes to get somewhere, but it’s worth it. Plunder Pirates feels reasonably random in what it throws at you. Sometimes you’ll find hidden treasure, while another time you’ll have to fight it out with a giant octopus. Exploration is where the game is most fun, and it gives you a sense of progression.

There are plenty of achievements and missions to work towards too, unlocking the premium currency that can be used to speed things up. Plunder Pirates leaves it quite open-ended but it’s nice to have a focus, too.

That’s what works so well for Plunder Pirates. While it offers the great skill trees and the ability to explore, it also has great attention to detail that ensures it’s easy to learn while not feeling corralled into a certain direction. It’s also one of the best looking base building games out there, with some rather intricate graphics on offer.

Sure, it might be a little familiar for those used to the genre and its timers do eventually slow things down a little too much, but Plunder Pirates is still a pleasant experience and one of the better titles within the genre. That itch to see what’s over the horizon when adventuring will keep you playing for longer than you’d think.

Video Source: AppSpy