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Playmobil Pirates ReviewFormat: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Developer: Gameloft

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

The latest franchise to be given the iOS treatment by the good folks at Gameloft is the Playmobil Pirates toy line. Gameloft thus far have a pretty solid track record of releasing good family fun games and all signs point towards that trend continuing with there Playmobil Pirates release. Based on the popular toy line. Playmobile Pirates has all the makings of a very solid swashbuckling adventure, but the big question is of course is the game actually any good?

From a presentational point of view Playmobil Pirates hits it right out of the park. Make no mistake about it this game is pure eye candy. It looks great. It manages to capture the look of the Playmobil Pirates toy line wonderfully. I think the best way to describe it is to compare it to the Lego series of video games, but dare I say it that when on a latest generation iPad screen this looks even better ! What I love is the way the whole island feels alive. Pirates will wander around and interact with various things from animals to the scenery.

Clearly this is a game that is aimed at kids, but that does not mean that it is lacking in the content department. Quit the opposite as a mater of fact. Playmobil Pirates is a game that is stacked and is sure to keep kids (and big kids) busy for a very long time.

The basic “story” of the game is that you need to build a gang of pirates to take on the nasty Blackbeard who does lose a little of his intimidation factor when he is in Playmobil form. The way that you will do this is by turning a bunch of islands into your very own pirate haven. Playmobil Pirates has a fun and easy to get to grips with building engine. That will have you feeling like a pirate town planner in no time.

Where do pirates like to hang out when they are not on the high seas? The tavern of course and your island will have a very nice pirate tavern where you can persuade pirates to join your cause. Of course they will only join you at a price. Once you hire a pirate you will then need to put them to work first of all they will need to work on the land clearing it of any rocks or other junk. Different pirates will have different specialities.

Once you have enough space is where the real fun begins as you will need to start crafting your pirate town. You will need to build houses and workshops. Workshops once they have been built are where you can get your weapons. These weapons are vital because they will speed up tasks like clearing the land. Some jobs can feel like they take forever so you will want to make sure you have built a workshop early on.

There is more to Playmobil Pirates than just town building. You see every once in a while your town will come under threat. Bad guys be it skeletons or other things will row up to your island and try and cause trouble. Well if you have built a good fortress this should not be a problem as you can then use weapons like cannons to fire at the enemies. What is cool here is the way that you can see the path that the bad guys will take before they get there so you can set up your attack.

The best part about fighting off invaders is that it opens up a really fun mini game that lets you sail the high seas. You will set sail, but on your way you will need to battle various sea creatures, other pirates or blow up barrels in your way. This is a really fun game mode that you can easily spend as much time in as the full game.

Playmobile Pirates is a great game, but while it is aimed at kids I think that any under lets say seven may have a tough time playing this on there own as there can be quite a lot of text to read. Still this is a wonderful game and it makes me very excited to see what other plans Gameloft have for the Playmobil license.

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store