Game review: Plunderland - iPhone / iPod Touch

But over time they have become the stuff of legends.

They are now seen as lovable rogues with hearts of gold or jolly treasure-seeking swashbucklers living an exciting life on the high seas.

This makes them perfect characters for video games – cue Plunderland for iPhone and iPod Touch which is now seeking its riches in the App Store.

Plunderland can be summed up as a 2D side-scrolling action adventure involving sailing a pirate ship from one end of levels to the other, collecting gold along the way.

But it becomes more than the sum of its parts thanks to its charming art style and highly appealing gameplay which draws in elements of other popular iPhone/iPod games such as Angry Birds and Pocket God.

Sailing the ship is achieved by using the devices’ tilt controls. Tilt right to go forwards and left to go backwards, which is especially handy when coming under attack from enemies.

Speaking of enemies, you’ll come across plenty of them along the way, including naval ships and sea monsters.

These can be dispatched using your ship’s cannons. To fire, simply touch your ship and adjust the aiming arc which comes up to show the trajectory of your shot. Then take your finger off the screen to shoot.

During the curse of some levels there are structures which block your path, and these must be destroyed using some puzzle-solving nous.

Also, you’ll regularly sail up to islands populated by angry natives who have an aversion to pirates.

Islanders can be blasted with cannonballs but there are other ways to deal with them which are more fun, if slightly sadistic. For example, they can be drowned in the sea, smashed into the ground or set on fire.

Aside from making it to the end intact, the objective on each level is to grab as much loot as possible.

Defeated ships, destroyed structures and enemies shaken up and down all drop booty which can be picked up. There are also treasure chests to discover.

The purpose of obtaining swag – aside from showing you to be a top pillager and plunderer – is to be able to upgrade your ship with equipment and weapons. Your can also buy new vessels.

Upgrading is rather too slow and it takes quite a lot of repeating previously completed levels to earn enough gold for the better items, which are required to progress through the game’s three campaigns and survival mode featuring 20 or so stages.

The game definitely has a decent amount of content to start off with but I feel the upgrading will need to be sped up and repetition of levels reduced to keep players interested long-term. Hopefully new characters, items and campaigns will be added in future updates.

There are a few other small problems with the game.

Firing cannons accurately is a bit fiddly, particularly during frantic battles, while picking people and objects up is a little cumbersome sometimes.

The camera zooming in and out is a little disorientating on occasions.

Although Plunderland is very simple to play, the instructions and hints given can be too brief.

These issues are minor and are vastly outweighed by the fun to be had playing this game.

Another of Plunderland’s main strengths is how it looks. The art style is distinctive and bursting with personality. It kind of reminds me of the South Park cartoon in that it’s very simplistic but also cute in that dark and slightly unnerving sort of way.

I wouldn’t usually recommend one game any more strongly than others simply because of who’s made it but I’m prepared to make an exception in Plunderland’s case.

It has a great back story having been designed by the two-man developer team of JohnnyTwoShoes, which is just a pair of brothers working in east London.

It’s clearly been a labour of love with a lot of effort and care put into it. It makes me feel this game deserves success more than if it had been conceived by a big-name company. I love a good indie success story.

Overall, Plunderland is a very enjoyable game, surprisingly varied and interactive with a lot of likeable features.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 – Pirates were probably overjoyed discovering buried treasure and you can get that same warm feeling picking this game up for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Watch a trailer for Plunderland: