Tortuga - Two Treasures

Generally, when you hear “pirate” and “computer games,” you see images of games being burned illegally and passed around or downloaded off of shady Web sites. However, the pirate genre has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance as of late, with titles like Sid Meier’s Pirates and Bethesda’s Pirate of the Caribbean making a splash on PCs. Tortuga: Two Treasures from CDV is the latest game entered into the fledgling pirate genre, and based on the preview build, it’s certainly shaping up to be a solid entry. Tortuga gives you a taste of being a pirate on the high seas, allowing you to take over enemy vessels and navigate through the ocean with your very own ship and crew.

In Tortuga: Two Treasures, you begin as Blackbeard’s apprentice, learning the tricks of the piracy trade. However, you are soon double-crossed and left on your own. You assemble a crew and set of to claim a hidden treasure before your former boss can for himself.

Tortuga: Two Treasures doesn’t take a realistic approach to piracy, and instead goes for an easier to get into approach. The game doesn’t feature a lot of simulation elements and focuses on the action aspects, from ship battles to swordfights. The game’s subject matter doesn’t really focus on realism either, and instead deals with zombies and voodoo magic at certain points as well as other enemy pirates and naval officers.

Much of the gameplay feels a lot like Sid Meier’s Pirates. Naval battles are fairly deliberate, relying on strategy and positioning to give you the upper hand in the battle as opposed to all-out fighting. Once you’ve crippled your opponent’s ship, you can then board them and take them on with the edge of your blade. The main way that this aspect differs from Sid Meier’s Pirates is that you have full control of your character while on the opposing ship, and are able to go wherever you please. Once there, you can fight the crew, taking them on one-by-one to gain experience and gold pieces, or just go straight to the captain to fight the final decisive battle.

There are also come really cool stealth and sabotage elements in the game. You can sneak onto enemy ships in the dead of night and light off some kegs to destroy them without a battle at all, which is a nice touch.

Graphically, Tortuga looks really good, with some pretty nice looking character and ship models. However, far and away the lush environments steal the show. The water effects look phenomenal, especially the way that sunlight will gleam off of the surface depending on the waves and the position of the camera. The land details are great, giving the game a very solid overall aesthetic. The sound needs a bit work, however, but mainly on the script. The game features more than a few bizarre sounding translations that probably just won’t sit right with some gamers.

As the pirate revival sails on, Tortuga: Two Treasures is looking to be yet another fun and engaging title in the up and coming genre. Look for it this March.