Pirates!

(2K for PSP)
by Mike Delano

A game like Pirates! works on the PSP, on a basic level at least, for the simple fact that it’s easy to pick up and play. You don’t have to invest much time or effort to jump into the game’s world and start plugging away at one of the various activities, from swashbuckling to rudimentary sneaking missions. Even though the PSP is slowly proving that it’s very capable of handling games more immersive and complex than anything ever on a handheld (Daxter, Killzone: Liberation, MGS: Portable Ops), there’ll always be room for games that satiate the quick-fix experience that is the portable medium’s biggest asset.

In that area, Pirates! takes care of business admirably enough. Let’s be clear: None of this is going to blow your socks off. While the overall presentation is solid, your plodding, text-heavy quest and some sketchy gameplay keep it from putting up too much of a fight against your desire to swap it out for another, better adventure game. But for what it does right, it gets a commendable, if not impassioned, “Arr!”
(www.2kgames.com)