Age of Booty

If you think about it, hexes and pirates go together quite naturally. In Age of Booty — formerly called Plunder before a trademarking conflict forced the name change — the hexes are spaces on a board and the pirates all have their own ships.

The basic premise of the campaign — actually a series of 21 challenges — is to sail around the maps, sinking enemy vessels and capturing more towns than your opponents do. It’s a realtime strategy game, but one that’s learnable in seconds and couldn’t be easier to control (all you really need is the A button). By vanquishing villages and collecting floating boxes of random resources, you’ll earn points in three categories, stockpiling them until you have enough to upgrade your ship’s speed, armor, or cannons. Of course, your foes are doing the same, so it’s important to sink the neutral merchant ships, which drop random power-ups like bombs, whirlpools, and other handy items that can turn the tide in your favor. The strategy comes into play when deciding when and where to attack, as well as what to upgrade. Each scenario takes between five and 20 minutes to complete, and it’s incredibly easy to get hooked — think “Catan for the rest of us.”

While the solo game can be finished in a few hours, Booty’s multiplayer modes ooze longevity. The party system, matchmaking, playlists, easy mix-and-match support for local, LAN, and Live play, and clean menu interface all feel right out of Halo 3 — probably because developer Certain Affinity is made up of former Bungie-ites. It couldn’t be simpler to find your friends and hop together from game to game, and the four-on- four gameplay itself is a treat. The options are virtually limitless: you’re even free to add in A.I. ships to fill out matches, play humans vs. A.I., and so on.

On top of everything, the included map editor defines the term user-friendly. You’ll even automatically download a friend’s map when you connect with him. And the promise of regular, free downloadable content also enhances Booty’s online appeal. Our only complaint stems from the friendly A.I. — they often make questionable choices and don’t do what you want. We suppose you could argue that they’re simply acting like a real pirate would, but in the context of a videogame, it sure would be nice to have a simple orders menu with choices like “Stay with me” or “Go freelance.” This single gaffe, however, definitely shouldn’t stop you from happily walking Age of Booty’s plank.