Gather 'round me hearties, Age of Booty's accessible approach to a strategy title makes for a playful and addictive addition to thedownloadable library. With intuitive controls and a reasonable difficulty progression, it is only the game's disastrous sound and insubstantial single-player experience that mar the fun.

As a less-than-honorable representative of The Red Hand, players are tasked with guiding their vessel to victory by capturing more cities than enemy forces. The single player experience is divided into three difficulty levels with seven stages in each. Each hexagonally divided map has a varying degree of opposition as well as a new city objective, with all focusing on planting your flag in more cities than the opposition. Collecting resources, taking down merchant ships and of course, battling other pirates for control of territory combine for some fast-paced strategic mayhem. Occasionally the enemy AI can get a little surreal and drive you to madness, especially when your own friendly AI is pretty useless and the single player experience is most fun as you learn the principles of the game. After breezing through the Easy stages players will likely want to just move on to the more exciting multi-player feature.


Movement through the map is easy, with the option to set a course nearly anywhere and advance. Changing your destination is as easy as hitting X making the real-time response to enemy threats a breeze. Resources you collect combine to form Town Upgrades or Ship Upgrades, with the latter being divided between speed, armor or cannon. Resource management becomes critical as players vie not only for the likes of rum and gold but also for special attacks like whirlpools and bombs. While the special attacks must be selected, exchange of fire begins automatically once your ship is adjacent to an occupied hexagon - naval aggression has never been so straightforward.

Of course, capturing towns and merchant vessels really does work best when you can communicate with your pirating comrades, though can play maps both cooperatively and competitively. With a friend or two the matches have a more rapid-fire feel and are much more satisfying than sailing through a single-player victory. In online match-making you have the option to select a fixed set or design a private match adding AI bots as necessary. Beware, though, playing with AI or online with unknown allies can be crippling to your chances for victory.

The map editor, which allows for your own seafaring creations, is a great addition to the simple game elements. The controls remain straightforward in level creation, and finished maps can be shared with friends. Additional DLC has been mentioned, but for those already hooked the map creating should tide you over.


The sound, regrettably, is bilge-sucking and my attempts to get a response to the (PSN only) issue have gone largely unnoticed. Players are left with only hints that it could have been a playful take on some heave-ho style accompaniment as the distorted bass makes your ears bleed. Without exaggeration, you will want to mute. Graphically, the game looks playful with readable maps and amusing character art. Both the irreverent look and strategic approach are very reminiscent of Civilization, a similarity that mostly had me lamenting how little a strategic advantage - or disadvantage - a sinking ship really means. Destroying enemy vessels only affords you, at best, a couple second window for a stronger offensive. Likewise, losing your boat just doesn't pack much of a penalty punch, and you will be back sailing resource-filled waters nearly instantly. On the plus side, the ship animations as you take damage are great.

The single player component will only satisfy the lonely and serve as a tutorial backdrop for the more robust multi-player options. A properly accessible downloadable title, Age of Booty is a joy to hop into with some friends, though with the current sound difficulties and insubstantial single-player not quite worth the $9.99 price tag.