Game review: Tradewinds 2 - iPhone / iPod Touch (From Streatham Guardian)

Game review: Tradewinds 2 - iPhone / iPod Touch

3:35pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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Yo ho ho, a bottle of rum, adventure on the high seas, a pirate’s life for me – at least that’s what I can pretend when I play Tradewinds 2 from Handmark Games.

Tradewinds2 was a popular PC game by Sandlot and now it’s available to play on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Even if you’ve never played Tradewinds before you’ll be familiar with the basic premise of the game if you’ve played any trading games from the internet – the kind where you travel around different locations buying commodities low and trying to sell them high while avoiding occupational hazards such as being attacked or arrested.

Dope Wars was a favourite of mine though I’m not proud that I enjoyed a game about drug dealing.

I don’t suppose being an 18th century pirate can be considered a morally upstanding profession either, but it sure is fun in a computer game!

Tradewinds 2 takes the basic trading concept and puts it into an exotic setting. Travelling around various Caribbean islands you acquire goods such as cotton, timber, cocoa and arms, then sell them on when the price as right.

There is some basic financial management involved in your journey towards being a sea-faring tycoon. You can deposit new-found wealth into a bank to keep it safe, take out a loan if you find yourself a bit short or expand your business empire by buying a bigger ship to carry more cargo.

The aim is obviously to amass the biggest fortune you can – but there is more to Tradewinds than just trading. Getting rich means nothing unless you also become the best pirate who ever sailed the tropical seas.

So there are quests to carry out for island governors, such as delivering people safely to islands, collecting certain items or shopping for requested goods.

You can also prove your pirate credentials by engaging in battle with fellow sea dogs. The fights are very basic – touch the ship you want to target and then watch as you exchange fire. The battle scenes are very limited but it’s still good fun watching weapons you’ve picked up on island stopovers landing some big hits on the enemy vessels.

The graphics in Tradewinds 2 are also basic, but they do their job adequately enough. On the music front, the jaunty calypso-flavoured soundtrack sounds like lift music and wears a bit thin after a while.

The interface and controls are uncomplicated and work well for the type of game this is. It’s mostly touching on-screen commands and buttons to activate different parts of the game.

Tradewinds 2 offers up a clever concept – a light-hearted, casual mix of cannonballs and trading.

It’s perfect for short bursts of play but also good for longer sessions – as most of mine have turned into as I’ve found it hard to put this down once I’ve got started. It’s got a ‘just two more minutes’ addictiveness to it as you want to complete each quest or find somewhere to offload your cargo for a huge profit..

With story and free play modes, along with being able to play as one of several different characters in each game (and being able to create your own character later on), Tradewinds 2 offers both longevity and replay value.

Overall, it’s easy to recommend Tradewinds 2 to fans of trading or tycoon games. Argh me hearties, set sail now on a direct course for the App Store.

Verdict: 8 out of 10

The good:
- Fun mix of tycoon/trading with adventure/strategy
- Light-hearted, casual, pirate-themed game
- Hours of game time in story and free play modes

The bad:
- Slight lack of polish on the graphics and sounds
- No real skill involved in sea battles

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