Puzzle Pirates Reviewed

Gamespot has up a review of Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, examining the game now that it has seen commercial launch in stores. From the article: "Massively multiplayer online puzzle game. Those are the only possible terms you can use to properly describe Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, one of the weirdest and most original puzzle games we've come across in quite a while."

Comments

Fun game

[gmhowell]

Fun game. I played for a few months last Fall/Winter while saving up money for a new video card. Looks like there are lots of new puzzles. Might have to reactivate my account. (Especially since my Mac mini is in manufacturing now, and Puzzle Pirates is WAYYYYY better than that slider puzzle game).

Re:Of course it's a dupe

[Psychochild]

I'm probably feeding the AC troll by posting this, but....

See, this is the attitude that keeps the games industry stagnated. I assume you've never even tried Puzzle Pirates with that attitude. What I if I wanted to play puzzle games but interact with other people by role-playing? Popcap doesn't even have a chat room to talk while playing games. WoW doesn't have puzzles, unless you consider "GO KILL FOOZLES TO THE NORTHEAST" to be a puzzle, since you have to find the monster labeled "foozle".

Puzzle Pirates is actually a superb game that combines a lot of different aspects into a unique game. Sure, maybe you don't like it because you can't do headshots or see pixel boobies, but there are a lot of people that do like it. And there's probably a lot more people that would like it if they knew about it.

One of the biggest problems for independent games is one of exposure. Large publishers can buy ads in magazines; hell, they can even buy good reviews (directly or indirectly). A small game created by a self-funded small team doesn't have that luxury. The developers at Three Rings made this game on a shoestring budget, and they rely on people getting the good word out in order to let people know the game.

Of course, there's a bit of irony here. It's funny that Gamespot is just now reviewing a game that has been available for over a year. It took making a deal with a publisher to get boxes into stores for Gamespot to even pay attention to the game. And that's why getting mention on a place like Slashdot games is important for an independent developer; the large sites like Gamespot aren't going to touch you until you've danced with the devil and gotten a publishing deal.

Unfortunately, then there's the "gamers" that are ruining games. They think that unless a game has the latest cutting-edge graphics it's just a "second or third tier game". They forget that games are about fun, and that the graphical presentation should complement the fun instead of subsuming it. A pretty but boring game is still a boring game. A plain but fun game is still a fun game. And, really, aren't games supposed to be fun? Unfortunately, the market keeps buying the pretty but derivative games and then people turn around and wonder why only clones and sequels get made.

Don't like Puzzle Pirates? Fine, go back to pwning n00blers on the prettiest game you can find. But, don't get in the way of other people finding out about a great game.

My rant as an independent game developer.