Pirates: The Key of Dreams was originally meant to be released as one of the launch titles in Europe. For whatever reason this failed to happen, so now after about two months it has finally come out and perhaps lost some of its thunder. Interestingly it is a prequel to an upcoming DS game by the name of Pirates: Duels on the High Seas which looks very similar in concept unsurprisingly.
There are just two gameplay modes. You can play through the story mode on your own, or challenge up to three friends in a multiplayer battle mode (sadly with no Wi-Fi options). Let's talk about the single player game first.
The game's story is a bit strange to say the least. Pirates have become increasingly common around the world, so the governor of Port Royal, a famous harbour near Jamaica, sends you out to retrieve the "Key of Dreams". This key is said to make its owner into a battle master and able to easily defeat any enemies. However, as it is in the hands of a pirate, your ship is disguised as a pirate ship to as to infiltrate more easily. As a result all the national fleets in the locations you visit mistake you for real pirates and attack on sight! You can select three ships in single player mode - A big one, a medium-sized one, and a small one. Respectively, they represent easy, medium and hard difficulties. The large ship has the most health and firepower and the others are weaker.
The gameplay involves little more than sailing around and destroying other ships. There is some variety in the enemies like small and weak ships, large and strong ships, boathouses that spawn infinite boats until destroyed, gun towers, bomb boats which explode if they hit you, mine boats which drop floating mines, and some others. You can use your standard cannonball fire to deal with enemies and there are also some special weapons, like rockets, saw blades, flamethrowers and others. Ultimately however, these all perform in exactly the same way, right down to the amount of damage dealt....
Back in the days before the internet, pirating meant so much more than just downloading a few songs. It was a proud tradition of crime, villainy and poor hygiene. Pirates: Key of Dreams attempts to splash a bit of cartoon colour on that way of life and present it anew.
N-Europe reports:
''Early adaptors to Nintendo's WiiWare service will be under no illusion as to what the service is capable of offering with such a small game size. Gamers who have been waiting for a slice of sea-faring naval warfare to appear on the WiiWare service can now finally breathe a sigh of relief as their prayers have been answered. Right? Or is the game destined to walk the plank?
Pirates: The Key of Dreams is the first WiiWare title from Oxygen Studios, and has you take control of a British American vessel under the guise of a pirate ship in the hope of recovering the fabled Key of Dreams from its last known possessors: the Spanish. The reason for the disguise is given at the beginning of the initial level with story laid out through the medium of static artwork and wording along the bottom of the screen. Or if you want, you can skip the whole story playing and just get on with the gaming. In order not to start a full on war between the British and the Spanish, your ship is disguised as a pirate ship so that it may go undetected. To make it more convincing, the game has the other British ships attack you as well as the Spanish ships that later appear in the game.''
Zentendo recently had the chance to sit down and preview Pirates: Duel on the High Seas which is the latest franchise to come out from Oyxgen Studios, with two games already in the franchise: Duel on the High Seas for the DS and Pirates: The Key of Dreams for the WiiWare and with this in mind they were fortunate enough to be offered an interview with David Wilshire, who is in the Development team for both titles.
