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.''
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.
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.
Pirates -- and IGN is not referring to the excellent Sid Meier's Pirates series -- is apparently a franchise that Oxygen wants to extend into a multi-sku franchise: later this year Nintendo DS owners will be hitting the charted waters in Pirates on the High Seas, but as an early look at the design the developer produced a WiiWare version set in the game's universe: Pirates and the Key of Dreams. It's not a very good advertisement for things to come, unfortunately. This game is a little light on energy – even the voice actor recorded for the only pirate-themed voice sample seems a little bored – and the design is drawn out to boring levels in the single player. The multiplayer is promising but its flaws are too huge to ignore.
