Astraware Tradewinds 2 Review

Astraware Tradewinds 2 Review

Astraware's Sudoku has long been a mainstay of my essential application list, if not one of the top three. I've always enjoyed the other Astraware puzzlers too, such as Super Slyder and Bejewelled. Having only briefly played the first Tradewinds I was dubious that a trading game of this type could be successfully ported from the PC to its diminutive sibling. There are two questions that really need answering here: Have Sandlot Games and Astraware got what it takes to successfully move into the RPG arena; and can I get through the whole review without resorting to a string of weak Pirate gags? Hoist the main sail, break out the rum and we'll find out!
Thanks to Alison at Astraware for providing us with a review copy.
For Information and trial downloads visit the Astraware website

Installation

Tradewinds 2 can be played on all Pocket PCs running Windows Mobile 2003 through to the latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional devices. I played it on my HTC Touch running Windows Mobile 6 Professional and had no untoward operating system related issues. The game supports almost all Pocket PC screen resolutions natively, including square 240x240, QVGA and VGA, the latter in both portrait and landscape mode. As with most Astraware games you can download the game directly to your device and install from a cab file or choose the Windows installer option via Activesync on your PC. I chose the former option and the installation went swimmingly to my SD card.

Gameplay

Ahoy me land lubbing hearties! Tradewinds 2 is, as its name suggests, a trading game. It's based in the Caribbean in the early 18th Century, an era of Heroes and Pirates (no, not the software type. You'll not find a Keygen or Hacktool in these wares!). At the start of the game you can select one of two modes, Story and Free Trade. Both modes are fairly self-explanatory. You either play within the confines of a reasonably flexible story or just sail around and make as much cash as possible. I found the Free Trade mode a little pointless to be honest but the Story mode is good fun.

Next you have to select your character. You can be one of 5 motley looking Buccaneers, or create your own character with the simple "Pirate Generator". It doesn't make any difference in the game which character you choose, but sailing the 7 seas with fictional scoundrels like Captain Jack Sparrow or even Captain James T Kirk can be amusing! With your skipper chosen you receive your first ship. This is fairly weak, but most ports have shipyards where you can upgrade your ammunition or buy a better vessel.

Now you're ready to sail, the real objectives of the game come to light. The game revolves around increasing your treasure, and to make your money you have three opportunities. Firstly each town has a market where you buy goods and sell for profit in other ports. There are 5 different commodities to trade in, increasing to 9 later in the game, as extra ports become available. Buy low, sell high is the key, and you soon realise which towns value which products. The second money spinning option is to carry out tasks for the Governor of each port, issued at the Governors mansion. These involve moving specific people, items or cargoes from one port to another for cash. The final opportunity of swashbuckling income comes in the form of the spoils of war, or the salvage rewards from defeating other Pirates. From these three tasks come three micro games; ship to ship warfare; buying and selling, and the standard stroll around talking to NPCs (Non-player characters) to find required items. All are relatively enjoyable if a little easy.

Graphics & Sound

From an aesthetic perspective, Tradewinds 2 ticks all the boxes. Graphically everything is well drawn and animated, if perhaps a little too small for QVGA screen. The porting process from the PC isn't without certain issues. On a couple of occasions the text is a little difficult to read and the navigation screen can be tricky to select ports. There is a facility to use the d-pad here, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

The audio is pretty good over headphones with each port having its own signature ditty and there are some atmospheric tunes for battle and trading sequences. Again though, you can hear the difference in the game being designed for the PC as the Pocket PC speakers do not handle the bass of the cannon Shots in the battle sequences at all well. My HTC Touch sounded like an angry Sinclair Spectrum as I dispatched Sebastion LaRoche's flotilla to Davey Jones' locker.

Execution

There are a lot of nice touches in Tradewinds 2. The banter in the local drinking establishments is amusing, lines like 'no I won't pull your finger' when chatting with the bar staff can be "laugh out loud" funny. There are a lot of varied tasks to perform, all well written and again, with a good sense of humour. Unfortunately I found the story outlasted the dialogue which became repetitive towards the end of the game. The battle sequences also become a little samey once you realise that buying and using a certain type of ammunition will make you victorious in all battles. It is nice to have the choice of 4 types of attack, but one is head and shoulders over the others so you just don't use them. The other gripe I have is with the storms. At first they make things a little more interesting, by "blowing you off course" and sending you to the wrong port. Unfortunately I had a couple of times where I got storm after storm after storm, meaning I spent an hour trying to get into one port to do a particular task. I even bought a "storm avoidance voodoo doll" that made no difference at all. I could understand if they were seasonal and you could sit them out in port, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Value

Cost $19.95

20 bucks is a fair price for the Story mode of the game alone in my view. If you enjoy the game enough to carry on playing Free Trade mode afterwards then you start to get a lot of bang for your buck.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Solid gameplay

Decent story.

Good sound.

Nice graphics.

Multi resolution native support.

Amusing dialogue.

At least 14 hours or so gameplay in the main Story.

Cons

Gameplay gets repetitive towards the end.

Selecting Ports to sail to can be awkward.

Storms can be frustrating.

Ports are little samey.

4WM Rating

72%

Conclusion

Despite its faults, Tradewinds 2 is a good game and offers an entertaining 14 hours or so constant play in the Story mode. Once you've beaten the Story mode there's not enough in my opinion to bring you back again. For me personally, I'll be back on Astraware's Sudoku tomorrow. In my opinion the conversion to Windows Mobile is reasonably well done and good enough to merit a purchase if you haven't played the bigger screen version. If you're looking for a game to take on holiday Tradewinds 2 will give you a week’s high seas adventure from your sun lounger…… provided nobody makes you walk the plank! Aaaaargh!