Impressions: Pirates Plund-Arrr

Pirates Plund-Arrr is best summed up as Castle Crashers, but with pirates. On the Wii. For $30.

Unfortunately for Majesco and developer Boomzap, PSN and XBLA have spoiled us with a number of high-quality downloadable beat 'em ups for under $20. By skipping WiiWare and releasing as a retail game, Pirates Plund-Arrr seems a bit too pricey for its genre.

Still, if you've been hankering for a four player co-op brawler on the Wii, Pirates Plund-Arrr delivers the action and humor we've come to expect from the genre. The title alone is representative of the spirit of the game. Boomzap has taken every opportunity to inject pirate lingo and iconography into a colorful, well-animated world.
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The gameplay should be familiar to anyone that's played a sidescrolling beat 'em up before. You can attack, grab and perform a special attack -- and yes, there's a block button (but why would you bother?!). As with other games in the genre, picking up items in the environment is a pivotal strategy. You'll be able to pick up and throw rocks, barrels and bone-in hams and use them as weapons against a deadly assortment of skeletons, zombies, and presumably ninjas. In addition, there will also be "vehicles" to take advantage of, as we saw players take control of a wild boar. At the end of each level, players will be able to see the amount of XP they've earned and apply skill points to various character perks.

There doesn't seem to be much more to say about Pirates Plund-Arrr. It's a solid execution of a much-too-familiar genre. There is a surprising dearth of traditional beat 'em ups on the Wii, and at the very least, this effort looks very good. Still, it's hard to swallow that $30 price point for a game we feel like we've played for ages. Pirates Plund-Arrr will be available this April.