Full Review

Avast me hearties! It's another pirate themed game on the iPhone! Fear not you lovers of swashbuckling and buried treasure for this isn't just a simple attempt to cash in on the pirate craze (though I imagine that's what the developers had in mind), this is actually a really well made puzzle action game.

Like the title suggests, you are a pirate gunner, manning the cannons on Captain Red Beard's ship. As you come across other pirate vessels, the navy, and even giant octopuses, it's up to you to make sure the fuses to the cannons are connected to blast your opponents into Davy Jones' locker. The game plays a little like a mix between Pipe Dream and Bejeweled. Tapping on a fuse will rotate it ninety degrees and you need to connect as many cannons as possible via these fuses for maximum damage. Combos are created by new connections dropping in right after a shot, and as you attack your enemy, explosives, shields, and coins will appear over fuses with bonuses attached for incorporating them into your next volley. Once a ship is destroyed, you are graded on your performance and move onto the next act.

The gameplay is punctuated by a story told through text and still frames. While not enticing, it adds a little flavor to the the game. Aside from story mode, there is a puzzle mode, and an arcade mode. Puzzle mode gives you a certain amount of moves to fire a certain amount of cannons, and arcade mode is basically a boss rush mode, where you fight all the game's ships one after another, seeing how long you can last.

The visuals are bright and functional, with good character design. The music is appropriate and adds some tension to the battles, but it's absence in puzzle mode is unfortunate as that section of the game feels a bit hollow. There are twenty acts to the game, and with the other modes, you should be firing cannons long after the story has wrapped itself up.

Pirate Gunner takes the pirate theme and wraps it around a solid game with a lot of content. If action puzzle games are your forte, then this title is definitely worth a couple pieces of eight.

App Store Info