Let it Spin

This is how it will be done. Gametap has a feature called "Gotta Getta Game," which is basically a randomization wheel for all 954 games in the library. I will hit the wheel once, and only once, and will play the game it lands on to the extent of what I need to give it a fair shake.

Here we go, spin NUMBER 1!

ANNNND I get a game that is COMING SOON..... <<....

SPIN NUMBER 1 TAKE TWO!

Age of Sail 2: Privateer's Bounty
Seems to be a knock off of Sid Meyer's Pirates! Well, time to download. 246 MB. What I can see right now, is that it has a user rating of 4.6. Oh right, yeah. Gametap has a user rating for each game, where any and all users can rate a game from 1 to 10. Lets see how true these scores are during this experiment, shall we? I will rate each and every game afterwards, to see if it is true or not.

So the game gets done downloading and I enter only to be greeted by a list of around 15 options of things to do. Wanting to get in quick and see what's up in this game, I go with the quite explanatory, "Start Battle." I pick what seems to be the first "skirmish" on the list, and thusly, the easiest. Once in, I quickly realize what kind of game this is. It's one of those very slow, very anal, plodding types of games. I am in command of three American ships as they chase after a British ship. I can control each ship and its current destination, but its all very cumbersome, as I can't easily tell them where to go or turn them to the right direction. Also, while each ship is selected, I can see their cannon range (which is like thousands of miles long and wide apparently). So, very very slowly, I start to chase after the boats. So I wait. And I wait. And I wait. What felt like at least half an hour, I FINALLY get into gun range of the dirty Brit (just kiddin, I love you guys) and start firing away. This is when I realize I do have control of manual steering, with the weird compass rose around the ship. This helps loads to keep the poor Brit in my sights. I slowly realize my other two ships are just aimlessly wandering away from the fight, so I set them straight to the action. Soon, I have all three ships annihilating my enemies hull. In due time, the white flag is flying, and in compassion, my ships stop firing... that is until I try to find out what to DO with a surrendering ship and accidentally resume the attack, sinking the boat and killing all aboard. OH, and it was here when I found the SPEED bar at the bottom of the screen, wherein I could've sped up the battle at ANY point up to super speed. Oy vey.

Suffice to say, the game isn't really BAD, per sey. It's just... boring. There wasn't all that much to it. I imagine the "campaign mode" would have more meat to it, but all I found was the same old thing, just now set to a story. Not really all to compelling. Members of Gametap give this game a 4.5. I say it deserves at least a 5. It's one of those games your aunt gives you when you are ten cause she knows you like video games, but doesn't actually give you a good game, just a passable one.

And with that, I have now finished one game out of, well oh me oh my, during my time in there, 4 more games were added to the list. Making it 1 down, 958 left.