A long time ago in a world filled with pirates, one pirate united all
the various crews under one banner, bringing peace and prosperity.
However, one day a sea monster attacked Seabeard's island home and he
disappeared without a trace. As his descendent you are charged with
replicating his success by rebuilding his island and reuniting the
scattered pirate citizens of your world. Seabeard features an astounding
amount of content and works on the freemium model.
The Good
Seabeard
is reminiscent of games like Animal Crossing and Mickey's Magical
Kingdom. Players are basically in control of an island economy and must
search out items to sell in their shops, specialized characters that can
help them get more items, and complete quests to come on step closer to
their goal to restore the island to its past magnificence. Unlike a lot
of freemium games that use the model to cover up the lack of gameplay,
Seabeard is easily a full-length game that would be at home on the
Nintendo 3DS. There is a ton of customization and content waiting to be
discovered in Seabeard and it's a game that will take weeks to beat.
The Bad
Unfortunately,
a lot of this games charm is ruined by the standard freemium inclusion
of ridiculous timers and premium currency. It's unfortunate because this
game is complex and content rich enough to stand on its own two feet,
and Hand Circus could have easily sold this game at $5-10 dollars a pop
without all the irritating freemium clichs.
The Verdict
Unfortunately,
this is another game that has the potential to show that mobile gaming
can be competitive with handheld systems and consoles that has been
marred by the get rich quick freemium model. If Hand Circus would have
priced it as a premium title in the $10 dollar range, or even just
charged for skins while allowing unfettered access to the game then it
would be a huge contender for best original iOS game of the year.
However, the decision to go with the same old tired freemium model that
blocks players from content at their demand relegates this game to "also
ran".
