A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an app game that had been soft soft launched in Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands. Called Seabeard.. The game is made my London based company Hand Circus and published by Backflip (the one I know best from Dragon Vale, one of the first AppGames I tried and loved). Last week the game has been released worldwide, so a chance for other avid gamers to get to know it.
How best to describe the game? It’s a freemium game that combines restoring a derelict island that used to be the safe haven of your pirate fore bare Captain Seabeard and it of course involves a lot of hard work on your part, trying to make money and running errands, fishing, learning how to make building materials or and other things using recipes. It’s been done before of course, but what is very nice this time is the way it looks and feels. It’s a great game visually, looks very good in a playdoh style. Your own island isn’t the only one, your ship is your most trusty companion, taking you to all kinds of islands in the archipelago trying to find chores to do, materials to gather and friends to meet. And to get from island to island you play mini games that involve shooting targets, racing others boats and such.The game gives you a lot of good things. You can put messages on message boards for your GameCube friends, and when you build a swap shop, you can actually trade things with them. The mini games add some fun (and can be frustrating too) and the characters you meet are quirky and have funny dialogue. The game has the same day and night cycle as your everyday life has, which is nice. Though it can be kinda depressing when you have no other option then to play it at night after work: always a gloomy nighttime sky! But, there are lots of things to do, and never a dull moment, and there’s good synchronization between your various devices, so your work-breaks can be used to make quick delivery.
Last time I reported some issues with the game that needed to be addressed. And I’m glad to see upon re-visiting the game, that these have been ironed out. The link to the GameCenter works fine, you can visit your friends islands and leave messages for them. The mini games to sail from island to island were much too difficult at time, so much so that I always took the option to skip them. Problem was that you sometimes needed to do them to win crucial materials. The difficulty levels have been adjusted, so no more problem there. I complained about the game having a slow start, due to a shortage of inventory space, and upgrading the inventory being way too expensive. They have adjusted the coins needed to get ahead in the game, and they’ve added the possibility to earn pearls through daily quests and mini games. Upgrading the inventory is still very expensive 150 pearls to upgrade it from 25 to 30 items. That amount of pearls will be hard won in the game, you would have to pay real money if you want it quicker. You have to play a really long time to be able to afford anything to progress, because items you can sell, like fish and strawberries or apples, don’t sell for a lot of money. So I still think the ratio between your earnings and the costs in this game is not good.
But I must say the developers have listened to most of the ideas their audience had. They’ve added themes (always nice to have the Yuletide option this time of year) and aside from your island, you can even restyle your buildings. They’ve added postcard machines on several islands, to enable you to make a pic of your virtual self and share it on the social sites. Overall: I still think this game could be here to stay and it’s certainly worth a try. If you are looking for more in-depth info about the game and tips on how to progress, find it here http://mojo-farm.com/forum/index.php?topic=6130.0
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