Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates (pc: 2005): Reviews

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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.

Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates


9.5

based on 10 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 34 votes
Read user comments
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Official Website

Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is an online game in which you play a Pirate character in an ocean world. Hundreds of your fellow player Pirates swarm these Isles and Sea-lanes. For Pirates who love acronyms, Puzzle Pirates is an massively multi-player online roleplaying game, or mmoarrrrpg. Pirates can wander around on land and sail the thirty-seven seas with their crew. When your Pirate sails, or swordfights, or navigates, the appropriate Puzzle game is launched. Good Puzzling thereby brings victories and accrues great fortunes to you and your fellow Pirates. Thus Yohoho! brings you Puzzling fun in a social Piratical setting, where every Puzzle game contributes to the greater story of your Pirate, her Crew, and the Ocean world. [Three Rings]

PUBLISHER:	Three Rings Design, Inc. / Ubisoft
DEVELOPER:	Three Rings Design, Inc.
GENRE(S):	Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, Puzzle
PLAYERS:	Thousands
ESRB RATING:	T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE:	May 5, 2005

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Worth Playing

Puzzle Pirates takes several well-established internet games, mixes in some excellent new ideas, and ties them all together with a friendly, simple theme that's interesting, fun, and certainly inoffensive.

GameZone

The puzzle variety is large enough to keep you from getting bored, and with room for your character to expand you’ll be surprised at how much you actually play.

IGN

The puzzles are very interesting and there is a form of leveling, albeit abstract. A pretty deep player economy is built in as well. The entire game is well put together, even if the graphics and sounds aren't of Galaxies caliber.

Warcry

The graphics were an absolute delight, blatantly cartoon-y and so bright and colorful that my first sight of the game always made me smile.

GameSpot

For big-time puzzle fans who like the idea of competitive and cooperative puzzling online, Puzzle Pirates may be just what you're looking for.

1UP

Stands out in a sea of competitors not because of an enormous budget, years of hype or an expensive movie license, but because it's simply unique and fun.

PC Gamer

Adds a chatty, entertaining social angle to the addictive stable of PopCap-type games that otherwise lead to loneliness, depression, and suicide instead of glory on the lawless oceans. [Aug 2005, p.76]

Computer Games Magazine

While it's true that none of the individual puzzles glue you to the screen like the latest quest in "Star Wars Galaxies" or "Guild Wars" might, it's still frighteningly easy to sink several hours into this ocean before realizing it. [Oct 2005, p.82]

Cheat Code Central

The atmosphere more than makes up for any shortcomings in the visual department. Communication with other players is easy and the sense of community is quite refreshing.

Boomtown

It may not be the worlds greatest game but it still brings a lot of funny perspectives into the world of massive multiplayer online games.

The average user rating for this game is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Aypp Player gave it a4:
P.P. offers the single player a variety of entertaining puzzles in an integrated environment providing a fun entrypoiint for a bunch of tetris- or bejeweled-like games. The real appeal of the game however is -- or, used to be -- the infinite possibilities offered by interaction with other players, both socially and in the synergistic cooperation of puzzles to achieve larger goals. As initially conceived and implemented, the route to "success" -- fame and fortune -- in the game was for new players to join with a crew of other players and work together on piratical "pillages" and adventures, where cooperative puzzling would power the pirate ship and defeat the enemy. Plenty of other more isolated puzzles existed as well -- puzzles contributing to the economy, competitions with a few other players in "swordfighting", and even just parlor games (like hearts) -- but for most players, the route to wealth and success was to interact cooperatively or competitively with other players. The result was a dynamic social environment -- one marked more by cooperation and mentoring than by (as in so many MMORPGs) destructive competition -- and this social environment both "drove" much of the game (as much of the economy and many of the game features require such a society to make them truly effective and enjoyable) and provided continual change, challenge and interest. All this ended 3 years ago when P.P. introduced poker as one of the "parlor" games. A seemingly minor addition, poker essentially destroyed the coopeative pirating community and -- in doing so -- undermined the majority of the interaction and behavior that much of the game required. Though the old functionality remains, the dynamic "society" it requires to work has been destroyed. The reason for such a change is surprisingly simple and ought to have been anticipated. While other activities provided their "good players" comparable rewards - and, for most playrs, the cooperative "pillaging" was the steady source of income and rewards (thus creating the social & supportive cooperative society, where skill and teamwork were rewarded), poker offered its "winners" a pirate income rate of literally hundreds or even thousands more than they could make in other venues. Of course, very few players actually win that much on poker -- for every one player who wins 1000, ten have to lose 100. But the 'promise' of get-rich-quick for a minimal outlay of time, resources, or any participation in the cooperative pirate society means that the "engine" of rewards and interaction which made the game so effective and enjoyable was destroyed. In the months after poker was introduced, the effects were marked. New players ceased to have any interest in joining crews or the cooperative society, instead simply trying to find ways to exploit the system or cheat other players in order to get their "buy in" money to gamble away at the poker tables. The level of skill, competence and interest in coopeative pirate pillages and adventures dropped markedly -- as did, consequently, the enjoyability and profitability of those ventures. The "crew" and "flag" social life - the human element which kept the game dynamic and interesting - withered and died. And many long-term players who used to mentor new players (and provide the leadership and expertise which made many game opportunities even possible for those new players), in the face of this gambling obsession and the huge rewards being given to otherwise unskilled and non-teamwork players, either withdrew from active involvement or quit the game altogether. P.P. today is a very different game. Little of the dynamic "teamwork" society remains, and new players will be hardpressed to find skilled crews interested in recruiting or helping new players or providing them with good teamwork experiences. Nearly all the "rich" players now (and thus those who have the resources to lead larger group adventures) are exclusively pokerplayers, and most new players wind up simply drifting about the world using it as a glorified chatroom and putting in what minimal and unskilled effort they can to grab a little bit of game money to gamble away on the poker tables in the vain hope of "getting ahead" themselves. In short, today's YPP remains an entertaining collection of "solo" games if one is looking for a platform for various fun and creative little puzzles to do in isolation -- but because of the destruction of its cooperative and dynamic society at the altar of gambling, it has lost nearly all the unique appeal and dynamism which once made it far more than that. For those who are looking for a true multiplayer experience (as well as for those looking for a poker site or interactive chatroom), there are far better options out there, and P.P. no longer offers anything unique or dynamic for such players. A game which used to deserve a 10, it now falls well short of that mark -- not because the a"infrastructure" has changed (in fact, there have been clever new additions in the last 3 years), but because the "rewards" system which creates and sustains the society required for that infrastructure to be profitably & enjoyable used has been destroyed.

Lucy K. gave it a10:
I love the game! I'm totaly addicted!

Nick C. gave it a10:
There's no such thing as Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates! It's the best free (if you play free) internet game, EVER! I would like to see a game replace it. It's even better than lots of "real console" games. You really get hooked and you can waste all day playin' it. You can always get better so the value/durability (not sure how to say it, but I hope you understand) is at max. Graphic is a little childish, but in a good way. There's no really music in the game, but how much music kan be added to such a game? I just use Media Player to fill the need of music. Everyone can play it. Sayin' no more 'bout that. The only bad thing is that you'll spend thoundsands of hours on this game (if you really get into it).

Tuukka Juvonen gave it a10:
Puzzle Pirates is a ''MMOarrrRPG''. The idea of the game is not to ''Pwn the 5 level goblin to get the level up'', but the game is built on a world of puzzles. There's a puzzle or two for anyone: Are you more interested in fine art shipwrightery or do you enjoy a fast-paced swordfight? Every mate start as a greenie (not a n00b like in other games) , trying duty puzzles like carprentry (repairing the vessel). After a quick ''tutorial'', ye can take a job on a vessel and go pillaging with up to 158 other mates! The athmosphere on pillages is absolutely fantastic because of chatting and funny pirate language. I enjoy much more of a pillage than a gangfight in games like Runescape, where you die and 30 guys come repeat ''n00b'' next to you. The one of the wondurous achievements of Three Rings Inc. is the player-run economy. Thou the commodities come from NPPs (Non-player pirates), all the stalles and shoppes are owned by players. All the basics are right, you have ie. about 10 chat channels, in-game report system for bugs and players, a button for asking help from the ''Oceanmasters'' and so on. And when ye can subscribe or buy doubloons, ye don't neccasarily need any real money to play, there's great updates all the time, and ye can make friends easily, why don't ye start playing? Thou Puzzle Pirates isn't gifted with enormous budget or a huge develoment team (but they have a exprienced one), it's new ideas, great gameplay system, sociality and a nifty community make it the best MMOarrrRPG ever.

Sandy H. gave it a10:
I play this game and it is great.I love the whole idea of a player based econmy.And to take over isles and govern them. New isles open every month.

Sinn gave it a10:
I'm not really into the whole MMO gaming scene but I love this game!

Ron M. gave it a10:
Great collection of puzzle games! Gfx are fantastic.