Fruit Pirate (3D)

WaveCade's Fruit Pirate caught my eye today as being a game with a high Market review score and yet being a game that I figured I'd tire of quickly. You're a pirate... you slice fruit... how long can the fun last? The answer is surprisingly long.

Fruit Pirate builds on WaveCade's successful library of Android games and is a nice addition to my collection. Simply enough... you're a pirate... although aside from the text expressions used (plenty of 'arrrrrs') I'm not sure how I'd know that. You also have a sword and apparently someone throws fruit up in the air and it's your job to slice and dice it. After you slice it you then try and slice it again for even more points. Yes, this is a nice, quick arcade game that will be over in a minute or two. The game features three modes of play: Express, Unlimited, and Relaxed and each has three difficulty levels. In Express mode you get 25 throws to get as many points as possible. In Unlimited mode you play until you have to 'walk the plank' allowing you to play forevfer if you're that good. And in Relaxed mode you play for a minute and there are no skulls to worry about so you can just slice away. Skulls? Why yes... along with fruit skulls and bonus coins fly through the air. Slice a skull and lose 'life points' (the heart in the upper right of the screen shot starts to shrink)... slice a coin and get its bonus such as points or a temporary slowdown of the game to make for easier and more accurate slicing. You'll also lose life if you fail to slice the fruit before it falls back to the floor.

Fruit Pirate's graphics are well done although they are a bit on the dark side. The audio is excellent with a nice, peppy musical score to listen to and good sounds for the slicing of the fruit. What really turns what could have been a miserable failure of a game into a resounding success is the controls. Nice, simple slicing. Slicing so good that they even used it on the menu... although I'd have preferred the more traditional push button (as it took me awhile to figure out that I have to slice fruit to choose menu items). The slicing is very accurate and I've never felt like a hit became a miss because of it... even when doing some of my new, fancy zigzag slicing.

The part of the game that will keep you coming back for awhile is the desire to hit the gold rating on each of the three modes. So far my crowning achievement is 'silver' on 'hard' for the Express mode of play. And the game is not easy with having to avoid the skulls.

At $1.99 this game is well worth your time and money. I see it as the kind of game you'll play incessantly for a couple of days and then now and again after that. It's also casual and cute enough that I'd guess the kids and/or significant other would enjoy it too. 5/5 stars.