Direct Link : Seven Seas
Publisher : Astraware

Price : $14.95

Rating : 6 out of 10

Seven Seas is one of those games that has an extremely simple premise, yet somehow manages to drag you into that one more go feeling. You start the game by selecting one of two levels, either Easy or Hard. You are then presented by a 9 by 9 grid. The grid largely represents an area of the sea. Some squares are used to represent islands and in each corner is a whirl pool, more of these later.

You play the game by selecting an adjacent square to move to. Once you make your move, the other ships on the grid make theirs. If one of the other ships manages to land on your square, one of your three lives is taken away. Lose all three lives and the game is over. If you find yourself with limited movement options and can manage to make it to one of the 4 whirl pools, you will be transported to a random location on the grid.

Of course you do have some aces up your sleeve. The early enemies are a little dense, so it is possible to draw enemy ships onto islands and sometimes onto one of the other enemy ships, thus sinking them and taking them out of the game. You can also decide not to make a move and instead fire your cannons on either side of your ship. The two downsides to that, are that your cannons will only sink ships within 3 squares of your ship and you can only fire upon ships that are to the sides of your ship. Also any of the enemy ships that you do not manage to kill, will move one square closer. If you manage to sink a ship, it is replaced with a skull and cross bones and from that point on, performs in the same way as an island.

Now if this is all beginning to sound familiar, that’s probably because this game is almost identical to a game called Daleks, which was very popular between 10 and 15 years ago. That’s not to say that this game has little going for it. To the contrary, it does play very well. The graphics are a little sparse, but very well done. The music is also very piratesque, but admittedly it does begin to drive you bonkers after a while.

Conclusion : Seven Seas is one of those great games, where you want to kill 5 to 10 minutes. It’s game play is simple to get into, but soon progresses in difficulty. I think the only major downside is the cost. At $14.95, there are many other games that give you lots more gameplay. I managed to buy my copy at a discount last Christmas and for that it makes a great addition to my collection.