Mike and Sally are back for another eventful night of trick or treating although this year is going to be a little different. The two kidsMike and Sally are back for another eventful night of trick or treating although this year is going to be a little different. The two kids have decided to spend the evening at a local Halloween fair unaware a dead pirate has managed to transform the entire place into a ghost pirate party. As the player it’s up to you to help Mike and Sally break the pirate’s curse or life everywhere will never be restored.
Another year, another trek across their town for trick or treating. Hoping to make this an annual event after Virtual Playground’s Halloween: Trick or Treat (2011) this time we get a sequel of sorts called Halloween: The Pirate’s Curse (2012). I have to give some credit to Virtual Playground for not rehashing the exact same game by at least providing a new setting. This time a trip to a Halloween Fair spells trouble when a dead pirate (sorry it’s not LeChuck) decides to transform the entire festivities into a reunion for his crewmates. Why Mike and Sally aren’t affected by these transformations is unclear; they seem to be taking this situation all rather well. I suppose it’s something to do with the fact that pirates aren’t really that scary. Sure if a curse is involved they can cause a ruckus and quite right too if they’re gold is at risk of being stolen but still compared to witches, evil ghosts, vampires etc what’s essentially a Pirates of the Caribbean theme park won’t compare in scares. Well I guess there’s the hidden objecting finding and puzzles. In terms of gameplay it’s exactly the same as Trick or Treat. For every hidden object screen you complete you have to complete a puzzle of some kind whether that’s jigsaws, spot the difference, logic puzzles, matching tiles, etc. Puzzles seem a little tougher to complete this time and ironically some of the worst offenders are the jigsaws. I’m not joking when I say they take forever to complete. I’m guessing that was done on purpose to artificially extend the gameplay time and if I’m correct they succeeded. Everything else is the same as before. You can pursue a high score with ‘trick or treat’ flippers to be found which as usual when stopped either give you a trick or treat. Instead of candy canes to find for points you need to find hidden vampires. As before you also have a hint bar which can be used sparingly. Apart from the ghost pirate theme there isn’t anything else going on here. The game’s villain has placed a curse and we learn next to nothing about him save for seeing the lovely treasure he was hoarding and some very brief cutscenes. The music isn’t too bad and a couple of tracks might stay in memory; it also helps the camp theme music from the original returns. It’s just for an interesting concept the bare minimum seems to have been done with it.
The Pirate’s Curse can’t help but feel disappointing and underdeveloped. Like the first game it seems Virtual Playground have found a theme to base their game around but haven’t done enough with it to make us care about what’s going on. The artificially extended gameplay of having to put together jigsaws made of a hundred pieces also feels like a cheat. It’s basic and repetitive. There are plenty more interesting curses to be stuck with in a game that I am certain of.… Expand
