“Age Of Booty”

Capcom’s “Age of Booty” feels like the perfect video game port of a board game.

At the simplest level, the pirate-themed game involves players sailing ships trying to control as many towns as possible. The few extra bells and whistles are very easy to pick up.

The player’s ship trots around a hex-based map fighting against other ships and town defenses. While trying to take over other towns, the player’s towns are close to defenseless which creates a situation where it’s actually difficult to take another team’s town without losing your own.

It’s actually easier to take down a town weakened by other players than wage a brute force-style war — a tactic encouraged in “Age of Booty” but shunned in most other games.

The “curses” dropped by neutral ships add an extra element to the game and are often a deciding factor in victory. Curses let a player steal resources from other players, turn invisible, blow up several spaces on the map and warp other players around the map.

The single-player challenges are well-designed and do an excellent job of preparing a player for competitive online play. The game’s artificial intelligence is ruthless, but feels challenging instead of cheap.

The game also features online and offline multi-player modes — two players can even share a screen on the console version.

Unfortunately, the online mode can be a drag at times. Sometimes it’s impossible to get a game going with random opponents.

Additionally, two mediocre players on a team can easily beat a team of a fantastic player and a clueless player which can be very frustrating.

The overall experience of “Age of Booty,” however, is a positive one. At a mere $10, “Booty” is a cheap way to kill a week or two of gaming time.