Android Game Review: Barrr
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Pirates are hip, hot and happening. The pirate game “Barrr” is bang on trend. Developer Firedroid has created a casual game where you have to serve pirates and keep them happy. What will happen when they’re not happy anymore? Carve your eye out with a hook, so that you too require an eye patch? I’m dying to find out what Firedroid has done with the pirate theme, so let’s get this review started!
Graphics: Scary? No! These pirates are adorable.
When you think of pirates, you probably think of dangerous, dirty looking men with a ton of knives, black teeth, a wooden leg, a parrot, an eye patch and a parrot (not necessarily all in one person). Let that image go. The pirates in Barrr look adorable. In general there are two types of pirates: with an eye patch and a striped shirt, and without an eye patch in a plain shirt. Then there’s the bartender and the female tattoo artist. All graphics are done in a cute, cartoon style.
The entire game is situated in bars. There are four different locations, every few levels a new type of pirate entertainment (gaming, rock star/guitar hero) is added, the new features will keep the pirates entertained, but will make it more difficult for you to make sure that every pirate has something to do and doesn’t grow impatient. These foreground graphics are great, they look cute and I love the cartoon style. Unfortunately, they don’t always blend too well with the background graphics. The background graphics are a bit more simple and not that detailed. It would be great if the developer could add some more detail, so that it’s not so obvious ‘background’. On top of that, the pirates can walk straight to the bar in order to get to the bathroom, that, of course, is not good.
On a further note, I could play the levels full screen, but the opening page was only half screen and the map is phone size. It could be that the game isn’t tablet optimized yet, but it’s something for the developer to fix.
Graphics: 3/5
Sounds: Pirate tunes
“What shall we do with the drunken sailor?” and more piraty tunes can be heard in Barrr. The music in this game is cheery and fun. The background sounds are hilarious, pirates that go “arrr” and “yo-ho-ho”. The music and background sounds of this casual game are funny and definitely contribute to the atmosphere.
Sounds: 5/5
Controls: Wonderful
The controls of Barrr work like a charm. When a pirate comes in, you see what he wants to do by the symbol over his head. This could be one to three things, you can decide in what order the pirate goes about his business. You tap on the pirate and then on the activity, you could tap on only one activity and decide later where he’ll go next, or lay out a plan. Should this plan not work out (because someone else is already getting a tattoo), then you can double tap on the pirate and change his route. When the pirate is done, you’ll see coins, then you’ll have to tap on the pirate and tap on the counter. The controls are easy and intuitive and they respons superb.
Controls: 5/5
Scope: Discover pirate land
Barrr comes with 4 different bars to run. Each bar world consists of 15 different levels. The further you progress the more machinery comes into play. When you start out you’ll have a bar and a tattoo artist, and slowly a rock band/guitar hero, a gaming device, and darts are added. You have to make sure that your pirates are satisfied, that means that they shouldn’t have to wait too long and that they don’t pee their pants (never thought that I would say that about pirates). Whereas the game comes with 60 levels, the levels repeat itself. Granted, the speed goes up every world with more customers and more upgrades to buy, but the basis is the same: the same pirates, similar upgrades and the same equipment. This is a pity, it would be great if every new world would come not only with extra upgrades, but also with extra forms of entertainment. Still, the scope of Barrr is sufficient to keep you entertained for quite a while.
Scope: 3/5
Atmosphere: Arrr! Ye’d better giv’ me a beer.
Serve beer to pirates, give them tattoos and watch them play games and rock out. All the while you have to manage that the pirates are at the right place at the right time (read: that there aren’t any pirates waiting, when they also could be doing something else). The game looks cute, it sounds fun and works really well. Nothing left to wish for? Yes, there is. As with many other games, I’m going to ask for more variation. At a certain point, you’re just repeating yourself, there aren’t any more new features to obtain, the game becomes harder because there are more pirates visiting your bar and you have to upgrade in order for the pirates to be able to drink/play faster. Personally, I would love it if the developer would add one (a couple would be even better) features that are specific for that place (for example, in the jungle bar pirates could be swinging from tree to tree like Tarzan), that would give you something ‘special’ to unlock and would make this Android game more exciting, because right now, it tends to get a bit boring.
Atmosphere: 4/5
Fun Factor: Set sail for Tortuga
Barrr is a cute little game. It looks different and fun, the sounds are hilarious and completely fit the game and the controls are wonderful. The only thing that I wish for is more variation and more additional features specific for each bar. I think that this game is perfect for on-the-go, in the bus/train, and when you have to wait somewhere. The game is large enough to be entertaining for a long time. However, if you play this game for long stretches in a row (like I did, when testing it), it tends to become repetitous. Now the game is perfect for playing a little while and a few levels at a time will go a long way, but more features would be great, because I love this fun game and would like to finish it.
Fun Factor: 3/5
Conclusion:
Barrr is an adorable pirate game. The look and feel are awesome and with a tad more variation and additional features it would stand out more and would be perfect for long-haul gaming. Now, it’s great for in-between and on-the-go. When you like (restaurant) managing games, you could definitely give this one a go. You can download the game for free from our website.
Reviewed by Lara van Waas.