Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates

Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates  is one of the newest releases into the hidden object genre from MagicIndie Softworks.

The game represents an interesting view of the pirates' life and your participation in it.

Robinson Crusoe and the Cursed Pirates takes a decidedly tongue in cheek approach to telling the story of Crusoe.

Crusoe has unwittingly found himself consigned to the same fate as a crew of unfortunate pirates. To lift the curse, he must get a Black Spot item from each pirate, dunk it in some magic goo to make a potion, and force the drink down the throat of the captain who got them all in this mess.

The pirates aren't just going to hand over their cursed items, though. Each one requires Crusoe to first perform some task, then find all of the items on a list. The tasks vary wildly and wonderfully; you might have to solve a puzzle, collect enough fireflies to make it bright enough to see, or figure out a secret knock by feeding rats to an owl.

The hidden object sequences aren't quite your typical shopping list hunt, either. In one level, you have to find all the bits to reassemble a pirate's skeleton before he'll give you the time of day.

Each list has certain items highlighted in blue that will require a little extra work on your part to find. Give a pirate in the graveyard a shovel, then be prepared to catch the anchor she flings across the screen. Hold a cup under a drip in the crypt long enough to get a full glass of water.

After you collect a Black Spot item, you can head back to your camp to test it on Captain Flint's pet parrot who, sadly, got turned into a monkey by the curse. Each dose of the potion changes the poor little guy into something else, and each version is funnier than the last.He's a monkey, he's a pineapple with sticks for arms, he's a tiki idol, he's a coconut! You're given the option to nip back and dose the monkey after finding a Black Spot, but you can save them up and do a bunch at once if you'd rather just keep playing.

You'll never know quite what to expect from one level to the next, but it will almost always put a smile on your face.

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