I was never interested in sailing the seven seas as a wee lad. Nor do I ever find myself wishing to become a pirate. Nope, I’m nothing more than a landlubber with a GamePad in my hands. Luckily, I don’t need to venture too far for pirate themed adventures. Unfortunately, Chests O’ Booty doesn’t provide much piracy for long. While the presentation is a notch above most other Wii U eShop games on the market, it doesn’t provide much in terms of replay value.

COB is a puzzler with a pirate theme. The goal of the game is to match pieces of eight with the corresponding number (1, 5, 50, 100, etc.) to rack up a high score. Think Candy Crush, but with the ability to eliminate any non matching pieces that get in the way. The player can also remove coins that are in the way in order to get an easier match. It’s pretty basic, and the game types match the overall gameplay: There’s casual (endless), timed, and a versus mode. I guess it’s fun to obtain a high score in timed mode, but there are no online leaderboards--it’s all local. Versus mode can be fun with a friend, but only for so long before wanting to move on to something new, and there’s no online multiplayer. Unfortunately, that’s all COB has to offer as of this writing.

Visually speaking, COB looks good, and the pirate/nautical aesthetic is a nicer touch than most eShop titles, although it’s not anything noteworthy. Without much to offer beyond the core puzzle game experience--which gets tired quickly--there’s just not a lot of game here.