Living the life of a swashbuckling pirate and experiencing all the adventures that go along with that is the goal of Tortuga - Two Treasures, an upcoming game from CDV and developer Ascaron Entertainment. Tortuga puts you in the boots of Thomas "Hawk" Blythe, captain of the pirate vessel Hawkwind and protégé of the infamous Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. Hawk is a cross between Han Solo and a young Jack Sparrow--he's a charming rogue and a ladies' man. He also has a penchant for getting into trouble, as we discovered while playing the opening missions of his upcoming action adventure game.

　　Tortuga lets you adventure around the 18th-century Caribbean as a pirate in search of legendary gold.

　　The game opens with a naval battle: Hawk has to chase down a rogue pirate for Blackbeard. This introduces you to the sailing and naval-battle mechanics of the game. If you don't know much about sailing or ships, you needn't worry, because the action is more arcade than realistic. You also don't have to worry about wind speed and direction, and these wooden sailing vessels haul around faster than modern vessels. The controls are fairly simple. You use the W, A, S, and D keys used for most shooters to control your ship. A and D let you steer port or starboard, respectively, while W raises sails to make your ship move faster, and S lowers sails to slow down. If you're in a battle, you'll maneuver more nimbly if your sails are at about half full. Once you've maneuvered your ship to fire a broadside against the enemy (you'll know because the target vessel will be highlighted by a different-colored crosshair, indicating the quality of the firing solution), simply click on the left mouse button to fire.

　　The key goal in naval combat is to weaken the other ship's hull enough that you knock it out of the fight, which allows you to then approach the vessel and board it. It requires a bit of maneuvering to get your ship to come alongside the other one, but once you do, you'll switch to the deck battle, where you can engage in swordfights against the enemy crew. The controls once again are fairly simple. The W, A, S, and D keys control movement, while the left mouse button is used to swing your sword and the right mouse button readies a block. You can execute special attacks by holding down a directional key while swinging, so holding down on the S key while hitting the left mouse button will make Hawk do a kick to knock his opponent off his feet. To win a deck battle, you simply must defeat the enemy captain in a duel.

　　After this initial battle, Blackbeard will meet up with you, and he's not quite what you'd expect. Rather than a fearsome character, he's almost fatherly in a way, and he sends Hawk off to continue his plan to recover the lost gold of the famous pirate Henry Morgan. Hawk must then commandeer a small English merchant vessel and use it to sneak into the English harbor of Kingston, also known as Port Royal. Thankfully, just such a vessel happens to come into view over the horizon at this point, and another battle erupts where you must capture the vessel.

　　Swordfighting is an integral part of the game, whether it's in town or on board a ship.

　　Once you capture the vessel, you'll discover that it's in tatters from the battle. You can't just sail into port that way, because it would draw attention. So next you've got to repair the ship. Thankfully, you can recover various pieces of cargo floating in the water simply by sailing over them. You can pick up gold and, more importantly, hull and sail kits, which are sort of like health packs for your ship. By using these, you can repair all damage to your vessel. You can also rescue sailors who were thrown overboard during battle, but you've got to hurry before they're devoured by the sharks circling around the battle.

　　Once you have the English merchant under control and repaired, you can sail into Kingston harbor and look around. Part of Blackbeard's plan is to draw the governor away from the city on a wild-goose chase. Hawk must sneak into the governor's mansion and get caught on purpose, so the English can discover the fake treasure map he's carrying and sail off in search of the treasure. To do so, however, means climbing over a heavily guarded wall, so Hawk heads off to the tavern to find out what he can about the guard's patrol schedule.

　　The game is full of cutscenes that move the plot forward, so it doesn't seem like you'll need to deal with conversation trees that you'd find in most adventure or role-playing games. That makes it easy to find out what to do next. For instance, as soon as Hawk approaches the tavern, a cutscene kicks in and a deal is made where a lovelorn Englishman will give Hawk the clues to enter the mansion if Hawk can bring back a lock of hair from the governor's lovely daughter.

　　After a swordfight or two, Hawk gains entrance to the mansion. Another cutscene kicks in where he gets caught and meets the governor's spirited daughter, and the two exchange some playful banter. According to plan, Hawk gets caught, is thrown into jail, and watches the English sail off in pursuit of the gold. A few days later Hawk slowly realizes that he has been double-crossed and that Blackbeard had no intentions of rescuing him.

　　It wouldn't be a pirate game without at least one lovely governor's daughter.

　　Thankfully, being something of a charming rogue works in Hawk's favor. A certain governor's daughter busts him out, and he has to fight his way to a skiff in the harbor to escape. This involves plenty of swordfighting with various guards and their officers, and you can really get involved in mass combat because Hawk can face five or six opponents at a time. Thankfully, Hawk can recover healing potions from some of the defeated foes, as well as other power-ups, such as a pistol.

　　Once in the skiff, you've got to escape the harbor and all the patrol boats in it. This is not an easy task, but at least the skiff is equipped with mines, which can be dropped behind you to explode upon impact with any pursuers. After you're free of the harbor, you'll sail next to Tortuga, where you must infiltrate the port and find out what's going on. That's harder than it sounds, though, as the waters outside the port are full of patrolling pirate vessels. This opens up another mission where you must sneak through the patrol lines.

　　If the opening missions of Tortuga are any indication, the game should pack plenty of action and adventure for pirate fans. The characters thus far are charming and likable, and the story seems like it can go in plenty of directions. Who was Hawk's father and what's the deal with his strange family heirloom? Will he woo the governor's daughter, or end up with the sultry female pirate captain? We'll hopefully find out all the answers when the game ships in March.