Pirate Waters, a new action game from Bootant in the style of Crazy Tanks and Crazy Choppers, has hit the app store. Though Crazy Pirates, err….. Pirate Waters is clearly a rehash of the previous land and air-based games, this seaworthy version simply retools the tried-and-true formula for yet another enjoyable offering.

We’ve rolled through land mazes and flown over battlegrounds. Now, we take to the waters, blasting ships and sending their occupants to their watery graves. There are 5 distinct environments in which to engage in 4 different battles for a total of twenty levels. Choose from one of three different ship styles and one of three difficulty levels (Sailor, Captain, or Admiral). While taking out all of the enemy ships to advance, you can also pick up items like bottles and treasure chests, as well as power-ups, which can replenish your health or increase your ammo. There are also sailors bobbing in life preservers who wouldn’t mind getting picked up along the way. Sinking ships and picking up items earns you money. Many levels also contain a dock, where you can use the money you’ve earned to purchase a ship or upgrade cannons, armor, or ship speed.

The game screen contains plenty of information to allow you to plan out your attacks. Besides indicating the level number, amount of booty, and number of pirates in need of vanquishing, you can mute the sound and enter the options menu to adjust auto aiming or accelerometer calibration. There is also a health meter, compass indicator and a mini-map, which shows the location of enemies, power-ups, the dock, and treasures. Despite presenting players with all of these options at their fingertips, the screen never feels crowded. The enemy AI is pretty good, too, as they’ll often attempt to attack you simultaneously from multiple angles.

Graphically, Pirate Waters exhibits the same polish and styling of the previous Bootant action games. The same mechanics are in place, which gives a bit of an unnatural speed to the boats as they move in water, but it’s forgivable. Sounds are good, with background music that complements the theme and fun sound effects when cannon balls are fired or ships are sunk. Controls are simple. Tilt to move your ship and tap the screen to fire at enemy ships. By default, auto aim is on, locking on enemy ships that get close enough.

Pirate Waters offers fun gameplay and decent replayability. It takes the great aspects of the previous games and improves upon them, adding touches like the mini-map. While not unique in the app store, it’s certainly worth picking up for $0.99. Pirate Waters raises a 5-Dimple flag.

Pirate Waters gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating: