The First Thirty Seconds Are Pretty Good...

I'm always saying I wish I could write shorter posts. Well, here's one.

It's a First Impressions piece on a new MMORPG-related game. It would be a much longer post if could play more than thirty seconds at a stretch. 

So far that's all I've managed. 

It's not because the game's difficult. It's not difficult at all. 

It's because it keeps crashing.

It's probably my fault. I'm not playing the game in the way it's intended. 

It's a mobile title, available for Android and iOS. I'm playing it on PC, using Bluestacks. 

It installs normally. It starts up just fine.

Every time I play I get a couple of fights in or I open my bags or I click on a reward and the whole thing freezes.

It's frustrating. It looks like it might be fun. 

From the little I've seen (The first three fights, mostly; the map up to what you could think of as the second screen) the mechanics are simple but satisfying. 

It feels good to play. Just not for long.

Gameplay is simple. It's just as well.

There seem to be absolutely no instructions at all. 

No tutorial, no tool-tips, no cut scenes, no explanatory notes. It just... starts.

The PC controls on Bluestacks work well. Your character follows the mouse pointer as you drag it. 

You click on two buttons (A sword for melee, a pistol for range.) to fight. 

To do everything else, you click on a Backpack icon to open a menu. Rewards, quests, level-ups and so on. 

Clicking stuff there is what caused most of my crashes.

I'd stop clicking there but it's hard to avoid. The fighting is sedate and steady but the rewards you get for doing it are manic. 

Mobile games seem to thrive on hurling rewards and power-ups at you. This one's no exception.

I'm guessing it must either slow down eventually or start costing money but it's only a guess. I can't keep the game going for long enough to find out. 

I think I started it seven or eight times before I gave up. More, probably. 

I tried different virtual machines, different settings. Nothing made any difference.

I suppose I should try it in NOX, just for the sake of science. Hold on a moment... 

Nope. Crashed there after about ten seconds.

Until I can get the thing to run, I think that's all I have to say about it. 

These are my First Impressions: Might be fun if it worked.

Oh, I suppose I should say what it is. It's Pirate101: Plunder Hunt.

Let me know if you get it to run, won't you?