The obligatory month or so behind iOS, it seems, but Assassin's Creed Pirates is now released on Windows Phone too, and thankfully in all-in commercial form rather than 'freemium' livery. Along with the recently released Modern Combat 5, also released this way, maybe the backlash against over-greedy freemium has finally started in earnest? Assassin's Creed Pirates, as the name suggests, sees you adventuring and plundering on the high seas, in search of eventual tropical treasure. It's an Xbox game too, so there are Gamer points up for grabs, if you're still keeping track of these on your Windows Phone?

From the rather minimalist game description in the Store:

Become one of the most feared pirates of the Caribbean in this exclusive Assassin's Creed adventure on smartphones and tablets!
Play as Alonzo Batilla, a young and ambitious captain, a pirate eager to take on the fiercest of enemies…
Break all the rules, challenge empires and make your own fortune!

It's standard modern fare, with an over-arching story funded by in-game currency and gradual improvement to your ship and weapons, moving between map areas as you progress, with mini-games for combat:

Graphically, productions values are high, as you'd expect from a title that's cross-platform and mature....

In-game real time graphics are terrific too, as evidenced here...

Today's adventure around the islands....

Upgrading the various aspects of an owned ship - although there are effectively two in-game numbers to accumulate, no extra real world money needs to change hands, thankfully.

And, indeed, upgrading to a better ship!

Utterly not my thing, I'll pass on reviewing this formally, so if you've grabbed this and fancy reviewing it for AAWP then let drop me a line or comment below. You can buy Assassin's Creed Pirates here for £2.99 in the UK Store, or elsewhere for local equivalents.

Freemium was always going to shake out this way, of course. The more outrageous freemium titles would be replaced by a return to commercial buy-up-front games, while the more sensibly pitched freemium titles would succeed and persist. Sanity prevails?