Ascaron Entertainment is never one to pass up on a good ole Caribbean tale of adventure. The Port Royal, Tortuga, and Patrician series established Ascaron as the gaming equivalent to Age of Discovery-themed B-movie studio execs. They don`t churn out products at grindhouse levels, but they never shy away from squeezing a sequel or two out of their circa 17th century "World of Tortuga" properties.

The previous Tortugatitles (more specifically the Pirates of the New World and Pirate Hunter iterations) employed trading, fleet maintenance, and international standing as gameplay staples, operating as a more or less faithful hymn to Sid Meier`s 1987 Pirates release. Politics aimed the tip of your sword -- and the business end of your cannons -- just as much as targets of opportunity and pirate booty did. The open-ended Grand Theft Galleon gameplay expectedly earned them some extended playtime. But judging from Two Treasures` pulpy movie-poster veneer and its attractive cast of romance novel cover models, it`s become obvious that Ascaron has set their sights on a slightly distant shore.

Distant, but familiar, nonetheless. Ascaron broke out the telescope and focused on a more personable story this time around. You fill the cuffed boots of Thomas "Hawk" Blythe, a young swashbuckler with a Johnny Depp frame, but with none of the Keith Richards swagger. The dodge-parry-thrust dialogue between Hawk and his long-lost sister (or is she?) evokes more of a Princess Bride sense of timing and humor that keeps the cut scenes a welcome pleasure rather than an arresting bore. On the other side of the doubloon, however, I suspect that the actress playing Hawk`s voodoo-worshipping lady love, Sangua, is earning less work nowadays, since the actress may have been striving for a sultry smoker`s voice, but could only rehearse her lines like an enamored soccer mom. And Hawk`s mentor, the nefarious Edward Teach (that`s Blackbeard to you, deck swabbie), portrays a better Old Saint Nick than he does portray the premier visage of villainy for the Golden Age of Piracy.

This hyper-dissection of the voice acting is only relevant due to Two Treasures` single-handed reliance on cut scenes to propel the storyboard. A few lines of narrative prelude each stage before Hawk is thrust into one of three scenarios: Blow up ships, evade ships, or hack your way through town -- and its sea-legs are notably sturdier than its landlubbin` counterparts.

In the `blow up ships` scenarios, Hawk captains an increasingly impressive line of ships from chapter to chapter, though fleet commanders will be sorely disappointed: Hawk pilots only one ship at a time, and only in a couple instances will a second ship`s AI take the helm to aid in Hawk`s quest. With the inclusion of at-sea sail, hull, and cannon repair kits, Hawk`s enemies don`t stand much of a chance (since you can fix damaged areas on the fly), despite the intimidating odds. The battles escalate from tutorial-sized one on one matches, all the way up to half-a-dozen or more assailants swarming after Hawk`s ship. The sailing vessels range in size from the lowly swoop all the way up to the triple-gun-decked Ship of the Line. Even with the latter`s ghastly size, it still maneuvers like a Honda Civic, pulling a tight turn radius when need be. Ship to ship combat a...