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Good for some strange reason...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am not sure why I like this game as much as I do. I started playing this game before it was reviewed in any magazines, and I remember thinking to myself "this is not that good a game, but I like it a lot anyway... kinda makes me feel dumb...". Then of course all the reviews came out and they all seemed to agree that they liked this game. Kind of a strange situation. I am not sure why, but this game is good!

The game is a pretty straightforward remake of the original game. The gameplay for the most parts is almost identical. A ship battle here, a dance there, and a bit of fencing added for good measure (among other things). One could call it a collection of mini-games. However, they are deeper than one would think. Ships are upgraded over time. This adds unexpected abilities to the ship battles without making them hard. There are long-running quests (including the ultimate goal of finding lost family members) which keep you playing.

I think what ultimately makes this game so addictive is the mixture of short-term goals and their imediate rewards, and the overall quests.

Long story short: This game is repetitive and simple, but a lot of fun!

Variety is the spice of pirating..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

[played on Xbox]
I was immediately hooked on this game by the great graphics and sound. My wife had to put up with my "Yarrs!" and "Avasts!" for several days while I took my first run through the quests.
Then I retired him and started again, and it wasn't quite so much fun any more. The lack of variety in the towns, sword fights, dancing, taverns, etc. gets very wearing.

The ship to ship battles and attacks on towns are still fun enough to bring me back from time to time, but not for any extended play.

Some comments for the programmers:
- It can't be that expensive to hire voice talent in English, Spanish, Dutch and French. The nonsense language used in the game is stupid and annoying ("Joo bahn?" indeed..)
- Why no head-to-head swordfighting?

Remake - Not A Sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: January 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I had Pirates! Gold installed on my system and tweaked it to keep it running until Windows XP made things just a little too difficult, and I had to let it fall by the wayside. Pirates are one of my hobbies, so I was overjoyed to hear that there was an update in the works for this game. I have already logged many hours on the game with the following impressions:

Plus:
- very easy to get started (if you played the prior versions you should have no problem coming up to speed on the mechanics of play)
- graphics are great (this is one of the bigger elements of the update IMO)
- land combat system overhaul (the new turn based mechanics and units appeal to my wargamer side)
- better fencing sequences
- more depth of play (a few new features like escort missions, top 10 pirates list, dancing with the governor's daughter, special items and special crew)

Minus:
- some of the animation sequences do tend to get a little boring after the Nth viewing
- limited to the Caribbean (hint, hint, it would be great to have campaigns that add the Indian Ocean and Gold Coast for the full 'pirate round')
- historical accuracy (yes, I know playability comes first, but I had to mention this, Henry Morgan and Edward Teach [aka Blackbeard] were not contemporaries, among other tidbits)
- dancing is hard, I usually beat a hasty retreat (I imagine that I could learn the steps to a dance, assuming that there are actually scripted dances, over time, but it would help to post a little notice on the screen as to the `name' of the dance.

Bottom line, I do find myself with a low level addiction to the game, much like Civilization. I may not play it for days on end, but it will continue to call me back over the next several years for a few hours here and there.
P-)

Long awaited disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The original Pirates, played on my Commodore 64 is one of my top 3 games of all times. When I heard they were releasing a modern version Pirates I couldn't wait. When I finally loaded up the game, it was exactly as I remembered, with state of the art graphics. That is the first problem. The game play is almost identical to that 15 years ago! I still love the open ended game, but there is no option to customize your character, other than the name. NeverWinter Nights is my favorite game exactly because I can build MY character. No two characters ever can be the same.

One new feature of the game (at least I don't remember it) is dancing. You have to learn the dances and hit the keypad in time with the music. Without mastering dancing, you can not cultivate a romance with the governor's daughter. I've read on line, then becoming involved with a governor's daughter opens you up to new quests.

I think the game could have been improved if you gained experience point for gaining that could be applied to skill sets like sailing, fencing or dancing!

The game is fun to play, but it is very repetitive, and it's frustrating to know I can never reach the higher levels (unless I memorize the dance steps to each of the dances (I believe there are 6)). My advice, wait until the game comes down in price or buy it used.

Quality issues...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: December 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was really excited to get this game. I bought the special edition DVD. After the very lengthy install, I have had no end of problems.
1) Copy protection keeps tripping on an original disk
they have some sort of 3rd party copy protection that seems to have compatibiliy issues. Be ware.

2) When the Copy protection does work, it takes 5 min...
Start the game, go to the bathroom (don't forget to wash your hands), go pop some popcorn... Then the game starts...

3) Graphics glitches...
I could not play the game 10 min strait without the graphics going all wonky. This is on a very fast system, new video card, with fresh drivers.

It seems that Atari should have spent more time on a playable game instead of worrying about copying it...

An excellent game and immaculate remake of a classic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: November 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ah.... Sid Meier's Pirates! is a breath of fresh air in the redundant and slighlty lackluster genre that is strategy games. But this year has seen new innovations as developers try new things. Games such as R:tw, warhammer dow, and battle for middle earth attempt to set standards in this stagnant genre.

One thing that one must first understand is that this game is indeed a strategy game, not a roleplaying game or business simulation game. The game places you as young captain seeking to recover the family that was taking from him by a ruthless warlord. While in your adventure you'll participate in enjoyable sea battles where wind, the ability of your crew, your choice of ammunition, and your type of ship play a major factor in whether you obtain victory. There are tactical land battles where tactics such as flanking and cover play a pivotal role. Sword fights where countering your enemies moves are the key to victory, and the new aspect of sneaking into towns, which is similiar, oddly enough, to pac man except that you can scale walls and knock out guards. The sneaking is tedious, but then again, it is meant to be.

You can even try to woo governers daughters by dancing with them at balls. If you happen mess up and constantly make mistakes in this little game, you miss oppurtunity to gain valuable knowledge and certain helpful tools that benefit you on your adventures.

There are aslo small missions like escorting other ships, taking someone somewhere, finding treasure maps, or finding clues to locate your familys whereabouts. Every game starts off differently, so no game ends up being the same. Your actions also play major factor in how the world revolves around you; sink a merchant fleet heading to a town and the town wil suffer, sink a fleet caring soldiers and the town will go without suffient soldiers for awhile. You must also be ready to pay your men when the tie comes, otherwise a majority of them will abruptly and you'll be left with a skeleton crew.

The graphics and animations are beautiful. As you sail your ship you'll see ripples in the water, and watch as your sails readjust to the wind. Charcter animations are fluid, funny, and extremely well done. Hits on enemy ships send barrels and men (who can be rescued and added to your crew) falling into the sea.

In the end, this is game is nothing short of excellent. Yes it can get redundant at times, but since there are soooooo many things to do, you should never get bored anytime soon. You can be a pirate or trader its up to you. It is similiar to the original pirates! but surpasses it in almost every aspect to create an excellent and engaging game. Many expect this game to provide numerous new features to the original games concept, but what they must realize is that this is simply a remake, and a damn good one.

Repetitious , and seriously lacking content

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I did just about everything there was to do in this game after about 2 hours of playing it. While it's boasted to be a free-ranged adventure, i often think that the game basically boils down to doing 6 things; sailing, ship battles, land battles, walking, dancing, and sword fights. Each of which is a pretty lackluster experience as well. The entire game has a "cheap" feel to it, as if the designers just gave up on every area before it was finished.

The dancing and the sword fight scenes are mildly interesting at first, but they become mind bogglingly boring and quickly. Repetitious. What's even more frustrating is that these are one of the main features of the game, and they get old after you do each three or four times. If these were just minor mini-games in a broad range of interactive gaming, then they could get away with it; as it is they feel like the semester project for a college game programer, extremely simple and lacking anything resembling depth.

The most entertaining part of the game is the ship to ship battles, even though they are fairly pointless. It's actually much more convienent most of the time to just ram your opponent and initiate a swordfight, as your ship takes a minimal amount of damage, and swordfights are fairly easy once you get the hang of them. If you win the swordfight then the enemy's ship is won as well.

The game boasts 20 or so ships, however a good many of them are completely worthless. In fact, the game basically only gives you three ships that you would actually want to use, 10 or so of them are merchant ships and have no use at all in battle, they're only useful as having in your fleet to carry cargo. For your flagship you're basically limited to:

Royal Sloop
Fast, manuverable, moderate firepower

Brig of War
Moderate speed, manuverable, heavy firepower

Large Frigate (or Ship of the Line if you're extremely lucky to find one)
Fast, not very manuverable, intense firepower

Every other ship the game offers is just a downgraded version of the previous three with less crew capacity, or a ship that has such a blaring weakness that it makes it useless. The only reason you'd use any other ship than those three is if you just started the game out, or you lost your ship in battle. It's also worth mentioning that the three main ships are all basically the same ship, just different advantages and disadvantages. You can destroy a royal galleon with either of the three fairly easy, it just depends on your preference in style.

The game gives you the option to act as a trader, buying low and selling high at different points, but this as well is fairly pointless as there's much more money to be made by just attacking other ships, as you dont have to worry about cargo space, and added crew for additional merchant ships to carry all the goods. Plus it's much more fun to attack ships, and most single ships will net as much cash as any good trade run will.

All in all, i find it's an almost embarrasingly sparse game. I can not believe that i actually paid $49.99 for it, this really does seem like it should be on the $10 new titles shelf with all those other cheaply made games. Frankly, it just dosnt give you hardly any enjoyment for your money.

Might be good but how to tell

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Pirates! may or may not be a good game. I'm unable to tell because the game does not run for more than 2 minutes (literally not figuratively) without crashing and exiting to Windows. Fixes suggested by Atari make no difference. It has been noted that a patch is in development for the bugs which exist at this time but, be warned, the patch has no due date and the game may be simply unplayable on your system without it.

Remember when PC games where fun, and emphasized gameplay over graphics and story?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Pirates!, is what you could call a remake, of a very old game, called Pirates, which was released about 16 years ago. I remember that game very well, but I can't say I had as much fun with it, as I'm having with this version.

I know I stressed "remember when graphics weren't all that mattered" but in order to do a complete review, I need to go over this area. The graphics here are bright, vibrant, and work well. Not exaclty a game to push your new gaming rig on, but still worth looking at. Everything is rendered well, and the character models, have a kinda cartoony look to them, that fits the bill.

Pirates! is alot like an old school title, you would find on a DOS PC back in the 486 era of gaming. Where it becomes different from it's DOS original title, is that it takes advantage of technology, without being overwhelmed by it. The core gameplay revolves around doing different tasks. One reviewer said they are like "Mini-games", and that person was pretty much on the money. Lets take a look at what you do.

It's a pirate game, so of course you sail around the seas. You also...and this is another obvious point, pirate ships, sink ships, and of course, sword-fight with enemy captians. These are all givens with the genre.

Now comes other bits, that are interesting. A minor, but still quirky stealth system, for sneaking in at night, to the utterly bizzare ballroom dancing, which plays alot like Dance Dance Revolution, and even parts where you can raid towns and pillage, done in a strange hybrid RTS style.

Aside from this, you can do the other obvious things, like trade, talk in taverns, and collect info/gold/ships and even get married.

It all sounds fantastic right? Well avast ye matey, it isn't. See, when you start playing, you'll love the game. Your first battles at sea, sword fights...and if you like that sort of thing, ballroom dance. You will very much enjoy this game. It is within the time span of 3-6 hours later, that will decide if you really like the game or not because...

...you do these same things over and over. As I said earlier, this title feels like a rehash of the same play mechanics of ancient, yet fun to play DOS titles. It works...but like any old school title, how long can you play before, you feel the urge to game somthing a bit more...deep?

Me, I can manage, but I can't just play this game all day long. It does get old. My point is, that if you play it for a few hours, stop, and then come back later, you'll really enjoy the game. If you play non-stop like my brother did, you'll beat the game in a matter of hours, and then be bored stiff with the game.

It also doesn't help that the difficulty is so low. Even on the max setting, it's not very challenging.

Another burn is, that while you do all these exciting things, the interface for doing them, is a bit odd for some peoples tastes. I play on a laptop, so I use my mouse, but the game can be controlled via the numeretical keypad, and in doing so, you will pace the actions in half the "mini-games" I spoke of earlier. Sword fights, dancing, even ship battles, are simply about timing. So, it almost feels like a Rythm based game at times.

The only time this game will challenge you extreamly, is when your near the peak age, where you are supposed to retire. The older you get, the harder the game gets...so it does eventually get challenging, but it won't be enough for some. It also seem to lack certain things people wanted. For one, in the begining of the game, you need to pick an allience. Me, I wanted to be a dead set pirate, swearing allegieance to no one, but the sea. The game will not allow this. It is worth noting though, that communities of mod makers and such, are attempting to add a ton of features to this game, in the form of a "patch".

Still, all in all, this game is an 8 out 10, or on Amazon, a 4 out of 5. Great game, just a tad flawed, and bit of a letdown in terms of challenge and replay. If nothing else, it will remind gamers of what games were like, back on the old 486 pcs, and if you liked the original Pirates!, then you have no reason not to buy this game.

One of the best remakes in years, and a worthy addition to most gamers libraries.

Repetative

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: March 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It's a great "pirate" game, and if all you want is to feel like a pirate for an hour, I'd highly recommend it. The plot is weak and not worth playing through as the game becomes mind-numbingly repetative and boring. After a week of off-and-on game play, I still hadn't finished the storyline but had become so bored with the game that I just stopped playing.

You can do two things. Attack ships and go to ports.

Attacking ships is fun but can get old quick. The ships can be upgraded at the ports and you can capture or sink enemy ships. Biggest draw back is that the sea battles are either 1on1 or 1on2, you can't battle with more than one ship, even if your opponent can. The ship controls are really good though and the graphics engine is decent.

At the ports you can speak to the governor. This is where you get promotions (changes a couple of the rating systems in your favour), talk to the governor's daughter (stupid side-plot: you can either buy her jewelery or dance with her [her choice, not yours] and if she's made happy, she devulges info that you can get elsewhere.
You can go to the port and upgrade, repair, or sell your ships.
You can go to the merchant and trade goods.
You can also go to the tavern. At the tavern, you have 4 people you can talk to: The "group" which will semi-randomly have a number of pirates join your fleet, a "mysterious stranger" who sits in the back and sells stuff (This is where you can upgrade your skills), a bartender who'll devulge information, and a wench that will devulge information.

The only remaining aspect of the game is fighting. There are a few different times when you can fight: over a girl (wench or gov's daughter) for a randsom (talk to the bartender when at the specified port) or with a ships captain upon boarding an engaged ship (just run into it). This is extremely repetative. You have 3 attacks and 3 blocks and a choice of, you guessed it, 3 swords (only one sword on easy).

The game is fun at first but becomes really repetative. After a while of gameplay, your crew becomes cranky and all want to leave. Eventually, you'll be forced to go to a port and "divide the booty". You get some money in your "personal hoard" (only used for score, not for in-game), start over with a small amount of cash, food, and cannons, and only have 1 ship left. I had the 2 best ships in the game: Flag Galleon (Slow, but powerful and large storage) and Flag Sloop (Fast with smaller storage and cannon space) and had to give one up. I gave up the Sloop and never found another again. (There are different levels of ships: Flag, Royal, Military, Fast, and Norrmal)

It would make a great multiplayer game, but as is, worth a try but not a buy.

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