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Swashbuckling Adventure

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Sid Meier's Pirates is a fun game, especially if you are at all interested in naval history, or the history of piracy. Not completely factual in content; however, the game succeeds at putting you in the time period and making it come alive with the excellent graphics and easy to learn game play.

As you begin your piratical career, you'll choose a nationality, and a time period when you want to burn, take and pillage along the Caribbean waters and ports. The game quickly places you in the action, and you'll start with a fairly pathetic ship and a drunken, mutinous crew to fight her with. From these humble origins, you'll begin your quest for frame, riches and the liberation of your kidnapped sister.

The concept is simple, you get cash to upgrade and purchase your pirate fleet, and you steal ships and cargo and treasure to get cash- well, gold bullion at least. In the many port-cities you'll experience sword fighting, wooing of governor's daughters, and intelligence from the locals about the shipping near by. Some times you'll receive special missions, or find out where to look for your sister next. After some time and experience, you'll become a wanted man by one or many of the nations in the area, and sneaking into town or capturing a town will become your only options.

As the player you can focus on one area and becoming a local potentate, or you can focus on finding your sister, or finding buried treasure and defeating rival pirates. So the game play does offer a number of options. I enjoyed capturing a great ship, refitting and upgrading until i could destroy my enemies without boarding, and then capturing a few merchant ships to finance my repairs and pay my crew. Other people will create large fleets of pirate ships- it is really up to you. Each city and each interaction- especially the sword fighting, eventually become repetitive, and this is my biggest critique. You'll probably play the game for a few weeks, or maybe a month, and then stop for a while. Don't worry; the game will be waiting for you again when your piratical nature begins to reassert itself.

(*****) Great Graphics
(*****) Great Sound
(****) Good Interface
(**) OK Story
(****) Good re-play value
(****) Good Game Overall

A classic returns

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: June 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is diffently in the love it or hate it catigory (Like ANY good game).

It's basicly the classic pirates games with two new mini-games sneaking in and out of towns and dancing. The latter is almost impossible without the patch which both makes it eaiser and makes the difficulty adjust with your own difficulty level.

The main features missing from this game is being able to attack a town from sea, this was my favorite method in 'Pirates! Gold!' shell a town till they had a small force then attack.

The duels are now a step above those from past games with two more defence options, taunting and from what I've seen five seperate ways duels happen along with the finall fight I image. These fights are taken to a new level with the inclusion of gear you can take. Such as pistols (Dispite what others say they do work, they give you a one step (single pistol) or two step (brasier of pistols) advantage. That means you start off the duel that much closer to winning as the object is to force your oponet to the other side of the field.

You can also get shirts to increase your speed swords that deal more damage and swing faster (damage here shifts the advantage bar when it's in your favor the other guy slows down alot), also armor that soaks up damage.

The mission to find your family has become the main quest of the game, you now must track down the man that took your family and get revenge to save them all.

Ships can be upgraded to sail faster, turn quicker, fire more accurately and from longer range, take out crew and sails. Hold more crew an take more damage.

Other items let you last more storms, see more ships, get cute girls sooner, and find more hidden towns among other things.

Personally I think it's one of the best games around, a little repetitive but what game isn't?

My desert island video game...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Like many, I grew up on Pirates!, both the PC and the Nintendo versions. The boys have done an excellent job of fleshing out the original, and most of the new wrinkles (lesser settlements, different missions, dancing) work. You'll pick up as if you never left. I've already wasted an entire week playing this one.

Re: the oft-mentioned bug: You need to put Disc 2, not Disc 1 in your machine, and start the program from the desktop icon, not the autorun menu. I'm surprised there isn't a bug fix on the website either-- hence the one star I had to deduct.

Better than before

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I heard Meir was rereleasing PIRATES! for a new generation of gamers, I was ecstatic. I spent many a weekend pass from military school playing the original PIRATES! on my buddy's Commodore 64 while listening to the Doors and sobering up from a night of Yukon Jack. That trip down memory lane aside, the new game is better than before.

First, the graphics are gorgeous and modifiable. Gone are blotchy graphics of the original (and even of PIRATES!Gold). In are well drawn characters (have y'all noticed how the attractive daughter seems to resemble Renee' Zewelleger?) and beatiful back-drops.

Second, the challenge is greater than before. It got to the point in the original that it was too easy to become a King's Advisor. Not in this one. Garrisons are larger for towns. Gone is the ability to attack from sea. Swordfights are not as predictable as they were in days of old. Promotions come fast, land comes slow. Crews get unhappier faster.

Drawbacks are the Swashbuckler level is insanely difficult compared to the original. Swordfight graphics get repetitive after a while. The dancing/couting of the govenor's daughter is a bit much.

Overall, I recommend it to everyone.

Great graphics, great gameplay, great fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you're looking for a fun adventure sailing around the Caribbean, definitely give Pirates! a try. The graphics are great, the music fits in well, and we really enjoy the gameplay.

Anyone familiar with classic stories about the Pirates of the Caribbean will quickly understand the gameplay. You are the captain of a pirate ship, and sail around the various islands in the Caribbean, attacking whoever you choose. You get plunder from the conquered ships, build up your fame and manpower, and trade goods from island to island.

You get to do ship-sailing tasks such as making sure you circle your ship to aim its side (i.e. the bank of cannons) at the enemy. You can send landing parties to explore islands, and land in the various towns. You can hang out in the tavern, gathering rumors and new crew. You can chat with the governor and maybe his attractive daughter. You can refit your ship and trade with the merchant.

As you go, you can build up to better and better ships, and even be captain of an entire fleet. The politics come and go, and you might be friends with some countries that later become your enemies. There are mini-games galore. You can board a ship and get into a hand-to-hand duel. You can dance with the women at the ball. If you're tossed into prison, you can sneak your way out again.

The graphics are really rather nice, with the bright blues, greens and sandy shores of the tropical caribbean area. The rolling of the waves, the sailing of the ships, and the bright sunshine really help you get a feel of this beautiful part of the world.

The music is great, too. If your crew is happy, they sing traditional sea tunes as they sail along. The combat music, sailing music, tavern music, all of it helps you feel like you're back in the days of swords and tight pants.

Some say that the backgrounds are repetitive, but I really didn't find this to be the case. How different is the deck of a ship going to look, if you're having a swordfight in it? The decks they show are incredibly detailed, with wooden barrels, gridded windows and carved woodwork. With the main focus of a fight being the fight, I have no need for 8 thousand backgrounds to fight against.

You get promotions from the various countries, which upgrade your look. You really get a sense of progress as you build your fame and become a power to be reckoned with.

I enjoy this game a great deal, and highly recommend it!

Mix of excellent and infuriating

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game that should have wide appeal, but it was released with a series of serious technical glitches that in some cases make it nearly impossible to play.

Let me dispense with the unpleasantries first. I got the game, and it crashed minutes into running it the first time. Fired it up again, same thing happened. Reloaded, no difference. Frustrated, I went to the web site and got a double whammy. First, there is no tech help. What they do is almost a direct insult - they provide a forum where players who experienced glitches can talk to each other and find solutions on their own. How good of them! It was there that I found that a great number of people had the same problems, frequent, consistent crashes (along with other problems too). Fortunately, these gaming guys had tried all sorts of solutions and I found one that ultimately allowed me to play the game - set all the graphic settings, resolution, etc, as HIGH as they will go. Since this can stall certain graphic-intense portions of the game to a crawl, I worked back setting them lower until the crashes started again. There are still problems with some of the animations, and my character often looks like the disembodied, skeletal pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean, but at least I can actually play the game. I'm sure the inevitable patch will fix these problems up nicely.

My beef with this is the game was obviously rushed out for the Christmas season. Okay, I can understand the reasoning to a degree - sure, the company wants to make money at the biggest buying spree of the year. But really, that strategy would only seem to be crucial if a small house was trying to put a new game based on a new concept and realized the whole shelf life of the game was 3 months. C'mon - Pirates! is the long-awaited update of one of the most beloved, popular games ever, designed by the most revered name in the business. I suspect it was going to be a hit whenever they released it.

Other than that, once you can actually play the game, its great and as addicting as the original. The overall theme strikes the perfect amount of cartoonish violence: here's enough mayhem to keep everyone interested, without it being too nasty. There's the satisfaction of capturing better armed ships and building your career over time. The story is open-ended and free form, you really can do whatever you want on the Spanish Main, becoming a nationalist, cold blooded terror, smuggler, sacker of cities, or rescuer. The interface is amazingly simple and generally intuitive, and within seconds you can master the mechanics of sailing in the Caribbean. But its nice that shoals, contrary winds, hurricanes and the variety of sails all make it challenging enough to keep your interest. The addition of gaining artifacts that help in various aspects of your career (dueling, romancing, bargaining, etc.) is nice and ads some depth to the game. It also feels like you are much more involved in the politics of the region by aiding or capturing traveling governors, invasion forces, and payrolls. Although you go through the same basic elements again and again, the game is set up so that there is that "just one more thing" feel that leaves you realizing you've played until 3 in the morning on a work day.

One minor aside, it does seem that this is simply an update of the classic game from the late `80s -- although the graphics are much improved, the basic procedures are almost unchanged. Could technology push the envelope more? I mean, Civilization III is a vastly different world from Civilization. Couldn't we have fleets attack each other? Better coordination from cities under the same flag? Combat is improved, but maybe it could bring in more real-time combat?

How can you review something before it comes out???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 29 / 142
Date: September 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It amazes me that people actually review something before it actually gets released (and there's no beta or demo version out either).

Yes, we all know the original Pirates was one of the most highly addicting/best games of all time. If this game is half as fun as the original it will be a huge success. However...all you have to do is look at some other "remake" games to realize sometimes this doesn't happen...developers "monkey" too much with the game play and it ruins the game (e.g. Master of Orion III). Wait until the game is released (or you've atleast played a demo or beta version before you rate something--otherwise it's just useless conjecture...)

Best open-ended strategy/sim ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 56
Date: July 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This may be a little premature, since this game won't be released until Nov. 14th, 2004. All speculation aside, I can't begin to calculate the number of hours I spent playing 'Pirates!' on the NES and its sequel, 'Pirates! Gold,' on the Sega Genesis. It was simply one of the most engrossing games I have ever played, and upon hearing of a new Pirates! for 2004, I think I actually started salivating. This is great news for all fans of this seminal game. If you've never played either title, rectify this terrible oversight in your gaming experience immediately. I think you'll be joining me and thousands of rabid fans in counting down the days until Nov. 14th! What made this game great was its open-ended gameplay. Go anywhere, anytime in "real-time" accompanied by great "Bounding Main" music (which I hope they incorporate in this newest incarnation). Your charcter ages, and that's about as linear as it got. Get rich/(in)famous/powerful before you get old and die. Kind of like real life. A Pirate's life, anyway! ARRRRHHH, MATEY!!! Welcome aboard!

Arrrrgggg, today I'm a pirate

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I wasn't expecting a lot when I bought this game. I'm not really into PC games, however, I was pleasantly surprised. The game is truly entertaining. I think what makes it so much fun is that you are never really doing just one thing. There are little games in the grand scheme of things and you get better and better as you go along. The first time I danced with a governor's daughter I tripped all over myself, but now, well, just everyone once in a while. Looking for treasure is fun, but can be tricky at times. Also, who doesn't love taking over another ship and taking their gold and goods. Then, of course are the sword fights. Sure you have a few moves, but timing here is the key. Some other pirates/soldiers are quicker than others. As a pirate, you're always on your toes.

AAARGH

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: February 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This be one of me favorite games, but it needs a few tweaks. Land battles too slow, Daning a pain, towns repetitious, but pirating is still the life for me. It be good with a patch or an expansion pack, then 5 stars may Sid Meier receive.

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