Sid Meier's Pirates!

Rating:
Summary: Sid Meier's Pirates
Review: 'Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life' is an expensive game. It was thus a shock to find the discs in a card folder instead of the customary protective box. Worse came when I played my first game and found the characters speaking in gobbledygook. I found this so unpleasant that I switched off all background sound rather than suffer it a moment longer. But the worst point of all came with the Governor's thoroughly unpleasant racist slurs. I find the terms “evil Spanish”, “slimy French” and “greedy Dutch” so objectionable that I would not have obtained the game at all had I known they were there. Sadly, the only way of avoiding them is not to visit the Governors at all and play without troubling about the peculiar mixture of military rank and patents of nobility.

The game has a number of changes from 'Pirates! Gold', not all of them felicitous. The interactive scenes in town, the captain's cabin and the treasure cave have been replaced largely by lists reminiscent of old style text adventures. It seems no longer possible to marry the merchant's daughter and so obtain preferential trading terms. And to win the heart of a governor's daughter one must learn to dance! I accept this is appropriate to the historical period and would not object if there were a way round it. But as it is I find this feature unacceptable. So marriage, which I much enjoyed in 'Pirates! Gold'. Is no longer available to me.

But to be fair, Sid Meier's genius is still apparent in this new version of his classic game. I have very much enjoyed the part which I do play, and I shall probably play that part many times more. The graphics is astounding, particularly weather and sea effects; the music is delightful; and the background sound (apart from dreadful speech) is very good indeed. I like the addition of many additional villages, Jesuit missions, and a mysterious character in the taverns who offers information and artifacts, some of which are even quite useful in a piratical career. The barmaids are suitably attractive, though one can no longer spend a pleasant evening with one, the barkeeper is a sly old nuisance who acts mainly as a marriage broker for governor's daughters (and is therefore ignored) and there is a bullying captain of the guard on whom one can practice one's sword-play. The battle scenes on land and sea are excellently portrayed.

'Pirates! Gold' was one of the most fun games I have ever played. Had I given it a rating at the time it would have been 4 (even 5) stars for entertainment value, use of available technology and value for money. 'Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life' is only partly in the same category, though Sid Meier's genius does shine through. I rate it as 3 stars for adults, but I would not like to see it played by children without clear parental supervision.



Rating:
Summary: Good, but flawed
Review: As a veteran of the original Pirates! Commodore 64 game, I was eagerly anticipating the new version. I still consider Pirates! to be one of the top 10 games of all time (right next to Wasteland).

Frankly, this game is too easy. It is MUCH easier than the original. It is also much more tedious. Dancing with the governor's daughter for the 100th time gets a little lame. Plus, what is the point of getting married? My "wife" is worthless and I can still hit on other chics...

Also, at the age of 29, I am already an English Duke, French Duke, Dutch Duke, and Spanish Captain. This is my first game and it is beginning to rival my greatest games on the old version (and I actually crashed the old version by plundering too much gold once). I just conquered Panama and made it an English city... this was a very difficult task in the old version. Did it on my first try this time.

Given that this game is pretty much exactly the same as the original, I can't understand how it can be so much easier. The ship battles are easier, conquering towns is easier, sword fighting is easier, etc. It doesn't make sense unless there was a conscious effort to make it easier - which I don't understand because the original, while not overly difficult, was well-balanced and very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive... Even for a Girl
Review: I got this game with the purchase of my new computer last week. I am already too addicted to do much else. I agree that the clips are a bit repetitive, but I was very impressed with the aging of my character. I have learned how to tack to fight against strong wonds and I am getting better at dancing (argh). I love this game!

Rating:
Summary: Fun At First, But Then...
Review: I realy love adventure games so i got this one.
It seemed very fun and exiting at first.
But then later on it gets kinda boring.
Also as many people said, it has quite a few problems.
Although I had only 1 problem, my friend had a big problem with the game crashing.
And the worst thing is that there is no patch for this game!
So to get to my point, if you want a game that you want to enjoy for a long time like Counter Strike, then dont get this game.
Overall this game is realy fun to play, but when you beat it, you wont wanna play this game agin.


Rating:
Summary: It will be a good game...when patched
Review: I recently bought the CD version of this game. Since I'm a huge fan of Sid Meier's games I'd been waiting for its release with much anticipation, and couldn't wait the get my hands on it... During the first 15 minutes of play it was all joy: the game looked very nice and fun (while a little too simple for Sid's games)and I was content with the product, then while sailing the world, the movemement started to s l o w d o w n ...
The game became really unplayable. I found that saving and reloading, or changing screen configurations, solved the slowness for a while, but then it would return every two or five minutes. When in slow motion, the sea battles are a nightmare and the treasure hunting even worse. I was running the game in a P4 3Ghz computer with 512 Mb of ram, NVIDIA GO 5700 graphic card running XP, and there was no way to fix this problem. After checking on some internet forums, I found that technical issues with the program were quite frequent an that mine was common. Since then I'm eagerly awaiting for an official patch of the game and my advice to you is to wait until a new release is available before buying this game. It will avoid you much dissapointment and frustration...

Rating:
Summary: Repetitious Pirating
Review: I'll state it right up front; Sid Meier is a game making genius. Civ II is perhaps the greatest game of all time. So what happened? Civ III was fatally flawed and now Pirates looks like a huge misfire. I love the whole pirate concept, I love sailing around the Caribbean and visiting cities like Nassau, San Juan and Havana. The problem is that the game seems pointless and repetitive. I danced with every Governors daughter, found all my family members, collected all unique items but so what?

So how is it repetitive? Regardless of the city they all look the same; Tavern, Shipbuilder, Market. Same same same. The fights are the same. The opposing captain may have a slightly different uniform, the swordfight might be on a different part of the ship but they're all essentially the same. It goes even beyond that. The villain who captures your family needs to be caught in order to extract information on each ones whereabouts. Except that when you catch him he only offers one small piece of information. So you capture him again and again and again.

The game sets you on apprentice level to start with and I quickly, VERY QUICKLY, managed to upgrade my ship to the limit, purchase every single unique item and kill eight of the nine top pirates. At that point money was completely useless. I had nothing to spend it on except the occasional diamond necklace or ruby ring. I suppose I could work for a large estate but it seemed like an awful small reward.

Some of the fights were an exercise in frustration. If the ship doesn't have the wind behind its sails it moves like a badly wounded hippo. If the opposing ship is positioned into the wind you may find yourself flailing about unable to move as the other ship pounds on you. The positioning of the ships seem to be set at random so it's not even like you can use this information to your advantage.

There are lots of things to do in the game but it's hard to figure out why I might want to do them. I can assault a city, I can lead a new governor to a city, I can urge pirates to attack a city, I just can't figure out WHY I want to do these things. Even simulators like SIM City have a point. Build a cool city. In Pirates you can build up a fleet, collect a treasure pile and gather a pirate gang but before you know it you have to divide the loot and you lose everything you've collected except for a tiny percentage of the loot.

I think the fatal flaw in this game is when you ask yourself `Why am I still playing this'. I know that a game isn't working when I keep wondering when it's going to get better. Sid Meier will always be a legend in my book but a game really should have a desirable goal.


Rating:
Summary: WOW WHAT A GAME!!!!
Review: If you are a fan of sega's Pirates Gold then this is most definetly the game for you! Best game I've played in years!!!!!!!!! A must buy for pirate fans!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great graphics, great gameplay, great fun!
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Might be good but how to tell
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Fun at the beginning, boring after a while
Review: The game is very nice at the beginning. First sailings and fightings are cool.
But after a while, you keep doing the same things, seeing the same things... Sail a little, engage a ship, maybe duel, and go to the nearest town to sell the stuff you got, etc.
And everything just takes sooo long.
The most boring part may be dancing. You just press one key depending on what sign the woman is showing with her hand. How fun!

Firaxis made great work on graphics and music. But they forgot the game. So Pirates! became a mobile phone game with great picture&sound.