Okay, let me start off by saying that this game is very different and not easy to generalize. That said, I begin.
Sid Mier's Pirates is a game that allows you to openly live the life of a pirate on the Spanish Main in the 1600s. When I say open I mean OPEN. The game board is a map of the Carribean covered in many locations. Each location is different in subtle ways. Depending on your goals for your character, you can manipulate the world and achieve many things. I don't think any 2 gaming expierences would be the same.
In the game you can amass wealth by conquering ships, ally with governments and sack towns in their name, hunt and dominate pirates, earn reputations, romance governer's daughters (that come in 'plain, attractive and beautiful'), dance with them, buy them jewels, defend their honor, and the list goes on. During the course of the game your character grows old and his health varies. The most entertaining part of this game, is that I actually began to really care about the character's actions.
Aside from the non-linear portions of the game is the linear story that you can choose to follow. But there is no drawback to not following it.
Graphics: Bright and effective. I enjoy the graphics on this game. They are perfect for what the game wants to achieve. The graphics do get a bit repetitive, though. For example: All nobles of the same nationality look the same. Tavern folks are all the same except for their hair color. Animations can get a bit repetitive as well. The graphics are fun.
Sound: There are no character voices, this may be due to the non-linear nature of the game. but the grunts and sighs accompany the text well and different nationalities have different accents. The music is good but gets repetitive after a while.
Gameplay: This is an interesting portion of the game. The gameplay is best described by comparing the facets of the game to mini-games. Every time you do something, it is very simple with easy controls. The game overall is very detailed, but there is no one portion of the game that is very detailed. For example: When fencing, there are 3 attacks, 3 blocks and a taunt. When you get a hit you knock your opponent back a space. You win by knocking the opponent all the way off the ship. It is simple. But the beauty is that all the little games are connected and aware of one another. The game is efficient and big.
Controls: They are VERY simple. They make the gameplay pretty quick.
Load times: Short. No more than 20 seconds or so. The simplicity of the gameplay makes this easy.
Other: At the time of this review there is only ad-hoc play. It is a really simple ship battle game. It is not that much fun. This could be a very good MMOgame.
Overall: I really like this game. It is very addictive. It basically takes all the most important facets of pirate life in the 1600s from romance to crew morale, and boils them into an addictively simple game.
Good review! So.. tell me, would you run buy it at the current price or wait..and try to get it once the price drops? Does it play like a strategy game? Good for long trips etc? It's gotten really positive reviews everywhere I've seen it reviewed.. but the graphics don't really entice me to buy it. Your review however, makes me wanna add it to my list of 'I'll get that eventually (like Katamari and Loco Roco) . Thanks for the review.
Chance said: "Good review! So.. tell me, would you run buy it at the current price or wait..and try to get it once the price drops? Does it play like a strategy game? Good for long trips etc? It's gotten really positive reviews everywhere I've seen it reviewed.. but the graphics don't really entice me to buy it. Your review however, makes me wanna add it to my list of 'I'll get that eventually (like Katamari and Loco Roco) . Thanks for the review."
Well with regard to the price, it is cheap for a new game, only 30$. I would not say it plays entirely like a strategy game (it is very hard to characterize, and I am notoriously bad at it!); I would say that it plays more like a RPG than anything else. It is 3 Parts RPG, 1 Part minigame and 1 part strategy game. This game is great for long trips. I can play it nonstop. Your character ages so its interesting. It really lives up to the catch phrase- 'Live the life.'
You are right about the graphics, get some screen shots and make your own judgement.
thanx for the review - i have seen this game in the stores and wondered if it were any good - now i know! thanx again, i think i'll check it out for myself.
After playing the PC version of this game, I was looking forward to this game. To be honest, I still DO like it, but I find the naval combat and sailing section of the game to run a little faster than I'm used to with the PC game.
That being said, it's a great port of a very entertaining game.
rpgpro said: "After playing the PC version of this game, I was looking forward to this game. To be honest, I still DO like it, but I find the naval combat and sailing section of the game to run a little faster than I'm used to with the PC game."
To me this is a good thing! Sometimes when sailing up wind it can be really annoying to go slowly. This is a necessary feature of the game to support its realism, but none the less, annoying sometimes. I couldn't imagine it going slower than it already is.
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. Thanks for the review.