There is something about pirates that have a certain charm even though they were probably very nasty and were nothing more than sea based thieves. I suppose the glamour of sailing the high seas in big ships and living the life is what appeals despite their criminal activity. Well, since the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and subsequent Xbox game, Pirates are “cool” and so we are graced with another Pirate themed game in Sid Meier’s: Pirates.

As a young boy from a wealthy and respected household, your family and home are repossessed so to speak, yet you manage to escape into the wilds of life. Growing up as a ruffian you make it your life long wish to rescue your family from their captors and bring honour to your family name once more. This is the basic premise of Pirates yet only the beginning of your seafaring adventures.

Gameplay:

Pirates, is an interesting title that has several modes of play crammed into its being. On one hand you have a vast amount of sailing to do as you navigate the Caribbean going from port to port stocking up on crew, supplies and gathering information. Then you have the naval battles with other ships which start out with the ships firing their cannons at each other but can then degenerate into a full boarding where the game switches to the deck of the ship. It is here that the player must then face the ship’s captain and take him out in a sword fighting duel. The sword fighting is extremely simple and is more a mini game about timing more than anything. If you are successful then you get to plunder the ship and keep it for yourself for sale later or to add to your fleet.

The whole game is geared to towards survival and with various countries (English, Dutch, French, Spanish) fighting each other it is up to you to decide who is going to be friend or foe. You need to plunder other ships (including other pirates) to make money and raise your ranking with the various countries which in turn will allow you to upgrade your ship, offer bonuses at ports or buy various items which will help you along the way. After a while the game does become rather simple in that you simply do the same things over and over. There is a management aspect to it all as you have to balance out your finances, your ship repairs, your crew, your cargo and who you are fighting against all the while trying to find clues as to the whereabouts of you family. The level of depth here can be quite vast depending on what type of player you are and obviously the more brain power you use the more rewards you will have.

There are a number of sequenced events throughout the game which require the player to press button sequences in time which are simple yet fun in context; especially when trying to woo one of the many women in the game as you dance at a ball. What is amusing is that some women are more attractive than others but can be useful allies offering crucial information and gifts at times.

So what Pirates offers is a living world for you to plunder at your leisure and really live the life how you see fit. With a combination of visual menus , plenty of stats (which includes a full history of pirates and the Caribbean) with real time sea battles, stealth in towns and armed combat makes Pirates almost a jack of all trades. What is rather neat is the option to up the difficulty at any time should you find things a little too easy (and they are too easy on the first few difficulty settings).

Graphics:

Pirates, is a colourful yet cartoon looking game which I think works well enough within the context of the game. The graphics in general are hardly pushing the hardware and to be honest could be a lot more polished in general. However the sheer nature of the game means that it doesn’t really rely on fancy graphics to get its point across. If I was to gripe then I would have liked more camera options during sailing as I felt the views on offer were rather limited.

Sound:

Sound is very typical of what you would expect for the time period, with some suitable seafaring music on offer. The voices are all done in some fake language I assume which helps create an illusion to prevent repetition which I’m afraid there is a lot. The general ambience is very good right down to the sound of cheering crew after a victory. Overall the sound is good enough and gets the job done; just don’t expect any rock tunes to kick in at any point!

Longevity:

Well the game is a decent size and whilst your objectives require some clues and perhaps a little luck you can meander in and out of the main story at any time and do as you please. Therefore you could spend many hours simply living the life of a pirate with out a care in the world as you trade, sail, plunder and woo the many women even though you do age and there fore there is some sort of limit to keep you on track. There is a multiplayer component on offer which allows player the chance to go head to head in naval battles for those looking for a human challenge offline.

Overall:

Pirates is an welcome port of the PC game to appear on Xbox and will no doubt please fans who like games that require some brainpower. The game does feel like a collection of mini games at times and can get a little repetitive as you repeat tasks over and over. However at the end of the day there is a lot of fun to be had here as you go about your pirating career. Pirates will not appeal to all gamers especially those more used to high octane action so I suggest that if you are unsure about the game that you rent it first.