I first got into Pirates when it first showed up on the NES and I loved how you could just do what you want. At the time (well at least on the platform) that was undeard of. I fell in love with the game and when the Genisis got Pirates Gold, I was blown away again. Ten years later I heard of an Update, first I thought woo hoo, then I figured what if the game was good then but not now? How would the game hold up to todays standards? Like Star Wars, was the old stuff good just because you grew up with it, and the new stuff just as good but due to a more developed taste in the genre it comes off as crap? When I finally got a copy of the new Pirates and played for about an hour. I knew that the game was everybit as good as I remembered it to be, better even. Could the game be improved, I'm sure it can. Is there better games of the type out there, sure..depending on your tastes. Do I think this is an ASWOME game? Hell yea. Whew..now that I got that out of the way. This game is a whole lot of fun. WIth the style of play that Sid Meier is known for. A game where you just want to go "one more thing" or "one more turn". A vicious never ending cycle. I'm sure the other reviewers got the manual summary out of the way so I wont' even bother. This is a fast paced arcade like romp. Swashbuckleing, ship battles, town raids, fair maidens in distress, hidden tresure...ok..I'll stop. This game is a very well balanced one. With a I'll play as I want to play feel. It's so open ended that there is no right or wrong way to play. If you're a twitch gamer the sword fighting is fast and fun. If you like to take your time and just want to be a "merchant" sure you can do that (yawn). At times you'll bleed into other area and if you are lacking in the reflexes you can get items that improve your swordfighting skills and danceing ability (I know most people say they hate the danceing but I find it a lot of fun and if you do really well you get booty...wait..like the item kind...dirty dirty). Improvements for your ship for travel and combat, any weakness you may have in the game can be countered if you find or buy these items. Well...exept for ground combat, you're on your own there. If you've played the original and liked it. You'll love this game. if you stared playing on the consoles and now a PC gamer. You'll still like it but changeing over to number pad play does take some getting used to, about 20 min and you'll be fine. (Why no in game pad support???). If you've never played the game before, give it a try, if you don't loose one night of sleep (or at least late for some event sometime soon) I would be shocked.
When I began playing 'Pirates!' I was captivated by the colourful graphics and allround atmosphere of the game. But slowly, as the hours past by, I realized there wasn't nearly enough to do and that the game was extremel... Read Full Review
Sid Meier's Pirates! is one of the few games that caught the essence of its predecessor and mixed with new technological features to create a magnificent game, both on gameplay and graphics, and why to do not mention, th... Read Full Review
