Sid Meier’s Pirates – Originally purchased for 8.99 at Circuit City, available on Ebay as low as $8.50
Any young boy who had a computer in the 1980s is well versed in the lore that is Sid Meier’s Pirates! The original game, simply “Pirates!”, was enjoyable action RPG set in Caribbean seas that allowed players to assume the role of a pirate captain and said the seas in search of bounty and his lost family. The graphics and control were terribly simplistic, but the game play was deceptively deep and addictive.
Nearly two decades after that original game, creator Sid Meier relased a brand new version of the old classic on XBox (which is reviewed here), PC and most recently, the PSP.
Fans of the original Pirates! will feel right at home from the opening moments of the game. For all intents and purposes, Pirates is a series of amazingly capable mini-games cobbled together around a brilliant premise. As a Pirate, you will choose your alliances with the Spanish, French, English and Dutch and attempt to keep your crew happy while building up a stock of treasure and searching for your lost family.
In any one of the game’s dozens of towns, you can speak with the Governor, attempt to woo his daughter into marriage, recruit and hear rumors in local bars as well as trade goods and repair ships. On the seas, you will fight with notorious pirates and capture your own fleet of ships for trade and battle. Swordfights, ship battles and fights to storm towns rule the day, and your enjoyment of these main-games will determine the level of interest in the game.
Fortunately, each one is both simple and amazingly fun. Ship battles are fought between one of your ships and one or two enemy ships (as some ships have escorts). Different types of shot can ruin enemy sails, blow holes their hulls or even kill large swaths of their crew. When rammed, some ships immediately surrend, while others will force you and your crew into swordfights for control of the ship.
Defeated ships can be looted and sunk, or kept to increase your fleet. This again shows the brilliance of Pirates! Man players will be happy simply fighting ships, trading their goods, and selling the ships for hours (and game years) on end. Pirates! allows you to play the game as you want, if you never attempt any “main quest” items, you can still enjoy the game.
Of course, many players will choose to try and find their family. During this quest, you must complete at least fifteen smaller tasks en route to finding your lost family. These take could include finding a buried treasure or killing a notorious pirate such as Blackbeard. The options for your time are nearly endless.
The graphics are colorful, simple but well placed and adeptly handled. Sounds put you in the game as the sound of wave crashes play as you sail the sea and the swoaks of gulls greet you in ports.
Though it was release nearly four years ago, Pirates continues to stand the test of time, and it is no wonder, since the core gameplay is basically untouched since the 1980s version. Regardless, Sid Meier’s Pirates! is a game that will cotinue to entertain for years to come.
Review (based on bargain)- 9.4
Bargain Bin Videogames 