"Keeps the old classic feel while bringing the game into the modern age."

I remember with great fondness my love for the original Pirates! game. I am also one of those that purchased and was disappointed by the Pirates Gold Remake; now, as if by some miracle Pirates has once again been renewed and hopefully is hitting a computer near you. Thank you Firaxis.

The story here is pretty simple. Live the life of a pirate. There is a quaint back story that sets the stage of how you fell into the life and sets down goals for what you may want to achieve out of that life. No complaints here, it works perfectly for the game. Really the story is your a pirate... go pillage.

The Graphics and Sound are adequate to provide the experience. Nothing spectacular here, but it is plenty good enough to be able to identify ships, towns, nationalities and the like with minimal effort.

The dynamic of the game has changed a bit from the original. But it has changed in a good way. I now feel as though I'm living in a world that is populated by other people and pirates unlike the original. This is where this version feels more real than the original game. For instance, sailing around in the old game you waited for a screen to pop up telling you that there was a sail on the horizon. In this game, you see the ship off in the distance while you are sailing around. Moving closer will reveal its nationality and sometimes it's intentions. It is wonderful and a great improvement upon the original game to see other ships attacking and fighting each other. You can now see cities that you are terrorizing sending out pirate hunters after you.

Another change from the original game is the addition of the Villages, Settlements, Jesuit Missions, and Pirate Havens. These are mini-cities on the map that change with each game and are not permanent. These may contain shipbuilders or merchants that are willing to do business with you as well and sometimes provide a needed refuge where you can rebuild or refit your ships during long pillages along the Spanish Main, albeit at a higher charge than the typical cities.

All other holdovers from the original game still exist as well. You will fight ship combat and fencing battles very similar to the original game and the feeling is not lost in these, though they have been updated with new cut scenes and the like. You will still try to locate lost cities, treasures, and family members to up your "fame". You can now pursue and bring to justice up to 9 other pirates that exist in your world and are out to unseat you as the most feared force in the Caribbean.

You still choose your skill, nationality, and time period when starting the game. And each time period has it's own pros and cons ensuring that you'll come back trying to outdo your last career. There are five difficulty levels as well ensuring that you can get the challenge you require based on your skill level.

Some changes from the original game are here as well, but as far as I can see they add to the experience rather than detract.

There are no longer ship-to-shore battles so you can't sit out in a harbor pelting a fort with a sloop until you have numbers to take down a city. Instead all town attacks have essentially been reduced to the land battle as in the old game.

Now before you roll your eyes, the land battles from the old game have been revamped and now play like a strategic game of chess. Certain "pieces" do better or worse against enemy pieces and you (being on the offensive) can position your starting pieces in a way that you feel is most beneficial to achieving your goal of entering the city or annihilating the cities existing troops (either goal will result in the city being sacked).

Sneaking into town has also been turned into a new mini-game. This plays sort of like a "Pac Man" type game being a top down view of your pirate sneaking through the alleyways trying to avoid the guards. Although I feel this is a bit tedious it certainly feels more real to me than the all or nothing die roll from the original game where a screen tells you whether or not you were successful.

While wooing the governor's daughter and trying to bag the best legs in the western hemisphere is still part of the main game. Firaxis has also taken the opportunity to add another mini-game here as well. You now will periodically be invited to a ball where you have to show off your dancing prowess in an attempt to impress your bonnie lass. This boils down to looking at your partners' hand gestures and following in time with her and the music. Although this was difficult at first I quickly got the hang of it and am cutting a rug that even Fred Astaire would be impressed with.

There are complaints that the game tends to get very repetitive after a while and that you seem to be doing the same things over and over. While this is true to some extent I can say that this game (to me) gets about as repetitive as Tetris. You are not trying to play through a story like you would an RPG. You are playing a the life of a pirate and making the choices that pirates made in the 1600's. The drive for me is in trying to outdo your last career, trying it at a more difficult level, or starting in a different age.

I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying the game and expect that it (as the original was) will be a game I come back to again and again over time. I can finally get rid of my 3.5” diskette of Pirates!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04