Sid Meier's Pirates!

"Avast, ye!"

Sid Meier's Pirates! has been around for some time now, in one form or another. Each time the basic premise gets released it finds itself supported on each flank by better graphics and deeper game play, without losing view of the original point.

In this particular incarnation, Pirates! has managed to astonish me by actually being better than the original versions. But what's it all about? Well, if you can't tell from the very succinct and straight-to-the-point title, let me enlighten you.

You, sir, are a pirate. Or a privateer, trader, commissioned officer in one of four navies, lovable ladies man, bounty collector or treasure hunter. The choice is completely up to you. On the high seas of the Seventeenth Century Caribbean, you can engage yourself in any activity conceivable to a scurvy cur armed with a sword, ship and crew. Pirates! doesn't force you into any one role, and it's this free-form approach that is my favourite aspect of the game.

Game play: 8

Okay, so what about the game play? Most of your time will be spent traversing the Caribbean itself, sailing from port to port while avoiding -or swapping cannonballs with – the Pirates, Indians, French, English, Spanish and Dutch that are prowling the waters. This isn't wholly unpleasant, but can get rather tedious in places (especially when you're sailing against the wind). The Caribbean itself is accurately portrayed, with all the major ports and cities making an appearance. Barbados is definitely closer than you think, while stopping over in Trinidad, Margarita, Port Royal and Santa Catalina definitely lends the game an exotic edge. In port, you have the options to repair and upgrade your ship(s), recruit crew, gather information, buy and sell goods, and visit the governor. Of course, if the nation who owns the port has a bounty on your head, you'll have to sneak into town and avoid the guards if you want to engage in any of these activities.

There are several “mini-games” that derive directly from this basic concept. The most frequent is ship-to-ship combat. This is handled fairly well, with ships manoeuvring into position to launch a broadside at each other – which can be composed of round-shot (to blow holes in the enemy ship), chain-shot (to bring down their sails) or grape-shot (to kill off the enemy crew). The only real problem with this is the slightly unintuitive aiming of each broadside. The angle makes it hard to judge whether or not you're going to score a direct hit at first, but after some practice you get used to it.

Sooner or later, in most cases, the ships are going to come into contact with each other. And this is what it's all about. Piracy isn't about sinking the enemy, but crippling their ship and eviscerating their crew so that you can board them and steal their goods. If the enemy crew outnumbers your own crew by a large amount, then you're going to have a little mini-game before you get to the meat of boarding actions. This basically involves matching patterns of key presses, as quickly as you can, to reduce their crew single-handedly (which is all rendered for you on screen in full cinematic glory).

The main mini-game of boarding actions, however, is duelling the enemy Captain. This is quite fun at first, because it seems that you're basically playing rock-paper-scissors with him, thrusting and parrying attacks in an attempt to back him into a corner or push him overboard. You even get a choice of three different types of sword to use. Unfortunately, you can win every single duel by choosing the Rapier, waiting for the enemy Captain to make a move, and pressing A. Which is a shame because apart from that one simple fact the combat could have been challenging, strategic and involving?

Once the enemy ship is yours you can sink it or take it with you to sell at a port, along with the goods you captured and the gold you plundered. That's basically the meat of the game, but there are other mini-games, too, that occur less often.

The dancing game, for example, happens once a governor's daughter takes an interest in you. You press buttons at the right moment in order to dance to the beat of the music and impress your lady friend. Do well enough and you'll be handsomely rewarded with information or a special item. Doing exceptionally well can lead to further quests, from finding jewellery for the lady to duelling her fiance. Eventually she may even get kidnapped by pirates, which is your cue to propose to her once she's found.

The stealth mini-game is, frankly, awful. It happens when you attempt to land at an unfriendly port in order to visit the governor or the tavern, and involves avoiding the guards in order to arrive at your destination. It could have been fun, but it seems like an afterthought in the way that it is right now.

By far the best mini-game is the tactical land battle. This occurs when you attempt to assault and sack an unfriendly port (whether in order to simply plunder it or to install a governor of a different nation). This is very well realised, and shows astounding depth for something that is simply a mini-game. It's not over complicated, or a dedicated strategy game, but it still makes for an excellent diversion from the games other, more tedious tasks. You'll be making for the trees as enemy Cavalry charge towards your pirates and buccaneers, slashing through native bowmen and blasting away with muskets at enemy infantry in no time at all, because it's also one of the most intuitive mini-games on offer.

Overall, the game play is very good. However, there are only a limited number of scenes for each action in the Even the Odds and Duel mini-games, and both are so simple that they get tedious after a while. The dancing game is slightly better, due to it being simple to pick up but hard to master, and the Land Battle is just great stuff for something that's optional.

Finding buried treasure, long lost relatives, or lost cities can be a pain in the neck, too. Sometimes the maps you acquire just don't have enough information on them to lead you to the right place. And after you track down and battle the Evil Baron Raymundo for the twelfth time you'll be sick of it. So, once the novelty has worn off, a lot of the game can get very tedious. But it's amazing fun while it lasts, and you'll soon learn to avoid the parts of the game that don't appeal to you – most are optional.

Story: 6

The story is simple, cliched, derived and overused. But it's still fun. As a child, your family were attacked and abducted by a Spanish loan shark. You escaped, and want revenge. Naturally, you became a pirate Captain after a mutiny, and as the game opens you choose which nation you serve from the beginning. That's the meat and bones of the whole thing, and while you don't actually need to pursue the story at all, it at least adds a little background to your character.

Should you choose to track down the Evil Loan Shark, then you'll have fifteen random tasks to accomplish before finding a map to his hideout. These tasks can be anything, from marrying a governor's daughter to sinking a sloop, capturing a town or finding buried treasure. And they're random each time you play.

Finding your missing family members gets very old, very quickly. It involves tracking down Raymundo, who knows their whereabouts, and you'll need to find (and beat him in a duel) four times for each family member (of which there are four). Finding him is the hardest part, because first you need to gather information on his whereabouts and then journey there, which is a pain if you're sailing against the wind - especially if your crew are bored.

Graphics/Sound: 7

Graphics are on the whole very good. They're functional and do the job well, while the cartoon violence keeps the rating down. However, there is some slowdown in places, and switching between status screens in town and in the pause menu can take a few seconds. Sound, again, is functional. There is no voice acting - instead they talk gobbledygook, like in the Sims. The music is very representative of the swashbuckling period in which it's set, so there are no problems there.

However, I usually listen to my own music while playing, as all of the sound (like most of the game) is optional.

Replay: 7

There's some good replay value, here. A lot of the game does get very boring after the novelty has worn off but there are plenty of special items, crew, ships and paths to take that no game will ever be the same twice.

Conclusion: 7

Overall it's a solid game. If you like choices, then you're going to enjoy this. The only downside is the tedium that sets in after twenty hours or so of playing.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/30/05