Did you ever want to be a pirate? One of the patch wearing bad guys from the 16th century that Caribbean in search of gold and fame. Well thanks to Sid Meier and Firaxis Software, the same guys that brought us Railroad Tycoon, Civilization you have that chance with his latest game 'Pirates'.
 

Here is how the the web site describe the game, but to give a better overview of what actually goes on in the game we have included a number of pictures from the actual full version of 'Pirates" along with our observation of the game of the game.

Battle enemy warships. Duel evil villains. Storm impregnable cities. Plunder fat treasure ships. Capture the hearts of beautiful maidens. Discover buried treasure. Take on the greatest pirates in history. Play Sid Meier’s Pirates! and live the life of a fearless pirate captain in the 17th century Caribbean.

Sid Meier’s Pirates! is created by legendary game designer Sid Meier, designer of Railroad Tycoon, Sid Meier’s Civilization and the groundbreaking original Pirates! With the release of the new Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Firaxis has reinvented this beloved classic game and delivered an unmatched experience to a whole new generation of gamers around the globe.

A breathtaking mix of action, strategy, role-playing, and adventure on the high seas, Sid Meier’s Pirates! brings to life the addictive game play of the award-winning original in a gorgeous 3D world full of interesting places to visit and characters to meet.

Once you have your first vessel it's time to explore the open sea, currently you are a neutral pirate, you haven't attacked or looted anyone's ships or harbors yet so you remain in good standing with the Spanish, French, English and Dutch that have colonized the region.  But that will change very soon, you must make a decision once again, one that will determine your fate for the rest of the game. That being how do you wish to make money.

Before I talk about the money aspect I should mention how you navigate you vessel.  All controls for your vessel are located in the lower right portion of the screen, from here you control the direction of travel, control the number of sails hung, as well as commence an attack.  Depending on the size of your vessel and the amount of cargo you are carrying the response time for your vessel to turn or stop can be greatly effected. Say you are in a fight you know you can't win and decide to high-tail it out of there to make repairs knowing that your ship has 2 knots more speed than the opponents ship does. If your ships is loaded to the gills with cargo get ready to tread water.

Now to money making part of the game, you have two choices, Loot and plunder or shop and trade.  Each town has a merchant where you are able to buy and sell your wares, sugar, luxury items, food, guns and so on. All merchants do not pay the same price for the goods when they buy them from you, so you might buy Sugar in Barbados and sell it in St. Kitts for a reasonable profit. Yes you can make money doing this but it will take you a long time to do it.
 

When supplied run low, and oh yes they will run low since you're feeding a band on sword wielding cut-throats you will be forced to anchor in one of the numerous harbors throughout the area. A word to the wise, try to do this is a port that you haven't looted to many of their ships, it will be far cheaper for you crew and yourself.

While your anchored visit the shipwright and have him make the necessary repair to your ship or ships, since you may now be in command of more than one vessel since perhaps you decided to keep one of the looted vessels as a keepsake. The shipwright can also offer you upgrade to your vessel, things like copper plating to help armor the side against cannon attack, or perhaps grape shot for your cannon, a 17th century AP weapon of sorts.  But make sure you booty purse is full of the gold because he is not cheap.

We mentioned the merchant earlier so let move on to the tavern, this is a place to acquire more than a cup of grog. As the message says when you enter "A motley collection of (fill in the name) finest ", but don't be so fast to judge them, these fine people will help you become famous if you give them a chance.  The one thing any pirate ship needs and needs lots of is bodies, this is where you find them. But remember they don't work for nothing. You have the opinion in the game to split the booty and I highly recommend you do this on occasion or you will become shark bait.

Every bar needs a good trollop and this game has one in every port, but she is not just a pretty face either, she can give you some of the best information for scoring some major loot if you listen to her whispers.  She should be one stop you make in every town you visit.

I don't want to give to much more of the game play away but I do want to mention the one part of the game I found amusing. When you visit the various points of interest you will at certain times be called before the local Governor, who after you have gain enough reputation points will promote you to a certain rank that entitles you to take his stunning daughter to the ball.  Once there you use the keyboard to dance, you try to mimic the display shown on the screen with the numeric keyboard and the motion of your partner. At this portion of the game I failed miserably.  LINK TO DANCE MOVIE AT IGN

The navigational chart included with the game give you a real feeling for days gone by with the look of ancient text and the use of the actual map from that time period add and nice touch to the game. The chart also serves as a bookmark for all of your actions so that you can later look back and see where you were successful or failed. 

During the game as you age and the timeline progresses any event in history that took place in this area during that time is noted in the game as well so it serves as a somewhat limited educational tool,

The last item that I found very interesting is the Pirate-O-Pedia which lists every terms and phrase used and the game and explains exactly what it means and where it comes from. This makes the game far more enjoyable and I highly recommend you read all of the entries before playing the game to have a better understanding of what things are. Or at least take the time to check them as you go along.

There you have it Sid Meier's Pirates, no it's not on the same caliber as a HL2 or Doom3 but for some laid back fun and mind numbing enjoyment this is the ticket. This game is suitable for just about any age group since the violence level is pretty tame and for the youngsters if they are not careful they might learn something.  For the adults, here is a game that will run on a cheap 3D graphics card and still look as beautiful as if you were playing it on a $600.00 graphics card. I enjoyed and will continue to play it, I have now become a Major and have yet to tangle with Black Beard but that match-up is coming soon. Stay tuned.

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