Sid Meier's Pirates! review:5 stars (Good Pirate Battling) - I LOVED this game years ago and am so glad to see it updated for modern windows environments. Really sucks up the resources so be sure your machine is up to date, but hours (and hours) of fun (but not for my wife)!!!!3 stars (Suprising Tactical Depth) - Sid Meier's Pirates is a solid game that cannot be classified under an existing genre. At its heart is a series of minigames, all of which, while addictive and entertaining, soon become tedious and repetitive.

Graphically the game is excellent, with a palette of colourful visuals. The sails of your flagship glow and flutter in the breeze, and the light aquamarine water is very well rendered, with good but not exquisite detail. The characters speak in a form of Sim-like gibberish, which contrary to what one may expect does not detract from the game. The music is similarly excellent, with sweeping orchestral themes.

It is in the area of gameplay, however, that Pirates fails to engage. The game is constructed as a series of mini-games/quests, all of which begin as enthralling and suspenseful pursuits. In the space of twenty minutes, you can engage in several naval battles, all of which possess surprising tactical depth, dance with half a dozen governors' daughters, participate in duels, assault towns and sneak into cities. The minigames are very satisfying, and since the four main factions of the game (The English, French, Spanish and Dutch) are often at war with each other, the player can gain promotions from various governors. For example, sinking a few Spanish War Galleons may well see you promoted to an English Admiral or Captain. However, despite the range of mini-games on offer, the game fast becomes tedious and frustrating. By far the weakest area of the game are the treasure quests. Having attained a map of buried treasure, one must land and search for the aforementioned booty. Despite the map, treasures are incredibly difficult to find, and after an hour of trudging through bland landscapes, the fruitless search soon becomes an exercise in frustration. Moreover, the main quest (that of freeing your enslaved family from the clutches of the evil Baron Montalban) is itself irritating, as even after destroying the Baron several times, he is still respawned until the player discoveres his hideout. (Which, like treasure is incredibly difficult to find.) Finally, the ships sail far too slowly. On occasion I sailed for fifteen minutes across the Carribean at an incredibly sluggish pace. Given that the wind is uniformly westerly, it is very difficult to sail quickly in any direction apart from west.

In conclusion, though "Pirates" is flawed and at times downright annoying, it still manages to be a satisfying and enjoyable experience for the first few hours of gameplay. 4 stars (Fun and Adventure in the High Seas) - Welcome to the world of 17th-Century Caribbean life: a tropical paradise of blue skies and seas teeming with unpredictable weather and the scavengers of the deep: Pirates! In "Pirates!", the famous and respected Sid Meier offers another one of his trademark games of quality and fun with this swashbuckling delight.

You begin as a youngster who is orphaned by the capture of your family members one stormy night by an evil Marquis who decides to take revenge on your Grandfather through no fault of his own. Escaping the quick unfortunate turn of events, you vow revenge as time goes by. Years pass, and as a young lad of 18, you enter a tavern and sign for a ship seeking employment. You are given the choice to choose which nation to serve: England, France, Netherlands, or Spain. After making your choice, you set on to the seas. But the abusive tyranny of the captain to his crew is too much to bear, and the men mutiny. Overthrowing the Captain, they elect you as the replacement and from then on it's an adventure to seek a fortune and your long lost loved ones.

"Pirates!" is a feast for the sight and senses. The luminous blue of the seas are rendered visually by well-done graphics. The different choices the player is offered make for hours of addictive gameplay. One can attack any ship of choice, capture it for one's use, sack it's loot, acquire men or valuable crew members if available, or receive vital information concerning the whereabouts of one's family members or villains one has to pursue. The ships are rendered in historical detail, giving one a historical lesson on the vessels of yore, detailing their use and function, informing the player on the choice which to use to suit his/her benefit. Players can decide to attack places, where one can fight land battles (one of my favorites) and capture the area and transform it into a colony of the country the player chooses. You can look for lost cities and hunt for Pirates' gold in hidden corners of the Caribbean via "Treasure Island" kind of maps. Visiting taverns are customary, as one can recruit men and receive information and valuables from the bartender, barmaid, and a mysterious traveller. One can trade goods and valuables with merchants across the Caribbean, and one can also romance governors daughters through dancing and gifts; if you get lucky, you might even marry one!

But there are numerous catches. Your men get restless. When they've stayed at sea for too long, they would like to get back on land and enjoy (spend) all of the loot. As Captain, one has to balance one's desire with that of his fickle crew. You and your men also have to eat, so you will always be preoccupied by that ever dwindling food supply. If you are defeated by the enemy captain of a ship you are attacking, you can be jailed for months; or just as worse, be marooned and lose all the gold and valuables one has acquired, and to top that, the ship/s one had. Why is this doubly important? Because one of the great things about the game is your character ages: Pirating can be tough on anyone, so by the time you reach the age of 30 there is a gradual and noticeable decline in one's character: your swordfighting skill diminishes, your dance steps are not "in tune" as they used to be, and your reputation is at stake, making the recruitment of men much more difficult. Time plays a huge factor in "Pirates!". One also has to play with national allegiances: if you risk antagonizing every country by attacking their ships and colonies, you run the unenviable situation of having no place to have your ships repaired and refit, and no accomodating refuge to purchase goods and to refit one's crew.

You will also have to go through the added delight of squaring against the foremost Pirates of history: see if you can better much vaunted scoundrels like Blackbeard, L'Ollonais, and Henry Morgan in the vast seas of the Spanish Main!

As fun and as compelling as "Pirates!" is, the wholesomeness of it's approach which makes it palatable to almost everyone turns out to be it's foremost weakness. After a while, the repetitious nature of the game, with the similarity of it's scenes and the narrow framework it revolves on, grows wearisome and tedious. There is no blood and gore for the touch of realism, nor do the crew mutiny, the bane of every Pirate captain in history. These detract from the challenge the game could have further offered.

All told, this is a delighful game to pick up when the mood is right. I never thought I'd be interested in any PC game other than those of a military nature, but "Pirates!" broke the ice. Strategic without losing it's entertainment value, this one's a keeper.
Sid Meier's Pirates! Features:
Computer Games
Action
Adventure
Strategy (Strategic)
Historical (historic) Recreation (Recreations)
Military (Wargames
CD
For 1 player
The 1987 cross-genre classic returns with an all-new story, a new engine, updated gameplay, and 3-D graphics
Play as a pirate captain cruising the 17th century Caribbean
Confront enemies on board ships, in seedy taverns, and in other locations; use anything within your reach as a weapon
Engage in fierce naval battles fighting single enemies or multiple ships

Sid Meier-s Pirates- is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around  49.99USD.