Sid Meier's Pirates! (PC)

Ahoy there shipmates and splice the main brace, we set off for treasure and adventure on the high seas at sunrise, once I have.. ahem.. installed and configured this here piece of eight... Sorry to get carried away but the welcome return of Sid Meier's Pirates to the PC has really got me caught up both in nostalgia for previous Pirate editions and the vogue for pirate themed books and movies. Those of you who remember the original Pirates in vibrant EGA graphics on the PC and Amiga will feel right at home as Mr Meier has made the wise decision to tweak gameplay but not to fix anything that is not broken. You take to the high seas with a world of ...

Note: I'm aware this is a long review, but there’s so much to this game it’s the only way to do it justice. To help you out, I’ve split the review into the following sections: The Game, Morale, Locations, Swordfighting, Attacking Towns, Treasure Maps, Escort Missions, Family, Dancing Subgame, Graphics, Music, Controls, Gameplay, Lastability and Conclusion. The Game The basic idea could not be simpler: you have a ship and want to make your fame and fortune. If you really want to, you can do this the honest way, buying goods cheaply in one port, and selling it for a high another. But hey, where’s the fun in that? The game’s called Pirates for goodness sake! ...

Pirates! by Sid Meiers was one of the defining computer games of the 8 / 16-bit era and is still one of my favourite games of all time. As the years went by, other pirate sims came and went - but none could match the deceptively simple yet completely compelling open-ended gameplay of the original MPS Labs game. Pirates Gold failed to really capture the spirit of the first game, Cutthroats was a good attempt but ultimately failed to be much fun, Sea Dogs had real potential but was buggy as hell. The throne for best pirate game was left vacant, no heir was found to Pirates!. Until a new game came along. And that game was: ...