I’ve been bouncing between games a lot lately. Generally when I’ve not got a really good RPG that I’m playing to death, I end up bouncing between different things, playing them for a day or two, before trying something else.

At the moment, I’m re-visiting Sid Meier’s Pirates! which was released in 2004. An updating of his original game, you are in command of a Pirate ship, trying to track down the members of your family, who were all captured when you were a boy. By defeating other pirates in their ships, you gain pieces of the maps needed to locate your family members.

Along the way though, you must keep your crew happy, which means attacking the other vessels you come across, plundering them for their wealth and then either sinking them, or letting them join your fleet. You can either do this as a true pirate, attacking all nations equally, or you can ally yourself with various nations, attacking those they are at war with, gaining yourself fame, land and possibly attracting the Governor’s daughter.

Its a great game. The main part of the game takes place on the world map, seen above. You can use the number pad or your mouse to steer your ship (or fleet) around the map, and when you encounter a ship you want to attack, you get to play a really fun sea battle segment, where you have to try and turn your ship to get the best possible attack angle on your opponent, while simultaneously trying to ensure you don’t expose yourself to too much damage from their cannons.

There are various other mini-games which keep things moving along. Be it sneaking through town, fencing on the deck of another pirate ship with its Captain, or dancing with the Governor’s daughter. Its a cracking game, and well recommended.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 16:34 and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.