Sid Meier's Pirates!

aka: Pirates!, Sid Meier's Pirates!: Action and Adventure on the Spanish Main, Xide Meier de Haidao
Moby ID: 214

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Player Reviews

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 68 ratings with 7 reviews)

One of the greatest games in PC gaming history.

The Good
What's not to like about "Pirates!"? It's immersive, the combat is terrific, the game "world" is immense, there's dozens of towns and ships to blow up, swordfighting, cannon duels... you can spend hours just tracking the Spanish gold fleet across the Main. (Try to tail it a bit before trapping it in port, because you can nab a few galleons full of gold in addition to the big payoff.)

"Pirates!" was and is an absolute landmark in PC gaming, a virtually perfect game that was so much better than anything else on the market at the time it's almost sad. Ranks right up there with Civilization, Empire, M.U.L.E. and Gunship among the true masterpieces of the first era of PC games.

The Bad
Land battles can be a little confusing. Otherwise there is nothing not to like.

The Bottom Line
A masterpeice, a landmark in PC gaming. A must have for serious gamers.

PC Booter · by Rick Jones (96) · 2001

Admit it, you want to be a pirate.

The Good
You wanta be a pirate, don't you? Do stuff that pirates do. Just bring your boat and cutlass. Take pride in recruiting the local scumbages at the inn. Help or plunder the town, as you wish. Find old treasure maps broken into a thousand pieces and put it back together. But ultimately, find all your relatives so you can start a normal life?

The Bad
It does get redundant after a while. A man can only have so many lost relatives.

The Bottom Line
Has a Civ I like feel. Are you the equivilant of a high seas Solomon? Or do you possess intelligence on par with Eric the Red? It's a fun game, for a couple dozen hours or so.

PC Booter · by Yeah Right (50) · 2000

A legend in computer games.

The Good
I know it has a lot of rivals (the Zork series, Balance Of Power, BattleHawk's 42, and Silent Service to name a few), but to me this was probably the best PC game of the '80's. So much quality was crammed into those two 5.25" 360K floppy disks it's unbelievable. Today's games are so bloated and require hundreds of Megs of hard drive space and come on 4 CDs... ugh. Back in the 80's games were so much better.

Pirates! was simple, yet so fun. It was also educational... I learned more about real Pirates and general life in the 1600's from this game (and the manual) than I did in all my years in school.

I loved the graphics, all the action (sword fights, ship-to-ship battles, land battles), all the options (different time periods, each one with a unique map, goals, and roles to choose from), and just the whole role-playing aspect. You actually became a pirate! You rescued your ancestors, you kept the crew happy, you decided where to sail... you were the captain.

I know people have said the music wasn't good, but don't judge it by today's standards. Back then, the PC Speaker was pretty much the standard, and they did a good job with it. I know it sounded like a synthetic Casio accordian, but hey, I think the accordian was used in Carribbean music back then. :)

The Bad
The one thing I never liked about Pirates was the 8-ship limit. I always wished I could've had a larger fleet.

The Bottom Line
Pirates! was a game which has never been equaled: no game this small has been this much fun and full of so many options. This is an example of why Windoze was so bad for games... you can't find a commercial game nowadays under 1 MB, much less under 50 or 100MB. If you can only play one game from the '80's, this should be it.

PC Booter · by Raphael (1245) · 1999

An example of what a PC should strive to be.

The Good

Some of my earliest and fondest memories of PC gaming are of the game 'Pirates!'. Everything about this game is golden. The naval combat is exciting and intense, the sword fighting is thrilling, and few things beat the rush of successfully capturing a well-defended city.

This game has it all. You choose a nation to privateer for and set forth to the Caribbean. Throughout the game you attain fame and fortune, search for your long lost family, and even woo the beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) governors' daughters. Everything about this title is top notch.

**The Bad**

The worst thing I can say about 'Pirates!' is that Sid Meier has never made an updated version.

**The Bottom Line**
This is a true classic of PC gaming, certainly a title to be remembered.

PC Booter · by Entorphane (337) · 2002

My second best game of all time!

The Good
Everything! Well not everything, but this game is superb, and is guaranteed to take those days away from your life. You can spend hours hunting down other ships, attacking towns, finding members of your family, finding the Silver Train ... the list goes on and on. This has got to be one of the deepest games ever ...

The Bad
The land battles are a pain, MUCH easier to attack by boat. Also the wind always blows west so its annoying to sail right.

The Bottom Line
A brilliant pirate adventure with plenty to keep you occupied.

PC Booter · by ^^Snoop^^ (36) · 2002

Screw the Gold edition play this one!

The Good
I always loved pirate stories as a kid and now I finally got to be one. These game is flawless, even the manual was fun to read! Just by reading the book you learned the history of piracy and find out that Captain Morgan was not just the name of a bottle of rum. The game had different settings which would increase or decrease the difficulty. Combat was challenging, the graphics were quite good for EGA and the game just oozes atmosphere.

The Bad
Music could be better. I also wish there was a possibility of setting up a permanent pirate base rather than installing a govenor, sometimes there was no friendly govenor for me to install!

The Bottom Line
This game is in many ways an RPG, as you get to wear the guise of a patch and peg leg as you battle your way across the Spanish Maine.

PC Booter · by woods01 (129) · 2001

This game needs a 21st century update NOW!

The Good
Always different, captivating, challenging, teaches while you play

The Bad
Hey Moby, Is there any way you could release Pirates! in a version which could be played on one of today's PC's? I loved the old Pirates! Gold game which was playable in Windows with a patch, but now I own Windows XP. I'd love to purchase this game but why bother if it doesn't work in my current format? Pirates! Gold was by far the best game of its genre in the late 80's- early 90's, and it's a shame to just let it fall into oblivion because nobody with an updated PC can play it.

The Bottom Line
If you like adventure- strategy- role playing games, you'll like this.

PC Booter · by J Cavender (1) · 2003