Pirates! Gold

En upputsad version av klassikern Pirates. I Pirates får du på ett "innovativt och fängslande" sätt plundra och sjöröva för glatta livet.

At the end of the day this is an amazing game with a great storyline, extremely high replay value, and the ability to hold its own against the greatest Genesis RPGs. Do yourself a favor 'n put off buyin' a game fer a week or two 'n save up some doubloons fer Pirates! Gold. I assure ye, 'twill be well worth yer while. Savvy?

Somit kommen CD32 Besitzer in den Genuß einer wahrhaft goldigen Ausführung dieses Klassikers, der endlich in vollem Umfang die Präsentation und Atmosphäre bieten kann, welche eigentlich schon die DOSen- und Sega-Piraten erwartet hätten. Man kann daher nur jedem Seebären raten, bei dieser Version anzuheuern – selbst wenn man den Vorgänger bereits kennt, wartet hier ein völlig neues Freibeutersgefühl!

The finely detailed ships move swiftly through the sea, and the sword fighting characters are huge (although their animation could use some work). You're able to explore various towns on foot, but sadly, they all look pretty much the same. The musical score is first rate, as are the clear voice samples. Pirates Gold incorporates a few new bells and whistles, like the ability to battle other pirates and recreate famous expeditions. You can save your game whenever you're in a town. Action-oriented gamers may have a hard time dealing with the game's slow parts (sailing against the wind can be laborious), but patient gamers will be pleased. Pirates Gold may well have been the pinnacle of the entire series.

Pirates Gold bör ändå ingå i alla CD32-ägares samling. Det är något av det bästa som finns till maskinen för närvarande.

Some bad points of this game exist too, although they are few. Attacking a fortified town with a ship is the most difficult thing, because the fort's cannons will hit your ship most of the time, even if you try to evade. So getting off the ship nearby on land and attack the city by foot is a somewhat better idea, though nothing is too easy. Also the game ends too fast, even with the skill of medicine, so you normally do about 4-5 plunder-runs before you are too old to try your luck again. This game is so much fun that it would surely not hurt to be able to play it longer… but the only option you have is to start new game or to command a famous expedition, which is interesting, but an even shorter option of playing.

On a larger scale, no matter how cautious you are, you'll always end up in a naval conflict. Here you get a top-down view of the combat area which contains tiny graphics of the ships. Looking at this, and the fact that the game's on CD so there's not memory problems, I can't help but think more could have been done here. Pirates Gold is a nice concept with plenty of good ideas. Unfortunately it doesn't deliver the goods.