Xbox

Sid Meier's Pirates!

Sid Meier's Pirates is a must-have Xbox game. It's that simple. This "adventure" game comprises a little bit of strategy, touches of RPG, it's got fighting and collecting, and it's designed in an ingenious way so that the goals, economy, and mini-games, all tie into, bolster, and support one another.

The rest of the adventure is up to you. You'll have to decide whether you wish to avenge your family, become a treasure hunter or an explorer, or become the finest dancer in the land -- and who knows, maybe you'll do all three! Sid Meier, author of such games as Civilization, Colonization, Railroad Tycoon and Alpha Centauri, understands where the fun in gaming lies -- not in complex controls, but in allowing the gamer to go on an adventure. Sid Meier's Pirates! is an open ended game which throws dozens of potential missions and goals at you at once and tempts you with tons of unlockable features. There is no "beating" of this game, only the retiring of one pirate and the launch of another. It's addictive, it's fun, and it's highly recommended.

Nevertheless, this is still a completely engrossing strategy game that will easily consume countless hours. While the average pirate career might last only about 5 to 10 hours, the game offers tons of replay value, as you can play on harder difficulty levels, try out different approaches, and check out different sailing eras. With its engrossing gameplay, impeccable pacing, and charming presentation, Sid Meier's Pirates! has a lot of great things going for it.

But in spite of some niggling problems, Pirates! is a very addictive game that you can while away whole evenings on, just trying out different things. Whether it lasts more than a few days is another matter, but these days that still represents a decent amount of playing time. The Xbox version even has 4-way ship battles which is a fun diversion if you have friends round, but little more than that.

Like all open-ended games, the true strength of Pirates! is its near-infinite replayability. You can play the game in a number of ways, and there's so much to do that it's very hard to get bored with the game, although it doesn’t quite give you the completely blank canvas that a GTA game might give you. Still, there's no reason to say that Sid Meier and friends haven't delivered another hit and made their console breakthrough.

If someone dubbed you “The Father of Computer Gaming”, there’s a strong chance that your past work had a direct impact on the current crop of consoles. Sid Meier is the padre which has had a huge amount of influence on current gaming trends; namely those revolving around the “sim” and strategy train of thought. Sid brought us games like Civilization, and Railroad Tycoon which revolutionized PC gaming in the early 90’s. Slightly before these killer strategy sims, Sid and cronies at MicroProse put out Pirates!, an open-ended look at plundering buccaneer style. The Pirates! of old was so popular that it was recently redone for the 3D era, and met with the same critical acclaim as the original. Now, 2K Games and the new Briggs/Meier vehicle Firaxis Games are bringing the hit Pirates! redux over to the Xbox. Will it too be worth its weight in pieces of eight?

Das Konsolen-Freibeutertum hat es mir angetan: Das Grundprinzip von "Pirates!" mag 20 Jahre auf dem Buckel haben, funktioniert aber heute noch prächtig: Durch die vielfältigen Möglichkeiten, wie Ihr Eure Schifffahrts-Karriere in der Karibik angehen könnt, gibt es viel zu tun und zu erleben. [...] Grafik und Sound fallen zwar nicht übermäßig spektakulär aus, fangen aber das Piraten- und Seefahrtsambiente stimmungsvoll ein. Die auf der Xbox erweiterten Handels- und Aufrüstungsmöglichkeiten sorgen für weitere Pluspunkte, während einige Designentscheidungen bei den Minispielen unglücklich ausfielen: Insbesondere das simple und langatmige Getanze mit den Gouverneurstöchtern, das zwecks Hinweisbeschaffung zwangsläufig oft nötig ist, nervt auf Dauer kräftig, während intelligente Aufgaben wie die taktische Stadteroberung im Gegensatz nur selten anstehen. Das sind aber zum Glück nur kleinere Schönheitsfehler, die Nachwuchs-Piraten nicht davon abhalten sollten, in See zu stechen.

From the intensely thrilling ship-versus-ship battles to the political corruption that you nefariously spread, the gameplay is nicely varied and ripe with possibilities. With that said, the high seas can be a little bumpy at times. Some of the minigames are nearly unendurable, and repetition does eventually become a factor.

If you've been around gaming the last 20 years you know the Sid Meier's classic game Pirates! It's been around since the good ol' days and Pirates has been remade for almost every console that's been released. Thankfully to 2K Games and Fraxis we managed to get this recent PC version ported over to the Xbox. Ready for some swashbuckling good times, well check out our review of Pirates.

Wenn die riesige Abendsonne den Horizont in brennendem Glanze erscheinen lässt und das uferlose Meer in ein feuriges Schauspiel verwandelt, müde Seemänner die letzten Stunden des anstrengenden Tages in der Taverne verbringen, ermattete Händler ihre Läden schließen und sich der imposante Mast einer gewaltigen Galeone in die Lüfte erhebt, während ein majestätisch wirkender Piratenkapitän mit wehendem Haar und funkelnden Augen einer emporragenden Wellenkulisse entgegenblickt, wird einem jeden echten Seeräuberliebhaber warm ums Herz. Wir nehmen euch in unserem ausführlichen Test zu Sid Meier's Pirates! mit auf die Reise in die gigantischen Weiten des karibischen Ozeans...

As much as I enjoy the concept of pirates, in reality being one would kind of suck. Getting scurvy and spending months at sea with a bunch of grungy guys with dirty eyepatch funk doesn’t really sound like much fun. Fortunately, Sid Meier’s Pirates punches reality right in its stupid face and focuses on a more cheesy, cartoon version of pirates. Sailing around its world is a lot more fun than real buccaneers probably ever had.

Realistic sound effects include creaking ships, cannon fire, and yelling men. An appropriate musical score can be heard in each town, depending on its nationality. Although most townships look unique from the outside, I was disappointed how all of the taverns (and their patrons) look exactly the same on the inside! Also, I found the treasure hunting aspect of the game to be very confusing. When you start a new game, be sure to select a challenging skill level, or else the game tends to be too easy (and boring). The multi-player mode lets up to four players blast each other out of the water, but the island formations that serve as battlegrounds are dull. Still, if you have any interest in adventure on the high seas, Pirates may be just what you've been looking for.

Finally, we've got an Xbox game worth owning that isn't called Fable or Jade Empire. Granted, we could've used it a little sooner than a few months before the release of Xbox 360; but I'll take what I can get. You should too—this game is gold.

Décevant, voilà le mot qui vient en premier à la bouche lorsqu'on a joué à la version PC et que l'on essaie ensuite cette adaptation Xbox. En effet, outre l'aspect graphique évidemment moins convaincant, c'est la jouabilité qui pâtit le plus du portage. L'utilisation de la manette n'est pas tout à fait adaptée à ce genre de jeu et si les développeurs ont fait de leur mieux pour transposer les commandes, ça reste très limite au niveau de la prise en main. Autre problème, les temps de chargements incessants qui n'incitent pas à poursuivre très longtemps l'aventure. Dommage, car le fond du jeu n'est pas en cause et s'avère toujours aussi riche. Au final, on passe d'un excellent titre sur PC à un jeu sympathique sans plus sur Xbox.

Pirates is an updated version of a game first designed in 1987, subsequently re-released in 1993. Though the graphics and sound have been brought up to current standards, the gameplay itself shows its age and feels a bit dates.