Sid Meier's Pirates!

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.