Sid Meier's Pirates!

Pirates sees you filling the floppy leather boots of a pirate captain during the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’, as you lay waste to the Spanish Main in the name of avarice, adventure, romance and revenge.

Joining either the French, English, Dutch or Spanish, you start your career as a talentless nobody in a rickety embarrassment of a ship. How you progress from there is largely dependent upon your skills as a naval tactician, a swordsman, a treasure hunter and a lothario. You initially start as a privateer, plundering the wealth-laden merchantmen of rival nations. However, once you’ve acquired a more formidable vessel, and a large enough crew, you can turn to piracy.

The various mini-games do keep things interesting, and while the duels with enemy captains and the thunderous exchanges of cannon-fire are entertaining, the true challenges lie in wooing the Governor’s daughter and sneaking into enemy towns without being apprehended by the local garrison. The former relies on observation skills and reflexes, as you frantically attempt to follow the young lady’s cues during a formal ballroom dance. Perform badly, and your advances are promptly rebuffed. Perform well, and you may win an attractive and influential wife. The latter relies on stealth, speed and evasion, as you try to outwit and outmanoeuvre patrolling sentries. Should you be caught, your career as a pirate is significantly hampered as you languish in jail for months.

Eventually, old age starts to take its toll, and you’ll find your reactions during shipboard duels not quite as swift as they once were. (Think of it as simulated arthritis.) Hopefully by the time you reach retirement age, you’ll have acquired sufficient wealth and influence to bow out in both style and comfort.

A brilliant, if slightly repetitive game. Highly recommended.

Pirates! on the Amiga is about the only game I've ever *seriously* been addicted to, i.e. playing all night until about 6am, then grabbing an hour's sleep and going to work ready to commit criminal negligence due to exhaustion!

It was with cautious joy I heard of the re-release, and counted down the days to its release. I can now confirm that the new version has all the playability and more of the original, and will not disappoint older fans of the game in any sense whatsoever.

If you've not played Pirates! before and you like your videogames a little more cerebral than the ubiquitous FPS bullet-fests, then get your copy right now and get used to one hour's sleep a night!

This game is amazing! It effectively incorporates many different styles of game play to create a game that is truly brilliant. You get the chance to sail the seas and create a name for your self by defeating pirates and amassing amazing fleets. The depth is brilliant as there are many little side missions available that keeps you going for ages.

Loved this Game all those years ago on my c 64 computer . This was just as much fun some times these old games are so much better as they have good game play its not all about the graphics.

I bought this game because I used to play the original when I was kid. It brought back a lot of memories. I loved the original and this reminded me of the endless hours I spent playing this game. It's nice being able to play it in 3D as opposed to the originals 2D!