"Sid Meier's Pirates!" by 2K Games
As a rule, I dont buy games unless I play (and like) the demo first. I was eager to try Pirates! for a long time but Firaxis/Take2 never released a demo... so I never pulled the trigger. Recently, the price n Pirates! dropped to $20 and I was feeling the need for a new game so I put my rule to the test and learned that I made that rule for a reason.
After really looking forward to playing this game, I was disappoined. Pirates! is more of a collection of mini-games than a real game. Maybe a hit with kids but I found it wanting.
The graphics at sea are terrific but that just isnt enough. This is basically an open-ended game with a few light quests to do, like finding pirate treasure. Since I just don't fantasize about being a pirate and raiding ships and towns (ad nauseum), I found myself wondering what I should be doing.
The easy level leaves out some of the game detail but even on the higher levels of difficulty I found the game repetitive after a few hours of play. "Isnt there anything else to do?" and "What should I be doing?" were common thoughts in my head.
On the plus side, they did a great remake for the nostalgia factor (and those who played the original 15 years ago), the graphics look good, and the whole game has a lot of polish. On the negative side, the game lacks depth and starts to get very repetitive and monotonous.
For $20, you might enjoy this game as a casual game, like Luxor, but dont expect too much.
