Sid Meier's Pirates!: Live the Life Review by: Mister X - 9/10
Sid Sails The Seas Once More!The name Sid Meier is nowadays synonymous with huge strategy games featuring astronomical levels of replay-ability and addictiveness, but old Sid wasn't always making games like that. In the 1980s he got his start on more basic projects, mostly of the flying simulator variety. Titles like F-15 Strike Eagle and Solo Flight, while popular with a certain audience were by no means hits. So, Meier and his company MicroProse opted to make a new type of game, this one set in in the Caribbean from the 16th to 18th centuries during the height of piracy. Advertised primarily by the addition of Meier's name to the title (yes, this is where the trend started) Pirates! was a critical and
commercial success, giving players the immersive experience of being a pirate on the open sea, sans syphilis.
17 years later, Sid had a new company, Firaxis, and he decided to modernize his classic title, breathing in to it new life. This new life needed to bring more in to the series- better graphics, a soundtrack, and even more havoc to wreak. When released in 2004 the new Sid Meier's Pirates! promised all of these things and more. Let's see if Firaxis kept that promise.
A Pirate Must Have a Backstory......No Matter How Boring!
It's the 17th century and a European noble family has deployed a fleet to repay a large debt owed to the villainous Marquis de la Montalban. The Marquis storms into the family's estate informing them the fleet has vanished. As such, the family is enslaved except for one boy, who escapes.
Ten years later the boy has fully matured and is ready to rescue and avenge his clan. After signing up with one of four nations (France, England, Holland, or Spain) to head to the Caribbean where the Marquis is based, the man leads a mutiny against an oppressive captain. With his very own ship, the man begins his career as a pirate- one that will see him not only attempt to save his kin but also butt heads with other pirates and even whole nations.
The story is actually a new addition- nothing of this sort appeared in the old version. It's also terribly cliched; dude avenges family and does some other stuff in between. Whoo hoo...... Obviously the story was not the main focus here, but it plays so deeply into the gameplay it can't simply be ignored.
Sail As Your Brand of Pirate, When You Want!
Your character is player-named, so I will refer to him by one I gave to him- "Savy John" when necessary. Before you head for the New World you can
select John's specialty, as well as the starting year (five years from 1600 to 1680), and the game's difficulty. Savy's expertise can be anything from fencing skills (quicker reflexes during swordplay) to medicinry (increased lifespan). As for WHEN you want to play the game, the available dates affect the political landscape of the region; in 1600 settlements are smaller, fewer, and lightly defended whereas in 1680 there are many more towns- huge ones- with massive garrisons. Note that difficulty ties in to
selecting your dates- if you start on the lowest difficulty you can only begin in 1660 when the cities are only moderately guarded and the area is perfectly ripe for piracy.
The level of customability here is commendable. With all the
selectable "perks" and dates the player can really decide how they want to play the game- what approach they will take. This gives rise to many viable strategies and helps imbibe the game with that classic strategy charm. However, the fact that the character's physical traits can't be modified whatsoever is a detriment.
Before You Take to The Seas, Get Familiar With Landlubber Ways!
Of course John can't spend all of his time at sea and he must occasionally take to land to rest, recover, and find stuff to do! There are several types of settlements, and you'd be wise to remain informed on their characteristics. There are cities, found in accurate locations, with accurate loyalties, and at accurate times depending on the start date. They have much to trade and much for you to learn. Then there are colonies, which can be founded by any nation at any place and any time, but have little to offer besides the opportunity to improve the economies of allied cities. At last, there are independent settlements; Jesuit Missions, where you can send immigrants to cities and increase trade opportunities, Pirate Havens, and Indian Villages, both places from which you can send raiders to cities and weaken the local garrisons. This variety of settlements is a wonderful aspect- it creates an incentive to carefully plan your voyages to maximize your successes and infamy.
But What Lies in These Towns?
Cities are unique in that they have Governors. Governors have the capacity to promote Savy up the naval hierarchy of the nations they are privy to. Promotions are given out for acts like sinking hostile ships (pirates or warring empires), sacking enemy cities, and other actions that benefit the promoting nations. You can earn up to eight promotions for a given country, and each promotion will either decrease the cost to repair your ships or allow you to trade goods for more cash in friendly ports. The Governor will also have a daughter, that's further in this review though.
The most important location(s) in the game, however, are the taverns. It is here Savy can recruit more men for his crew, overhear scuttlebutt about ships loaded with riches, and learn about what certain cities can offer him. But the most important figure is the shady guy in the back. This man will sell you things such as maps showing the locations of buried treasures of notable pirates, rare goods that provide powerful buffs, and information. Purchase of the latter reveals the current locations of Baron Raymondo, a Spanish officer who, upon defeat, will provide John a piece of a map showing the spot where one of the latter's relatives is held. Thus, the shady man is critical in advancing the plot and his presence is critical in ensuring you drop by the tavern every time you head into town.
There are also less prominent features such as the merchant, who of course exists to do trade. Prices vary from city to city depending to the towns economic prosperity, it is important to keep track of such statistics for the commodities offered here. It's also the main place where you can buy food, which is of course necessary to keep your crew....alive. An interesting note is how the Spanish will not do trade with any nation besides their own. This is an issue because at any given time half of the cities in the game will be Spanish controlled. John will have to purchase a fake mustache to eliminate this issue ('guess Groucho had some historical inspiration). There's also the shipwright, who can buy, repair, and upgrade ships with improved armaments, steering, e.t.c. Finally, you have the option to divide the plunder Savy's earned so far among his crew. This is an interesting part of the game, as you can actually decide whether you want to increase or decrease the difficulty here, making your new piracy career after a few months have elapsed harder or easier.
Overall, the sheer amount of content in these cities is pretty overwhelming, even if it doesn't seem that way at first. With so much to do and plan, you'll definitely be spending a lot of time in these parts.
ENOUGH! Where's The Action?
On the sea there are a wide variety of targets. ANY AND EVERY ship is available for attack- the nation you signed up with earlier means nothing here. But nation-allied vessels usually won't carry much in the way of loot, usually never exceeding maybe 2,000 gold coins and some food. The really desirable targets are the top 10 pirates (excluding Savy, of course). These scallywags are all notable pirates operating in the 17th century; you'll recognize the almighty Captain Morgan and Blackbeard. Upon defeat and capture, these highest-ranking rogues will yield vast amounts of gold that have accumulated over time- if left alone for a decade or two Morgan may yield upwards of 100,000 gold upon defeat.
When attacking and engaging a ship there are three prevalent strategies:
1) Carefully time your cannon volleys and beat the enemy crew into submission, forcing a surrender.
2) Fire volley after volley so as to sink the opposing vessel and waste no time with the hassle of capturing.
3) Scream "CHARGE!!" and sail headlong into the enemy ship and engage the captain in a duel.
That dueling part is one of the key parts of this game. When dueling you can thrust, slice, chop, dodge any one of those attacks, or taunt so as to hasten an attack on part of your foe. Most of this is meaningless on the lowest difficulty, where you can simply keep thrusting when the baddie attacks- Savy is always the quicker hand and repeating this action will guarantee victory via shoving the captain into the sea. However, on higher difficulties mastery of the entire system is a requirement, as your opponent will always be faster and more agile than you. Therefore, this entire mechanic ties heavily into the adjustable difficulty system, helping increase its relevancy. Oh another thing, do make sure to keep an eye on your crew- should they all die you will be imprisoned or cast onto a remote island, not to return to your career for months.
But the wrath of a good pirate is not set to the seas! You can also assault cities by anchoring ashore nearby and marching your crew towards it. This brings up the land battle interface. Here is the game's best feature. How many men are in your crew are divided into brigades on one side of the battlefield and oppose the enemy crew on the other side. See, this is the best part of the game because it gives that Meier strategy vibe- even if you have 120 men and are facing off against 240 you can still win, so long as you play the right cards. You can take advantage of terrain such as rocks and jungle to reduce enemy attack efficiency and set up ambushes to score valuable flank bonuses. Keep in mind however, that this goes both ways. Either you secure the advantage and tear it up or the defender does. If you defeat the garrison Savy will loot the town and you can pass control of a town to another nation. Should you pass the city to a warring nation you are in for a promotion!
Pirates! does a splendid job of mixing both the fast-paced action of sea battles and the tactical, methodical experience of land battles. This game may very well be one of the very few to ever successfully implement both of these. And it did it spectacularly- a feat that deserves to be commended. Either on your ship or on the land, fights are guaranteed to get your blood pumping and your heart racing.
There's more to the Caribbean than guns and city-slicking!
Remember when I said the governors have daughters? Well, they're not just accessories. Once you are of a certain rank in the governor's overlord nation, the daughter will invite you to the evening ball for a dance. This is pretty much just a fun little mini-game to fill in the space between constant battles. The dancing controls are mapped to the numpad and you will have to hit the correct key when your partner gestures in the direction corresponding to the correct key. For example, when she points left, you must press 2, or “left”. Perfect execution will increase the size of the giant beating heart at the top of the screen. Once the ball is over, the woman will give you either a useful item or information on the location of Raymondo, or even other stuff! If you continue to romance her, you can eventually marry her. But make sure to marry a beautiful woman! If she's ugly it lowers your score. Thanks, Sid.
The interior of Central and South America hides more than lost relatives. Should you recover all of Savy's relatives you can begin to search for the lost cities. Like looking for the relatives, map parts can be retrieved from defeated pirates and governor's daughters. Be careful, though, if you kill all of the sources of info, you won't be able to find all of the cities. Not that it would matter, because for some reason all of the cities are located in modern day Honduras, a stones throw from the coast. Yeah, you know how the Aztec, Maya, Inca (who didn't even live in Honduras), and the Olmec's all decided to build their El Dorado's within two feet of each other looking the exact same as each other? I don't get it either. At least you get 50,000 gold a pop for finding them.
Now all of these things I talked about, great pirates and their treasures, lost cities, daughters, all count towards overall completion. The closer you are to nixing all pirates and finding all of this the closer you are to 100% completion and the higher your title will be upon retirement. No good pirate wants to retire another bartender or bilge rat! The highest rank, Governor can only be attained at 100% and makes for a great goal to strive for. See, eventually John will have to retire, be it due to poor health or wanting to start a new g-I mean, quieter life. The entire score and completion system makes for a great pirate portfolio and the dancing and cities-searching mechanics make for interesting side activities, though the weird geography bug with the cities kinda trivializes the whole thing.
Sing shanties while staring at the sky(box)!
For 2004, the animated graphics of Pirates! Are impressive. There is a phenomenal attention to detail and just about every texture or sprite you can imagine has its own unique zest. Even NPC's with feathers in their hats have feathers that move with their owner. When you look at a prospering city you can gawk in awe at the cleanliness of the streets and well-kept houses. On the contrary, poor cities display the horrific decay and rot you'd see in any famine-afflicted settlement. Ships bob in the tide and sails blow with the wind in perfect time. You can even see dolphins and whales swimming alongside your boat! The only flaw is with the ocean itself. During a sea battle you can see it doesn't move at all. Even when crew members are knocked into it the water only spurts very slightly. Overall however, it's only a blemish on what is otherwise a very impressive system.
The same praise can not be sung for the soundtrack, however. It is mainly effective in adding depth to the current scene than making you feel any real emotion. An unbroken, jaunty tune will play when looking over prosperous settlements while a discordant, melancholy rendition of the same track will play in poor cities. Is the OST effective in this regard? Absolutely, though it's not particularly memorable. The only catchy track is the one that plays during land battles (best part of the game, again) which vibrates with that sort of energy you'd be imbued with when devising strategic plans on the battlefield. Another thing, after about 15 seconds most of the music will stop altogether, leaving an awkward silence.
PROS:
-Character traits and era can be modified
-Immersive settlement mechanic
-Thrilling sea battles and duels
-Fantastic strategy charm in land battles
-Entertaining dancing mini-game
CONS
-Cliche story
-Bugged lost cities mechanic
-Unimpressive soundtrack
CONSENSUS:
Sid Meier's Pirates! is a faithful remake of a classic PC title that's improved in every way that matters and added loads more to do. If you're a fan of Meier, strategy, or even just piracy, this one comes highly recommended.
Thanks for reading!
Graphics
9 Sound
5 Addictive
8 Depth
9 Story
1 Difficulty
6
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