Sid Meier's Pirates! (Live the Life)

by 2K Games

Product Features

• The 1987 cross-genre classic returns with an all-new story, a new engine, updated gameplay, and 3-D graphics
• Play as a pirate captain cruising the 17th century Caribbean
• Confront enemies on board ships, in seedy taverns, and in other locations; use anything within your reach as a weapon
• Engage in fierce naval battles fighting single enemies or multiple ships
• For 1 player

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00029QR8I
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 22, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (153 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,634 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Originally released in 1987, Pirates! received unprecedented critical acclaim for crossing multiple game genres to offer unique, unrivaled gameplay options. Pirates! set the industry standard for innovative game design with its unique blend of open-ended role-playing, real-time adventures and thrilling action sequences.

Now it's time for Sid Meier and Firaxis Games to bring this pioneering action-adventure game into the 21st century. An entirely new game engine will deliver updated gameplay, stunning new features, spectacular 3D graphics and enhanced sound effects, so players can fully experience the intrigue, adventure and danger of life as a pirate on the Spanish Main.

In Pirates! you take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean amassing fortune and fame in an attempt to seize your rightful place as one of the most revered (and feared!) pirates in history. Test your skills as a sea captain exploring the high seas and exotic ports in a richly detailed 3D world. Overtake the enemy and seize valuable booty. Exchange plank-shattering broadsides in fierce naval battles, and engage in duels with worthy opposing captains.

The new Pirates! carries on with the great gameplay and design simplicity tradition of the award-winning original, while adding more challenging and exciting battle options. It offers a deeper and more varied role-playing experience that includes multiple paths to a wealthy retirement. This and many other features and additions make this gaming classic one of the most highly anticipated releases of this century!

Game Features:

• Experience an all-new story built upon the most fun and compelling features of the original Pirates! game
• Live out multiple quests through a non-linear, open life timeline where every decision poses distinct challenges and possibilities
• Witness the consequences of your actions in current events throughout the Pirates! world
• Battle, overtake and command 27 different ship types, enhanced with assorted ammo, cannon and other upgrades
• Take on various foes including merchant and military captains, ferocious pirates, evil gentry and even rival suitors -- each with different skills and abilities
• Confront enemies on board ships, in seedy taverns, on the ramparts and even at the Governor's mansion Wield weapons -- or anything within your reach -- as you fence against foes
• Engage in fierce naval battles fighting single enemies or multiple ships
• Sneak into towns, escape out of prisons, navigate around adversaries and surprise unsuspecting vessels Dispatch landing parties of buccaneers in strategic battles to take over entire cities
• Increase your riches and impress the governor's daughter with your charm, fame, heroism -- even your dancing abilities
• Collect items (swords, spyglasses, armor, hats, coats, etc.) that improve skills or provide other new benefits and view them in a new inventory system Enhance your gameplay experience with downloadable content including flags, sail emblems, character skins and more

Awards:
Since its initial release, Pirates! has sold more than a million units worldwide, and received numerous awards:

• Action Game of the Year
• Computer Gaming World Magazine
• Historical Game of the Year
• Compute Magazine
• Best Fantasy/Role Playing Game
• Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design

Having been inducted into the Hall of Fame by both Computer Gaming World and GameSpy, and voted one of the top 20 all-time games by Computer Gaming World Magazine, Pirates! is recognized as one of the greatest games ever created.

Product Description

In Sid Meier's Pirates! You'll become take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean. Amass fortune and fame in an attempt to seize your rightful place as one of the most revered (and feared!) pirates in history. Enhance the gaming with downloadable flags, sail emblems, character skins and more

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

412 of 426 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pirates! Just like old times., November 27, 2004

By 

Pauly C. (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sid Meier's Pirates! (Live the Life) (CD-ROM)

If you have played any of the previous Pirates! games of the past, you will immediately recognize this game. The gameplay is essentially the same, with some added extras. The ship to ship battles play just like it did 15 years ago - and this is mostly a good thing.


Pros:
- Excellent graphics. The water animation is great looking.
- Varied tasks such as attacking ships and towns, finding treasure, finding lost family, keep you very busy.
- Easy gameplay. You can get into the game fairly quickly.
- Different "missions" keep you wanting to play more and more and watch your character progress.

Cons:
- Repetetive gameplay and animations/cutscenes. Everything in the game becomes tiresome when you have seen the same thing 20 times. There are only a few animations for each task in the game. Every town looks exactly the same also. There is no variety in the taverns, except for the colour of the hair of the "woman" at the bar. When swordfighting, there are pretty much 3 backgrounds that they take place. It is way too scripted also.
- No way to speed up sailing against the wind. Out of all of the things to make more realistic, they should not have picked this one.
- Sneaking into town is extremely boring, time consuming, and unvaried. There are two speeds to this - slow and slower.
- Even if you sail under one nation's flag, you can still earn promotions from other countries. The difference between being a pirate and privateer is practically zero.
- Limited upgrades to ships. While the game boasts upward of 20 ships, you can only add about 7 upgrades (sails, armour, etc). Unique/special upgrades would have been a nice touch.

Overall, it's a fun game and will keep you busy for many, many hours. However, you will become bored with it's repetetion too quickly. There just isn't enough variety in the game. Sailing and attacking ships is the best part of the game, and after a while, you will cringe at having to go into town for the 1000000th time to talk to the governor / dance with the daughter / fix your ship / trade goods. It's EXACTLY the same in every town, and that is my biggest gripe.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did not live up to expetations., December 10, 2004

By 

Ethan Mcafee "ethanmc" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sid Meier's Pirates! (Live the Life) (CD-ROM)

Being a huge fan of the orginal Pirates and other Sid Meier games, I was very exited about the potential for this new version. However, in the end it did not live up to my expectations of a challeging strategy game. This game is too easy, repeditive and really made for young children, not the typical Sid Meier Civilization types. After playing for a few hours I asked "Is this all the game offers?"

Similiar to the old Pirates, you are the captain of a pirate ship in the Carribean. Most of the game revolves around sailing to different ports, atacking other ships, and dancing with the governors daughters.

Sailing around is exceedingly boring and time consuming. Since the wind almost always blows in the same direction, it literally takes you 30 minutes to sail from one side to the other. Trading in the ports is virtually worthless... everything is based on fixed prices... it is a minor minor part of the game... when you can get thousands of gold from attacking pirates... do you really care if you make 50 gold by trading goods? No!

Attacking other ships is repeditive and easy. It starts where you sail your boat after their boat and fire cannons at each other. 90% of the time, their boat heads directly at your boat and then you duel. It makes it rare that you have a long drawn out cannon match. I thought the sword duels would be fun, they aren't. Simply by constantly tapping the "jab" button you will win all the matches... No need to dodge, jump, etc... I have yet to lose in over 50 duels with this simple strategy... Also, it makes no sense when your boat with 40 sailors can easily take over an enemys with 200 or more all the time.

At the different ports... The governors daughter asks you to goto the dance... where you follow her dance moves around by pressing the keypad..... Then you do it over and over and over again.... It wasn't fun the first time... its less fun the 50th time.

If people are looking for a much more complete and exciting pirates strategy game, I recommend Port Royale 2.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost weekend, December 5, 2004

By 

Ny-er (NYC) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sid Meier's Pirates! (Live the Life) (CD-ROM)

I just lost two days on this game, I love it that much!

I was a big fan of Civilization III, so I was curious to see what Sid would come up with this time. He didn't disappoint.

You are a young lad and your family gets kidnapped by pirates, so you sign on with either a spanish, british, french or dutch crew --- and much like that Gilligan's Island song; the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. After being beaten and abused by a horrible captain, the crew mutinies and puts you in charge.

You sail into the caribbean looking for lost family, battle enemy ships and fortune (hidden pirate treasure).

You can flirt with the governor's daughters and woo them with jewels, but you have to learn how to dance properly first (I'm hopeless at that).

Sea battles are neat because you can either pummel your enemy with a barrage of cannon fire (with various types of cannon fodder from grape shot, to chain to cannon balls), and watch your enemy sink. Or you can sail close to the enemy ship, board it, and fight the captain of that ship, winning what's stored on the ship as a price if you defeat the captain. But be careful, get too old and your moves are slower and you could wind up defeated and in jail on a local island. However, if you have enough money, you can bribe a guard and escape. If you don't, after a period of time you can try to sneak out of town to escape.

That's just the elemental part of this game. You can go up against notorious pirates by chasing them down and defeating them -- usually with a great sum of gold stored on their ships as a reward.

You can buy helpful additions for your boat at various towns -- each town seems to have its own specialty in boat upgrades -- or visit the tavern and talk to the mysterious man in the back, who often has something to sell you.

Each time you defeat an enemy ship of whatever team you signed up with, you are awarded rank and often land parcels on that island. But you can also be awarded rank and parcels of land with other countries -- it's up to you and how you sail and conquer.

What's really amusing is that when you defeat a particularly fierce enemy and you sail away, you can hear your fellow pirates sing merrily an old pirate dirge.

Watch your crew though, if you don't divide up the amassed treasure in a timely manner, they'll mutiny. And every time you divide up the treasure, you get a paltry sum, and are left with one boat -- even if you managed to gather five or six in your conquests.

If you woo one governor's daughter enough times (by dancing and giving her gifts, rescuing her from pirates, etc...) you can marry.

I've just started playing the game, and that's what I've discovered so far ... I'm eager to get back to it, even now.

BUY THIS GAME! And then say goodbye to your loved ones for a couple of days while you become consumed by it.