Once again, my new computer has allowed me to play a game I hadn't been able to do so previously. Most of the games I've enjoyed have been fisrt-person shooters (the Half-Life series, and Unreal Tournament), RPG's (Neverwinter Nights and Diablo II), or puzzle-solving games (the Myst series). Now, I've become hooked on something new for me... a pirate game! This one's called Sid Meier's Pirates!
This game is part strategy, part role playing, and part historical simulation. You play a young man in the mid-1600s whose family has been kidnapped. You travel to the Carribean in search for your lost family members and search for them while plying the most profitable trade of the era - piracy. Ports of call and the nations in power include the Dutch, the English, the French, and the Spanish. The ships of the era are accurately represented, the other pirates in the Spanish Main are historically correct, and the way ships move is accurately dependant upon wind and sea conditions.
Pirates! is so addictive, I spend more than 12 hours over the weekend playing a couple of the pirates I've created - Dirty Pierre and (my best one, so far) Stinky LeFeet. Each country will award you promotions in rank, based on what you do to benefit each country. I've been creating different characters to try out different strategies, and (so far) Stinky LeFeet has been promoted to marquis by the English, Admiral by the French, colonel by the Spanish (although there's now a 7,000 gold price on my head), and there's a 1,000 gold price on my head by the Dutch.
During the course of the game, you have the option of defeating other pirates (you start the game as the 10th most notorius pirate in the Spanish Main). Stinky LeFeet has defeated two of them (one of which was the notorius Blackbeard), and is now the 3rd most notorius pirate on the sea.
So, beware the dread pirate Stinky LeFeet... and get yourself a copy of Sid Meier's Pirates! as soon as you can. It's a lot of fun!
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