Sid Meier's Pirates! | 
| From: 2K Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $9.00 (45%)
New (13) Used (4) from $9.50
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 1476
Platform: Windows Xp
Genre: Role Playing Games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0.1 x 0.1
MPN: 710425218392
Model: 710425218392
UPC: 710425218392
EAN: 0710425218392
ASIN: B000AOIES6
Release Date: July 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Experience the dangerous life of a pirate in this action-adventure game | | • | Play a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean, amassing fortune and fame | | • | Engage in fierce naval battles; battle, overtake, and command 27 ship types | | • | Explore the high seas and exotic ports in a richly detailed 3-D world | | • | Multiple quests through non-linear, open life timeline; enhanced sound effects |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Sid Meier is an authoritative designer of some of the leading Role-Play games. What does it take to become one of the most feared, successful, and revered pirates of history? Here's an all new version of the classic Pirate role-play scenario that'll shiver your timbers as you yell ahoy! 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. ESRB = E Everyone
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 A Pirate's Life For You September 26, 2006
R.L. Stevenson
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
There's a LOT of game in this box.
There are enough delightful aspects to make it worth a geezer gamer's time and enough light-hearted and simple action to be fun for any kid old enough to enjoy _Treasure Island_. For the hardcore I imagine it's just a romp.
Pirates! is a beautifully-rendered set of minigames stitched together as a story-construction kit packed with yer basic pirate tall-tale elements, plus an extra or two just for fun.
We got the swordfighting part, the ship-jacking part, the town-pillaging part, the pirate-treasure part (complete with fragmentary clues).
We got ripe chaos in the colonies, bad men, good women, and you.
Oh. Did I mention there's dancing?
The action is in sailing, sea battles, sword fights and dancing. The controls in all of them are simple enough that the games are almost instantly immersive, and the acting is never bad, sometimes outstanding, with a lot of rewarding attention to detail. I'll mention the tavern maid after she whacks a lout with a bottle and the exulting Spaniard captain.
The pace is fast enough that you start out busy trying to keep up, the controls simple enough that you can definitely learn how, and about the time you do learn, the depth and detail of the game starts seeping in around the edges.
The Caribbean political and economic situation is constantly changing. Everything about a colony except its existence depends on what comes in or out, by sea. The ships in the game are merchants and smugglers and immigrants and invasion fleets and raiders and garrison troops and couriers. And pirates, of course. You can, ahhh, interfere with this traffic, with consequences.
Another major story element available is getting yourself hooked in to the Caribbean-wide gossip networks of Governor's daughters, tavern maids and mysterious travelers. The latter two will chat with anyone, but the Governors' daughters are choosy about who they'll talk to. Who wants to talk to a pirate that lacks charm? Dance with the ladies, Cap'n.
Dancing, like swordfighting, has a definite rhythm and depends on paying very close attention to your partner. You get better -- there's a basic common repertoire of simple four-step sequences that you soon learn to recognize -- but the variations as you climb the social ladder (did I mention that aspect of the game?) get increasingly complex and the timing and cues subtler and more varied. Swordfighting is child's play compared to the dances women invent.
I've only mentioned some major and minor parts -- sea battles? assaulting cities? (that one's not an action game)? marriage? climbing the social ladder? -- and there are lots of details I won't mention at all. I'll summarize them all this way: they fit.
There's nothing like it. If the minigames themselves were deeper, I suspect you could completely lose yourself in its world. As it stands, it's just a gloriously good game.
I played this on a machine with a (low-end) Radeon X200, a gig of RAM and an Athlon 3500+. I had to crank all the graphics options down to the minimum (although I can run 800x600 rather than 640x480, which matters), set the power-saving CPU speed option to "Always On", and go into the advanced display settings to keep it from forcing e.g. antialiasing. I'm pretty sure the real bottleneck is the graphics card, and that if you've got even the least of the gamer graphics cards you've got nothing to worry about; this one is great up to the low-end 3D stuff but quickly runs out of steam after that.
A Great Game for Kids and Adults June 19, 2007
Michael Taylor (Indian Trail NC)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
Recently I bought Pirates for my son who is now at the age where he can enjoy computer games more and who has shown great interest in anything pertaining to pirates. Originally, I was going to play the game myself without high expectations of enjoying the game and then show him how to play. However, I've enjoyed the game a great deal!
There are five levels of difficulty, ranging from Apprentice to Swashbuckler and certain skills (fencing, medicine, romance, etc.) your pirate can possess.
Your pirate is able to earn "fame" scores through: promotions, wealth attained, pirates defeated, enemies avenged, pirate treasures recovered, and perhaps other means too.
The graphics are great and another good thing about the game is that your strategy is open-ended based on what you want to be (a romantic, plunderer, wealth accumulator, etc.).
Highly recommeded for both kids and adults (sometimes as in my case it may be hard to differentiate which one I may be when it comes to fun games!). The game manual is extremely well-written and very helpful!!!
Play and enjoy yet another great title by Sid Meier.
By the way Sid, when will you make some other Civil War real time games and make your Gettysburg game compatible with Windows Vista?
Game for the whole Family July 25, 2006
Erin Satchell (Upper Peninsula, Michigan)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Dad, mom, and three kids all enjoy this game. It can be played on many levels and does not contain the sort of graphic images that would preclude the children in our household. The kids enjoy the adventurous nature of the game, while the adults like the strategic aspects. Plenty of fun, easy to learn, and the difficulty level accomodates a range of players. A game everyone can enjoy.
Okay, fun, but not a really great game April 4, 2007
Twain
13 out of 29 found this review helpful
This game is kind of strange. Its essential activities can be summarized: capturing treasure, swordfighting, gaining quests, etc, but as a whole, there is no real plan, no overall strategy or mission. however, i keep playing it, which probably says more about me than the game.
ARRGGHH! July 27, 2006
Melody Recktenwald (Seattle, WA USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is my favorite game. There are so many cities it's almost impossible to remember everything so it feels much like a new game each time you play. Sometimes the sea travel seems slow but they did speed up the ship battles in the last patch. There is no lewd behavior or language, no blood and guts, and no death so I think that this game is pretty family-friendly.
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