Sid Meier's Pirates!

What shall we do with Sid Meier's pirates..?

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After the two ships have closed into boarding range one of two things will happen. Either the other captain will realise that resistance is futile and simply hand over his ship and cargo or he will still fancy his chances and challenge you to a sword duel. There are three offensive and three defensive moves on offer so combat is no Tekken. Each offensive move - the upper cut, lower cut and lunge - has a counteracting defensive move. So the player must time their attacks to get in under the enemy captain's defences. Some of the unique items are very handy here, especially the weighted swords which allow for faster attacks and the armour which will occasionally deflect a successful attack. Playing very much like a tug of war, the fight advances and falls across the deck until one fighter is backed up into a corner. One more hit and the loser is either pushed into the sea or despatched in one of a number of comedy methods. And while there are only three different deck layouts each fight remains entertaining and unpredictable. The contextual correctness of the graphics which make sure you fight against a range of fancy pirates and smartly dressed naval captains are a constant theme throughout the game which help to create an atmospherically believable game world.

The size of each ship's crew also plays an important part here. If neither captain gains the upper hand then the winner will be determined by whichever ship has the largest crew. As the two captains fight it out so do the two crews, right down to the point where the loser has only one crew member, the captain himself. If the loser is the computer then all spoils go to the player. Otherwise it's off to prison or the reload screen for the player.

After a successful plundering the morale of your crew gets a boost with a particularly bountiful acquisition giving your crew cause to break into song. Like all the music in the game there's a very definite 8-bit quality to the audio. Personally I found this rather endearing and much preferred to have the audio only slightly touched up for the release rather than the graphics. Which are mostly very good. Simple and functional, while the sunny palette and consistent and evocative art design make Pirates! a pleasing game to sit and stare at for hours on end. The bright colours never hurt my sensitive eyes and I kept noticing tiny little things - dolphins jumping in front of your ship or pirates swinging from the yardarm during swordfights, which all help to make for an even more charming game.

During your travels you will come into possession of scraps of treasure maps. Get enough pieces to have an idea where to a search and it's time to land a shore party and go in search of some free loot. The maps help the player by indicating landmarks such as Aztec temples or disused huts so with a bit of luck it's fairly easy to find the treasure. I found the treasure maps were a good way of boosting my money back up after I'd distributed the loot, something every captain has to do on occasion to stop his crew from mutinying. The dry land also features in the city attack mode. This is a very basic turn-based RTS which pits your pirates against the garrison of the target settlement. The pirates only have rifles and cutlasses at their disposal whereas the defenders may have cannons to back up their disciplined troops, so taking on a settlement should only be attempted with a large force of men. The rewards are worth the risk though, as not only does the victorious pirate get a mass of gold but they get to choose the nationality of the new governor, which can be very handy when there are no friendly ports in your current part of the world.