As a lover of the original pirates -- I offer my comments on the game:
Sid -- after a couple of generations of games and other blockbusters since the incredible first 'pirates', how could you NOT make this game better? Beta testers -- what were you smoking when you played this game? -- thirty lashes with a wet ubs cord to both the beta testers and Sid/atari developers who listened to them.
The manual certainly brings back nostalgia -- half the information you need to know is absent (for example, land combat details or the effects of romance and marriage). And -- oh joy -- just when I thought I had forgotten about 'cd keys'.
The interface is what needs the most work and there are improvements any impaired gamer would see that could have made it a lot more fun while still keeping true to the remake. Not being able to save a game with my own file name???? HOW HARD IS THAT??? --COME ON!!!! A small window that would allow viewing the map while you sailed so you don't have to constantly switch back and forth? I'm lazy..but having to click 4 different screens to reload a game is a bit much. A better compass when you are sailing or on land??? The inability to see numerical damage of your ship and your opponent unless you go into status? The inability to even identify opposing forces in land battles or determine their status? Not having a 'time warp' feature for that endless sail from vera cruz to trinidad??? Would it be too much to think the developers could have put different languages for the nationalities instead of creating a fake language? If i here 'CUBAN' or whatever when I challenge the captain of the guards ONE MORE TIME .... The speech option possibilities had such potential and would have been even more fun for the ladies after the dance... what do I get? "I live in london' or some such eubonic type speech. etc etc etc. So much for the marketers who said..hey save money...make a language NO ONE will understand so we can market it around the world...the players won't mind! WRONG!!!
The gameplay: this is where i have the fewest complaints. It plays very much like the original (see above caveat). Dancing is fun and the most challenging part of the game aside...swordplay is too easily beaten except at the highest level. It's perhaps a bit too easy to get gold --- finding the 1st secret city gives you 100k????? Unless you WANT to roleplay, takes any real incentive out of the trading element. I do miss the ship vs port battles that were taken out.
This is not designed so much with the idea to make a new and better 'pirates' but clearly (1) a game primarily designed to make money off of our nostalgia; (2) a game that was rushed out to meet a deadline; or (3) designed primarly to port over to the gameboxes given the graphics and interface. Or all of the above.
In summary, I would recommend anyone that loved the original to buy this..but with a strong 'caveat emptor' that it falls FAR short of what it could have been. Better yet, wait 3 months and you'll be able to pick it up for half the price at wally world probably...That's about the worth of it...19.99.
I feel my loyalty betrayed.
/rant off
Sid -- after a couple of generations of games and other blockbusters since the incredible first 'pirates', how could you NOT make this game better? Beta testers -- what were you smoking when you played this game? -- thirty lashes with a wet ubs cord to both the beta testers and Sid/atari developers who listened to them.
The manual certainly brings back nostalgia -- half the information you need to know is absent (for example, land combat details or the effects of romance and marriage). And -- oh joy -- just when I thought I had forgotten about 'cd keys'.
The interface is what needs the most work and there are improvements any impaired gamer would see that could have made it a lot more fun while still keeping true to the remake. Not being able to save a game with my own file name???? HOW HARD IS THAT??? --COME ON!!!! A small window that would allow viewing the map while you sailed so you don't have to constantly switch back and forth? I'm lazy..but having to click 4 different screens to reload a game is a bit much. A better compass when you are sailing or on land??? The inability to see numerical damage of your ship and your opponent unless you go into status? The inability to even identify opposing forces in land battles or determine their status? Not having a 'time warp' feature for that endless sail from vera cruz to trinidad??? Would it be too much to think the developers could have put different languages for the nationalities instead of creating a fake language? If i here 'CUBAN' or whatever when I challenge the captain of the guards ONE MORE TIME .... The speech option possibilities had such potential and would have been even more fun for the ladies after the dance... what do I get? "I live in london' or some such eubonic type speech. etc etc etc. So much for the marketers who said..hey save money...make a language NO ONE will understand so we can market it around the world...the players won't mind! WRONG!!!
The gameplay: this is where i have the fewest complaints. It plays very much like the original (see above caveat). Dancing is fun and the most challenging part of the game aside...swordplay is too easily beaten except at the highest level. It's perhaps a bit too easy to get gold --- finding the 1st secret city gives you 100k????? Unless you WANT to roleplay, takes any real incentive out of the trading element. I do miss the ship vs port battles that were taken out.
This is not designed so much with the idea to make a new and better 'pirates' but clearly (1) a game primarily designed to make money off of our nostalgia; (2) a game that was rushed out to meet a deadline; or (3) designed primarly to port over to the gameboxes given the graphics and interface. Or all of the above.
In summary, I would recommend anyone that loved the original to buy this..but with a strong 'caveat emptor' that it falls FAR short of what it could have been. Better yet, wait 3 months and you'll be able to pick it up for half the price at wally world probably...That's about the worth of it...19.99.
I feel my loyalty betrayed.
/rant off