Pirates of the Burning Sea Hands-On - Naval Combat and More

By Jason Ocampo, GameSpotPosted Dec 6, 2007 5:03 pm PT

We finally get to sail the Spanish Main looking for trouble in this pirate-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

The age of sail is a popular story setting, thanks to its romantic aspects. It's an era when ships moved about by the power of the wind, rather than loud, ugly machinery, and heroes swashbuckled their way around using skill and charm. Or, at least, that's how popular culture likes to remember it. Still, there's something to be said for a pirate-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game when so many of its competitors veer toward the familiar fantasy route. That brings us to Pirates of the Burning Sea, a game that's been in development for a number of years now. But with the launch finally in sight next month, preparations are coming to a frenzied head, and developer Flying Lab Software has been busy conducting beta tests. We dived into the test recently ourselves, with some of the developers tagging along to show off some of the game's cool features, like naval combat.

Get ready to talk like a pirate a lot. Argh.

Burning Sea is a bit like a massively multiplayer online role-player version of single-player games like Sid Meier's Pirates! and Port Royale. Many of the concepts in Burning Sea make it similar to those games, only expanded to allow for hundreds or even thousands of players to inhabit the same virtual world at the same time. You create a character and explore port towns and their various structures, like taverns, for missions. Then, you can embark on the open sea in a ship that you can customize with various upgrades. As you ply the waters of the Caribbean, you can sail from town to town or engage in naval battles, and you can sword-fight on land or on the decks of a ship.

For the purposes of our demonstration, we created midlevel pirate characters. That may seem a bit obvious, but there are actually a number of different classes that you can choose from. You can also be a naval officer for one of the great powers of the time, like Britain, France, or Spain; a freetrader; or a privateer, which is basically an officially sanctioned pirate. Those three classes are aligned to one of the three great powers, but pirates fly under their own flag.

Character creation and customization is what you'd expect with an RPG. You select a gender and name and then proceed to customize your avatar's appearance, selecting from different hats (pirates love snazzy headgear), hairstyles, jewelry, faces, eye patches, facial hair (for guys), coats, shirts, vests, necks, gloves, boots, pants, and so on. Thankfully, there's also a randomize button if you're overwhelmed by all these choices. If you don't like the color scheme, you can dye most objects with a primary and secondary color. Once you've got the look nailed down, you can begin the game.

The Flying Labs developers gave us a bit of a head start, so we didn't get a glimpse of the early game. Instead, we started with characters at about level 16, so that meant that we could distribute a fair number of skill points around. Burning Sea is very much an RPG in that you accumulate points that you can use to purchase a wide variety of skills. These can range from skills that can help you in sea battles (such as flogging skills, which let you "encourage" your crew to do things such as reloading the guns faster), swordsmanship skills, dirty fighting skills, and much more. The aforementioned are just a handful of the skill branches in the game.

Harbor calls don't get much more exotic than the famed Port Royale.

We then briefly explored the key ports in the game, letting Flying Lab show off its various architectural differences. Port Royale is the main British port, and in reality it was devastated by earthquakes during this time period. Appropriately, Port Royale in the game looks like it was hit by a natural disaster, as the fortifications by the water have collapsed in some areas. The most impressive port is Tortuga, which is absolutely huge. The level wends its way through the town, then up to a bubbling volcano in the mountains, and then back through the cliffs to the shore again. A quick run-through of this level reveals many potential adventures to be had and places to explore.

Then it was off to sea, which is one of the neater aspects of the game because it represents a departure from most MMORPGs. In those games, you run around the countryside getting into battle after battle. In Burning Sea, you sail around a beautiful version of the Caribbean. It's much like the 3D world of Sid Meier's Pirates!, only many of the ships that you see sailing around are being controlled by other players and not just the computer. Naturally, the game tweaks the map scale and ship speed, so you don't need to spend weeks sailing from port to port like sailors did in the old days. Still, the map feels huge; with the right winds, it'll take up to 30 minutes to get from one end to the other. The Caribbean is dotted with all sorts of islands, both large and small, and there's a large amount of traffic in the form of player and computer vessels.

We were playing in a larger group of about six, so each player controlled his or her own ship and everyone tried to stick together. Since we had a nice raiding party, we attacked fairly high-level pirate vessels controlled by the computer. When a battle erupts, the ships involved disappear from the map and are replaced by a battle icon. You can join the battle simply by sailing close to it and getting drawn in. Do so, and you're dropped into the battlefield, which does a good job of blending both simulation and RPG action. Combat isn't frenetic or fast-paced, but happens at a more stately speed, as dictated by the winds. The challenge is to maneuver your vessel into a position to deliver deadly broadsides of fire into an opponent, while at the same time trying to keep the same thing from happening to you. With numerous combatants, this becomes a challenging job of avoiding collisions at sea. Colliding won't hurt you, but it can halt all your momentum, leaving you vulnerable.

Cruise the Spanish Main and look for trouble.

A circular marker around your ship helps you maneuver with the wind (sailing into the wind, after all, is a bad thing), while also highlighting the firing arcs of your vessel. Your ship can be upgraded with a wide variety of improvements, though keep in mind that once installed, many of these upgrades are permanent. You'll be able to maintain multiple ships, so you can have a small, fast raider or a multiple-decked ship of the line. The game also takes into account the different types of cannon shot that you load. Chainshot takes care of an opponent's elaborate rigging, grapeshot takes a toll on the enemy crew, and round shot can punch holes in the hull. When you whittle an opponent down, either he'll abandon ship, the ship will sink, or you can attempt to board her.

The naval aspects of Burning Sea help distinguish it from many MMORPGs, and the fairly unique setting for the genre doesn't hurt, either. This is a game that's got definite potential. Flying Labs Software's challenge now is to get it launched, and we'll see how it all turns out in a little over a month from now.

78 Comments

  • mbchudno

    Posted Dec 16, 2007 5:27 pm PT

    Quit beta after playing for couple days. This is purely PvP based game although devs are working very hard trying to weasel out of saying that this is PvP game and will try to market it as a game suitable for both PvE and PvP crowd. But with all crafting ports located in PvPable zones, if you want to do any crafting or trading, PvP will be forced down your throat as according to Devs, its an act of PvP by itself. So if you want to play a pirate and hunt npcs, you can probably pull it off, but if you want to enjoy anything else every MMORPG should offer yet you don't like PvP, wait till someone else releases game with more controlled PvP structure. Aside of that, i found game to be ok, nothing spectacular, but not bad. Naval combat was definitely fun, but just like so many people pointed out, avatar combat was just lame.

  • agorfein

    Posted Dec 14, 2007 9:23 am PT

    I'd like to comment on a couple of things Djin said. As I expressed in my post I like the basic fencing system. However, I agree it does need some work. The designers have promised a few improvements before launch though we can't expect major changes. Probably the single biggest problem (and the one that will take the most time to fix, if ever) is the lack of collision detection in melee. It is also presently too slow. The cool-down for moves should be set to be shorter. However, one of the things I do like is that the fencing moves are real fencing moves, each with its own animation, not magical attacks or people leaping into the air and spinning about bizarrely.

    Most of the missions are the same for each country. However, there are a lot of them. They are also quite easy to figure out how to complete. There is no need to figure out where to go to accomplish something or to hunt a particular critter. Depending on your taste you may either find this refreshing or simplistic.

    I have not experienced graphics problems though my system is about the same as Djin's. Perhaps we are using different settings. I use the default.

    As for PVP: There are areas of the map in which everyone is automatically flagged for PVP. It is part of the process of taking a port from an enemy nation as the port grows less stable. It must be kept in mind that the present open beta has only been running a little while and the server is by no means mature. This means not very many ports have reached the PVP stage (only two out of about 60). Besides, how many people in WOW do you really see generally wandering about with their PVP flag set prior to level 70?

    I have not had Djin's experience with "morbid emo pirates." In fact, one of the things that has attracted me to the game is that in my home port (French) almost everyone has a plausible French name (and a few mercenaries from other countries). There are few, if any, munchkins with names like "thundergodz" or "dethsord." EDIT: Having re-read Djin's post I think he was talking about the actual pirate faction home port. I can't really comment about that as I haven't really given piracy a try. However, I do have one comment: Thank heavens! A whole faction to attract players I don't want to deal with! Not having emo pirate munchkins in my faction brings tears of joy to my eyes.

    Where the game shines is in the naval combat. It is clearly the best part of the game. If you like age of sail combat you will like this game. If you don't, you should probably look elsewhere.

    If you like Age of Sail I'd recommend you give it a try during the open beta (if you have a fast connection, the beta took me two days to download on cable modem, but part of that may have been a technical problem they were having at the time). The game certainly has flaws but I think shows a lot of potential.

  • Djin

    Posted Dec 14, 2007 1:21 am PT

    AMD X2 4200
    Asus A8N-SLI
    2GB DDR400 RAM
    EVGA 7900GT @ 660/760
    Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS
    Logitech 5.1 speakers
    Samsung SyncMaster 932BW (1440x900@75hz)

    I can run this game at the highest settings no problem, but as you can probably guess, this is a beta and the code (I would hope so) would still need to be optomized a lot more.

    Not only myself, but many others have experiened an issue that comes up as "Graphical Overload" and the game will reset itself to medium(?) settings. This is a known bug since it happens to pepople using SLI and single-slot cards.

    Currently I'm a level 14 Spanish Freetrader. (Which I've made it to in about 2 days of non-hardcore gaming)

    As for simplicity, this game rates about a 4 (1 being very easy, 10 being extremlly complex). The sounds and actions get very repetative, more then a sci-fi or fantasy MMORPG due to the lack of "magic" (which produces nice looking effects, etc).

    The missions seems to be the very same for each country, just with a different name slapped on it. Also the missions are very dual and lack... diversity. For about 15 missions I fought the same avatar battles on the same beach looking for the same box fighting the same way doing the same things.

    Even when I've upgraded my attacks, the lack of "wow" (No pun) was missing. I wasn't amazed that I got a new move, it was just another "This does 'x' amount of damage". I wish they didn't throw the avatar combat in at the last minute, but this game wasn't ment to be based on land.

    The world is very small, you can easily sail from one side to the other and know where you're going 100% of the time. There's nothing to explore and there's no player ran cities of any sort. No player housing, no explorable ports, nothing (yet).

    The ships are nice, and there are tactics to fighting on the seas, but it doesn't seem there's anyone who's flagged for PvP, but you'll see tons of 1 people parties fighting against NPCs all the time.

    Flyinglabs made a single player game with its 100% instanced world with PvP thrown in later towards the end game. Economy is purly player based, but due to beta bugs and a broken turtorial mission, I couldn't fully get my charcter into that aspect of the game. (I've heard it's really nice from others)

    This is by far not a review, but just a few known issues and facts that this game seems to have. If you head over to MMORPG.com they have a devlog from Flyinglabs stating they know about the bugs and issues and the ease of leveling.

    For a game to be this taxing on my current system when the game looks the way it does is a sign of poor optomization (which I hope they will do before the game goes gold). I also played a pirate as well, but quit about 5 levels into it because the nation chat was filled with "My lock did 1400 damage vs the paladin in BG", etc etc... plauged with "1337 WoW kiddies" (Even if they were an adult, I still call them a WoW kiddie)

    ANd to see the amount of morbid emo pirates made me sick, lack of color and the amount of black was overwhelming to my eye. Of course, this might be a welcomed way of living and entertainment, but for me, the pirate side seemed very childish and immature compared to other sides.

  • albertbolivar

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 11:14 pm PT

    From my two months of Beta testing I can guarantee that if you like the genre or pirates you will enjoy this game... the missions do get repetitive, and the maps in first person mode are very simplistic.

    Also the graphics are very dated, the up-side is you can probably run it on a 4 year old graphics card.

  • snowyjoe

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 2:27 pm PT

    the bezerker there is alreaady a MMORPG for pirates of the carribean. It's called Disney's Pirates of the Carribean Online.
    And most of all don't judge a game by it's cover

  • Old_Gooseberry

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    The graphics look horrible for a game thats not even out yet... what the hell?

  • viiin2

    Posted Dec 12, 2007 12:01 pm PT

    I don't like this game it looks lame

  • The_Bezerker

    Posted Dec 12, 2007 10:02 am PT

    err so, basically a MMORPG of pirates of the carribean. That wont be good...

  • Kez1984

    Posted Dec 12, 2007 5:22 am PT

    this game looks pretty bad

  • snowyjoe

    Posted Dec 11, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    amazing review agofein, you should post that on the forms (or have you?) Downloading client now, taking a while, if anyone knows when open beta finnishes please tell me ( don't want to waste 3 days donwloadng and know i can't play it anymore!)

  • agorfein

    Posted Dec 11, 2007 12:04 pm PT

    I have been playing in the open beta for several days now and I quite like the game. The ship combat is probably the best part so far, it is far more tactical than other games. Someone posted here that rakes (shots from the bow or rear) don't matter (which would be highly ahistorical). In fact, a ships "armor" points are much lower from the bow or rear so a few well placed hits can cause rapid destruction.

    The sword fighting system is quite interesting as well. In addition to hit points characters have "initiative" and "balance." Preliminary moves such as beating an opponents blade, lower enemy balance. While balance is high it is very difficult to damage enemies with direct attacks. Gaining initiative (built up with certain moves) allows access to high damaging finishing moves (similar to rogues in WoW). Overall, it is by far the best action fencing system I have seen. One of my characters got the skill that allows you to punch enemies with the basket hilt of his rapier! Another has the skill which allows you to draw a pistol and shoot an enemy (shades of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Oh, and did I mention that there are about 9 development paths for each style (fencing, Florentine, and dirty fighting)?

    Sounds overall are quite good. There is a fair amount of ambient conversation in taverns, offices, and such. Battle and sword work sounds are nice. The music is appropriate to a pirate movie.

    Travel Time: I haven't sailed much around the Carib yet but the travel times seem to be quite manageable. This is particularly true as MANY of the quests simply teleport you to where you need to be and then back when you're done.

    The downside: The graphics are adequate (basically WoW level), though nothing to write home about next to some of the new releases we'll be seeing soon (insert Age of Conan here). However, there are a few classy things I quite like. For example, if you zoom in on your ship really closely during sea combat, you will see a tiny version of your character's avatar standing on the quarterdeck.

    I should also note that the game is presently in open beta and there are still a few bugs needing to be squashed. Generally, the developers seem very responsive to input.

    Quest difficulty: The difficulty of the quests is HIGHLY variable. Many of the early quests (I've only gotten to 13th level so far and you can get to 10 or so without even leaving your starting city) are much too easy and not challenging at all. On the other hand, there is a difficulty system that can be adjusted in any port like that of City of Heroes. However, I tried playing around with it a bit. On the second level most of my quests were still too easy but one was impossible. As all of the quests in question were "green" to me I think they need to work on their rating system.

    I have not looked into the trade/crafting system much yet. It does seem it has the potential to be kind of EVElike in its complexity, but I'm not sure. One nice thing is that production buildings accumulate points for making stuff in real time whether or not you are online, so no tedious hammering of ingots or mining to improve crafting levels.

    After playing for about 5 days now I have decided to pre-order the game. I should also mention that I really like the Age of Sail as an historical period. If you don't, your milage may vary. I hope this is helpful to someone!

  • Slider14206

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 9:41 pm PT

    The game has a lot of rough edges even for a MMORPG. However, it really shines in ship combat and the depth of the economy. As with any MMORPG your experience is good with a good group of people. For PoTBS that group of people can just be some random people taking over a port. This is all great fun.

    The ground combat sucks. It looks like it was just an added on thing and from what I understand it was. However, for me the ship combat makes up for it and this game is a "buy" for me. I love it.

  • CodeBlue2003

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 7:16 pm PT

    Djin is about a moron. Sounds like someone got their feelings hurt while playing WoW and now somehow thinks that EVE Online is an even slightly realistic option for those who don't enjoy WoW.

    EVE is a joke, and it was a joke then, and it will continue to be a joke now. And, for some reason, I'm under the impression that he hasn't even played the PotBS Beta yet, because if he had he would have known it is quite an enjoyable game.

    It's not the most complex game ever, but it's worth it to at least try it out.

  • Djin

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 6:37 pm PT

    Want a beta key, but don't want to pay for a Fileplanet account. No problem.

    I got my key in 2 seconds, and still downloaded the client from Fileplanet and didn't pay a single penny, and here's how.

    First you must make a FREE account here, took me about 5 minute from start to download.

    1) http://gamers.eurogamer.net/giveaways.php?id=11
    2) http://www.fileplanet.com/107862/0/0/0/section/Game_Clients

    The second part is the client, but it's broken up into three parts. This will bypass the "You must be a paying sub to download" part...

    Enjoy. (6 more hours for a 6+GB download)

  • pangolin

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 1:27 pm PT

    Actually I wanted very much for this game to be fun, as I have been a huge fan of the literary genre and the factual history of that period. However from seeing it in open beta I have to say I am pretty underwhelmed. It pretty much fails to really captue the romanticism and general ambiance of the era. That period was alot more than sailing on wooden ships and the fights of broadside, board and storm. The game seems to be really little more than a wooden ships version of EVE without the economy and political structure. Fans of Hornblower or Bolito and history buffs alike will be disappointed, as it fails to really capture the essence of that period. On the sailing mechanics, they did a really good job. However the ship combat was a bit oversimplified. The glaring example is the tactic of crossing someone's stern, firing each cannon into the stern. This was historically a devastating attack as the cannon shot flew down the length of the ships, decimating crew and ship alike. In the game, it basically makes no difference how you fire on a ship, so the subleties of sailing tactics is fairly meaningless.

  • knut-am

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 12:05 pm PT

    Frail, The best of luck in finding a game for your wife and your self to enjoy :-). I agree, the fun part need to be in place.

  • Frail421

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 8:19 am PT

    I for one am getting tired of the WOW scene, the PVP people are idiots and destroy the game and Blizzard lets them!! I hope that A) people will play to have fun, not demoralize (repeatedly killing and corpse camping), and B) i hope to find a game that my wife will play and not hate!! (wishful thining i know, but worth a shot!)

    PRAYING that this doesn't turn into StarWars Galaxies (huge potential, major disapointment)

Pirates of the Burning Sea Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Downloads | Answers | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $6.69 – 39.99

Amazon.com $6.69 SHOP ›
eBay $39.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Pirates of the Burning Sea Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Pirates of the Burning Sea

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    2,310 of 84,348
    (up by 104)
    PC Rank:
    918 of 12,827
    Tracking:
    1,985 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    1,097 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    79
    Player Ratings:
    970
    Users Now Playing:
    159
  • Number of Players:

    Massively Multiplayer, Massively Multiplayer | Offline Modes: Competitive | Online Modes: Competitive

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. pirates
    2. mmorpg
    3. burning sea
    4. historic
    5. mmo
  • Teen Rating Description

    Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games