Packed full of action and highly addictive, this game is well worth a try.
When you start, you are given the long standing goal of annexing (capturing) a certain number of towns for your nation. To do this you need to be given these missions from a governor in your nation, which you can only do by undertaking other missions. These range from destroying pirate hideouts, to blockading enemy ports and even delivering food to towns affected by famine. These missions are simple and enjoyable, although they do end up repeating themselves constantly, and by the end of the game you can quote the mission briefs word to word. After doing a bunch of missions you are then allowed to annex a town, whereby the cycle will repreat again and again (repeating the same missions...) until you reach therequired amount of towns. Once you reach this set number of towns the game ends (you can continue if you want though I do not see the point) and you can unlock new nations and periods.
However, while this is fun for the first few times, the necessity of doing these missions gets on the nerves. it is true that in the game you can loot and capture traders, hunt down Blackbeard, sack towns, attack the Spanish Treasure Fleet (this is especially fun when you yourself are playing as Spain!) and in general ransack your way through the Caribean. But although this may sound brilliant, you are in fact restricted from the life of piracy. You are indefinitely tied to your nation, because the aim of the game is to annex towns for them (hunting pirates is sort of a voluntary side goal). This means that if you loot and pillage without doing missions for them, you will soon find all nations hostile to you and you will find no friendly ports left for you. This blocking from port means you can not repair ships, buy ammunition or recruit new sailors, and generally means you will quickly be destroyed because of it. If you try to go through the game acting like a pirate them you will end up bankrupt and depressed. You are restricted to being loyal to your nation - if only to have a friendly port to dock at. This narrow field of operation gets irksome as you progress in the game, and it is one of my chief let downs because I would have liked some pirate towns out there that would be friendly to anyone and so give you some free reign. After all, it is a game full of pirates, so why can you not be one?!
Moving onto a positive aspect, the combat in Pirate Hunter is superb. It works on controlling the ship with the right click of the mouse mouse, using the left to fire the cannon and speed bar to speed up the action. You have only one ship for easier control (as anyone who has played Port Royale can appreciate) but the enemy is allowed four, which I think is an unfair advantage sometimes. But this maneuverability makes the sea battles great fun. Moreover, to make it even better you have different types of cannon giving you the option to not only sink your foes, but to loot and capture them as well. They are the bulk of the action in the game, and they are the parts best developed. You can also attack towns to loot and annex, but I found the combat here to be boring and difficult, as if they got bored and released this part of the product abandoned. But nonetheless the combat of the game is great fun, and the reason why you will keep playing.
I was a little disappointed because the economic options have been almost completely taken away. In Port Royale trade was a major factor in the game, and you could make festivals, build transport convoys and in general become a merchant as well as a buccanneer. Because you are only allowed one convoy you can not have multiple ones trading, and this makes it too boring to gain money by trade (as you would be running back and forth constantly). Looting and missions are the best way to gain money in Pirate Hunter, and while this is quite fun it is sad that the best part of other New World games has been cut out. I felt that if the trade aspect had been combined with the superb battle action, this game would have been at least a 8 in my book.
'But is it actually worth playing?' is what you may be asking. Well, if you are, then this game is totally worth it. It is not perfect, but for such a cheap game it is close to it. This game is addictive, and I have replayed it many times, and each time I still enjoy it. It could have been better if there were more missions and the prospect of trade, but even without these parts it will entertain you for hours on end as you seek to make yourself rich off the loot of your enemies. The bottom line is that although it looks like one of those mass produced shelf fillers, it is actually a great game full of action that anyone can play and enjoy. So without hesitation, I think this is a solid 7.