User Rating: 8.2 | Pirates of the Caribbean PC
It took a little getting into, but this IS the game I was looking forward to after playing the original Sea Dogs. The graphics are nicely upgraded, and the expansion of land based play by adding dungeons,jungles,etc are a nice addition. The towns are also a bit more fleshed out than in the original.They are more like Morrowind in this respect, but not as elabrate or complex. The addition of "fast travel" in towns is great. Instead of walking all over the town to get to the shipyard, tavern,store,docks,etc, simply select "fast travel" and pick your location. It really saves a lot of time and trouble trying to walk all over town trying to find your way. The dungeons and other areas in towns are not available in fast travel ,so the adventure of interacting with NPC's and trying to find cool stuff and secret places is still there. The game play is very similar to Sea Dogs,(buy, sell, trade, hire, fire crews, attack and defend against other ships, quests for govenors), but with the addition of land based play (like a lesser Morrowind), with dungeons and other areas where you must fight against skeleton pirates and other foes. These areas allow you to find gold, better weapons,pirate type booty, as well as increasing your skill levels. I have seen some other reviews complaining of the combat aspects of this game. I must say, right at first, I thought the same thing, but after a little practice (and remapping of the keys) in a dungeon on a bunch of skeleton pirates, I got the hang of it and it is really quite fun. Keep in mind young gamers, this is not Unreal or Doom. This is a quest type game, not a first person shoot-em up. Another cool addition are the storms you encounter while out at sea. Sea travel, while at first seeming too basic,is a lot like Sea Dogs, only with more animated type graphics. The meat of sea fairing is in battle. There are 2 modes, arcade (dumbed down) and realistic (which is like the original Sea Dogs) but with a more involvment and much better graphics. Bottom line is if you liked the original Sea Dogs or Sid Miers Pirates, and want to lightly role play as a pirate, you will love this game. If you are looking for a hard core role player, or a first person shooter, then you may not care for it. Try it with an open mind, and you may surprise yourself that is is quite a good game and a lot of fun. FYI- My system is a P4 2.53 ghz, 512mb, Geoforce Ti4600 graphics card, 21 inch monitor.
