Age of Pirates: Game of Abandoned IP
I thought that they had something going with the first iteration of this IP, but fell short on delivery with buggy software, and lack of purpose with a very weak story. With the sequel, the story improves creating independent campaigns for each character class albeit extremely imbalanced between the three different career options. The Peter Blood story can be more confusing and painful than playing chess with thorned checker pieces on an electrified backgammon board, but then I have read more substantive material from a pop-up book than what I found in the other stories comprising of speech here, speech there spread amongst a time span greater than the collective length of the Star Wars trilogy... both of them.
The other issue is that the game is still buggy, and it is understandable that a game of this magnitude considering its very open sandbox architecture would have a certain level of bugs to the gameplay, but that is why we have patching, so what is the excuse for the lack of patches over six months later from release? I feel like that the developers had an ulterior motive with the use of the words "Lost" and "Abandoned" in the title. The lack of patches is very disappointing, especially for me considering my affinity to pirate games and therefore dedication to looking for solace in extreme frustration that I go from leaving port to entering desktop.
What I do like is the concept and the courage to release a pirate game that has it all... all other pirate games fell short of having everything that would really make you feel like a Pirate. The ships are well designed. The battles at sea are breathtaking. The navigation through towns has improved over the predecessor, but the game just seems to miss something other than stability that would otherwise make it complete... purpose.
Sid Meier did a great job at making you want to play again and again and again with that "rescue my family motif", this game falls short of a good story as it is too sporadic and unimportant to pressure the player to follow through, let alone play again.
The other disappointment is where is the rest of the Caribbean, and why is it that the earth's core has moved changing polarity, gravity, magnetism, and physics for all colonies south of Puerto Rico and north of South America... is it me or is almost every island that lies between geographically displaced? The game has recreated the geography of the earth with this game, and that requires the continuous use of the map. As a lover of particularly pirate based gamers I now know every island's location in the Caribbean, but with AoP2, I found myself looking at the game's map every time I wanted to find port.
Finally, what is the deal with the circle of trust with the countries, and more importantly the governors? This part of the game is very imbalanced. One stray hit of a cannon while saving the rear end (literally) of two Dutch trading vessels bombarded by a squadron of six pirates and all of a sudden I go from "buddy buddy" to public enemy number one?!? Where is the love? I know that pirates were considered scum back then, but the game may be a bit too deliberate in exemplifying that fact with simple canon misfires... the governors can be even harder on you by outsting you from the circle of trust with one meager mistake quicker than Jack bounced Gaylord Focker.
I do not want to come off that the game was not good, as the game is phenomenal for an escape into the lost world of privateering... if you take each aspect; the sea, the battles at sea, the towns and navigating through them, the various shops and small quests, the game has an excellent balance of activities and gameplay. However, I get the feeling that the developers were shooting for a true experience of colonial Carribbean pirating days of old, and with that, matey, the game disappointingly falls short with not much in the way of advancement from the first iteration of the title; further scarred by bugs worse than dusk at a swamp in the Florida Everglades.
A couple of patches, and maybe even an expansion to include the ENTIRE Carribbean - yes, harddrives can fit that much material and we would even accept it completely displaced as long as it is all there - would be a nice start for an expansion or patch or starting point for a sequel. The reason for the extra point above average is for the courage in making that all encompassing pirate experience, and if any pirate game could get a score of 10, this one has that backbone for it. Do not give up on us guys, because you are the first to have it all, its just not quite enough to make it a truly comprehensive pirating experience.
PhoenicianSon 12-14-09