E3 '07: Pirates of the Burning Sea Impressions--Swashbuckling and Sailing on the High Seas

In the midst of any number of World of Warcraft clones, it's unusual to come across a massively multiplayer title as unique as Pirates of the Burning Sea. Make no mistake: This is not just WoW with pirates instead of Night Elves. Instead, Pirates of the Burning Sea seeks to offer a deep but accessible role-playing experience with any number of original features. We sat down with Sony Online Entertainment to take a close look, and came away impressed with what we saw.

Pirates of the Burning Sea takes place in the Caribbean during the 18th Century. While this doesn't seem like such a huge area at first, think again. This includes the eastern coast of Latin America, the southern coast of the United States, the northern coast of South America, and dozens and dozens of individual islands. In fact, the area is so huge that some elements had to be scaled down somewhat so that it wouldn't take players days to travel from one spot to another. When you first create your character, you choose from one of four different nations: France, England, Spain, or Pirates. From here, you choose a gender and a career--though members of the pirate nation only get to choose one profession: Pirate, of course!

Each nation includes over 1,000 missions, and SOE promises that 80% of them can be finished without having to group. This should be good news for solo players, especially because the target completion time for most of these missions is between 20 and 30 minutes. However, player-vs.-player enthusiasts will find a real treat in the game's PvP system. There are a number of ports scattered around the game world, and these ports can be contested and captured by any of the four nations. This isn't a quick process, however. First of all, you need to create unrest in the region, which will cause an uprising. To do this, you can perform acts of espionage, such as delivering gunpowder to insurgents. Once enough unrest has been caused, the port will be contested, which opens up plenty of opportunities for PvP combat. After a few days, the contest is decided in a huge final battle.

We worried at first that this system could be imbalanced, since surely most players will want to join the pirate nation. However, there are multiple safeguards in place to make sure every nation has a fighting chance. Nations will earn unrest points upon conquering a port. Once the port is captured, that nation is then handicapped, and may need to earn more points than other nations in order to retain control. SOE stresses that this system is designed to be flexible, so as the population of each nation shifts, so too can the number of points needed to control a port. It's also worth noting that PvP is player-driven. Players do not have to participate, and creating unrest is purely under player control.

But how does this all play? Well, it depends on whether you're a landlubber or a seafarer. When you are on foot, you'll be able to pick up missions and head to certain areas much as you would in any other MMOG. Obviously, you won't have spells to cast, but you will be able to specialize in particular fighting styles, such as dirty fighting or fencing. Each style then brings particular skills, such as the wonderfully named stomp-and-grind. In turn, how you will fight against particular enemies will depend on your skills--and theirs. Going head-to-head against a dirty fighter will require you to utilize different skills than going against a fencer.

You will also take to the high seas, where you can participate in ship combat. Every player has his or her own ship, and as you progress through the game, you will be able to buy new ships and upgrade those you have with new sails, guns, and hulls, as well as other quest-specific enhancements. However, ships themselves do not level, so you're as effective in the same ship at level 1 as you would be at level 50. Ship combat is more tactical, and you will need to worry about firepower, speed, facing, and wind direction. You can also board enemy ships, where the gameplay switches to standard on-foot play. But you won't necessarily be alone, since your computer-controlled crew may accompany you. Should they die, you can spawn them again if necessary.

As if all this isn't enough, there may be more surprises for players that want to explore the darker realms of the region. The area now known as the Bermuda Triangle is home to many surprises for those willing to seek them out. You may come across ghost ships or other supernatural sights, though this is an undercurrent and not in the forefront of the game.

Lovely visuals are icing on the cake. High-quality shaders bring the Caribbean to gorgeous life, and the character models are highly detailed. Obviously, Pirates of the Burning Sea introduces a lot of original elements to the world of online RPGs, and we're chomping at the bit to get more time with it. Luckily, we won't need to wait long: The game is set to be released this fall. We'll bring you more information closer to that time.