Dancing Buckaroos
Being familiar with the previous versions helps, but there are some distinct differences which may either disappoint or make the game more enjoyable.
The good - A 3D world. Motion swordplay. Dancing. Easy controls. Added upgrade capabilities to the ships, crew and bonus objects.
The bad - Very flimsy instruction book leaving too many questions regarding game play. Outside help is practically required in order to understand some facets of the game, such as searching for treasure. You need to use your "telescope" and search the area though you would never know this on your own. Sometimes you can search the correct area repeatedly and still not find anything. You are limited to just one Pirate Era when playing at the beginner level. Yet the rise to "journeymen" is difficult, especially when playing in a new Era with it's varied and limited port locations. I would like to play a different Era at beginner until I learn the map of that Era but this is not possible. Also, the map pieces are incredibly useless in some cases showing 1/4th of a blank page. This is sometimes the case the beginner level but becomes standard in harder levels.
While you can accumulate many bonus objects and an excessive wardrobe, the value, importance or practical use of these objects often remains a mystery. A Pirate-O-pedia explains some of these bonus objects but after dozens of games, I don't believe that these wardrobe purchases have any affect to your game.
The new - Dancing is new to Pirates. While sometimes repettitive and boring after a while, success can lead to great rewards. The term "swing" the remote when dancing can be deceiving as it's more of a "flick" of the wrist. After only a little practice I play entire games missing only a few dance steps now.
Overall - Once you figure out how things work, like treasure hunting, game saves and dancing, the game becomes enjoyable. A more comprehensive manual would have made a huge difference in warming up to the game.
But found it hard to stop playing because I always wanted to get that Inca Treasure before calling it a day.