Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: Re: new Pirates game. Initial impressions

[quote name="Ray of Light"]After promotion, the next stage of wooing is to escort a governor's daughter to the grand ball. She gestures, you click (<i>hard!</i>) or type (<i>less hard!</i>) the corresponding movement. The controls also light up (like in swordplay) if you're still in Apprentice mode (FABIO take note: that you thought this happens all the time means <i>you're</i> still in apprentice mode. The game just isn't very hard; live a little). Swordfighting is almost exactly the same as before, but without the "move backward" defense of the original. The enemy telegraphs his attack, like before, and anyone who's played a round of Mortal Kombat will beat him easily. Various artifacts (fancy blades, a fancy shirt) will make you fast enough that defense becomes unneccessary. Making other ships visible while sailing, with a little description of what each one is, is the best new thing. The worst new thing is the "sneak into town" minigame, which is basically Pac-Man at 1/16 speed in off-axis overhead perspective; if you have any force at all you may as well just sack the town instead. Land combat is turn-based, not real-time; it's sort of like Archon and pretty fun. For the most part, the strengths (naval combat) and weaknesses (lack of scale; slow and boring sea travel) of the original are intact. If you ignore the graphics, it still feels a lot like a Commodore 64 game, and it's hard to imagine it being made or sold in 2005 without a built-in historical fanbase. I, of course, pirated this game, as I consider it to be a patch to make my legally-owned Microprose original (copyright 1987) run on Windows XP. Ray![/quote]