Monday, 27.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
HSGamers has put up a contest where you can win a signed copy of Sid Meier's Pirates! as first prize, and two second prize winners will receive a regular copy of the game :)
Also, don't forget our own "Be a Pirate!"-contest, where you can win a copy of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a t-shirt and a cool-looking pirate-flag! Go here for more info!
Thursday, 23.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
GameSpy has ranked Sid Meier's Pirates! as the 10th best PC-game of 2004!
Go back and play a classic game like the original Pirates! on the Apple ][ and you'll probably catch yourself saying three things: 1: "Wow, these graphics suck even worse than I remembered." 2: "Hey, this game is still tons of fun anyways." And finally, 3: "They just don't make games like this anymore."
As of this month, statement 3 is no longer true, and the world's a better place for it. Sid Meier's Pirates! is a faithful re-creation of the 1987 Hall of Famer with all the graphical bells and whistles you'd expect of a modern game.
It also received the "Old Skool Award" from their Special Awards :) You can check out GameSpy's GOTY 2004 here!
Thursday, 23.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Firaxis has updated their website for the holidays with a new, modern look!
They also present a christmas-dressed pirate(!), as well as info and 3 new screenshots and what seems like the box-shot from the Xbox-version of the game. The "new" info is that the game is now scheduled for "Spring/Summer 2005".
Thursday, 23.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
For the upcoming holidays, the developers of Firaxis has released some tips for playing Sid Meier's Pirates! A 3-page word-document covers ship-battles, duelling, dancing and land-battles.
3 for the Price of 1 - Combos - With the rapier, it is possible to pull off a second attack after succeeding in the first. A split second before you complete a thrust attack, launch a low attack. If the low attack is launched too early the character will fake a thrust and move to a low attack. If it comes too late, the thrust attack will connect then the player will begin a low attack, without the lightning speed of a true combo. Perfect timing will result in a thrust attack immediately followed by a low attack. This knocks the opponent back 3 steps, rather than merely 1.
As if that wasn't enough, we present you a Sid Meier Q&A that's been put together in an interview-style.
Q: Did you hop aboard a frigate and sail the seven seas in order to understand what it's like to be a real pirate, or were there other more eyesight intensive research methods at hand?
A: Actually a few of our artists and designers did take a trip to the Caribbean to study the architecture and get a first hand look at the lush environment and vibrant worlds – at least that’s what they told me. In addition, we played through the other pirate based games–like Pirates of the Caribbean and Port Royal. Many members of the team read Pirate themed stories and books and we all enjoyed watching the classic swashbuckling and pirate movies to remind ourselves what makes being a pirate so fun and fascinating!
And of course, you can get everything here from ATP! The tips can be downloaded here, and the Sid Meier Q&A can be downloaded here!
Saturday, 18.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
The site 2424.org has reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates!, and given it the score of 8.8 out of 10! The two perhaps most important scores, Gameplay and Replayability scores 9 and 10 respectively :)
The game is also nominated for their "Gamer's Choice best PC game of 2004", as well as one of six games selected in the battle for "Best Strategy Game of 2004"!
It will be interesting to see if Sid Meier's Pirates! can win "best of" in more than one genre, it has already won IGN's "Adventure Game of the Year"! Anyways, here is a quote:
This game easily has one of the best replay values of any non-MMORPG on the market today. It’s very customizable and you have the options of playing through on a variety of difficulty levels. As mentioned earlier, on a game of this scale, it will easily take the careers of five to ten pirates to gain a more full understanding of the depth of this game and the different ways to excel at it.
Friday, 17.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Addicted to Pirates! is pleased to present a really addicted contest, where you can win a copy of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a t-shirt or a pirate-flag!!
Basically, all you have to do is to take a picture of yourself / someone in your family wearing a pirate costume, send it in to contest@addictedtopirates.com, and you are in!
Please read through the contest-pages before sending in pictures. The contest will be open to EVERYONE (almost!) :)
The contest will close midnight on January 16th, 2005 (GMT). Hopefully we will see lots of creative costumes... Remember, they don't have to be real costumes - the point is to be a pirate! Yarrrrrrrrrrrr! Use your imagination and be creative!
Friday, 17.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
IGN has declared Sid Meier's Pirates! to be Adventure Game of the Year for 2004!
Why it Rocked: Oh man, if you want an addictive game, this could very well be your crack of choice. It isn't perfect, but geez is it fun. There's just something brilliantly entertaining about sailing around the world looting and pillaging everything in sight. Add in the chance to trade goods, woo beautiful women, hunt down and eliminate pirate rivals, look for treasure, find lost family members, and revenge past wrongs and you have an swashbuckling adventure for the ages. The original Pirates! was darn good to begin with and Firaxis has simply made everything better than it was before while managing to add little mini-game type features to keep players on their toes and awake for "just five more minutes" every night of the week. Better yet, it's something that almost any gamer can sink their teeth into. It's stylish, fun, and well worth the price of entrance.
Check it out here! Thanks Bill Egg for the newstip :)
Thursday, 16.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Thanks Mithrandir for this one, the German site Within Games has reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates!, and given it top score - 5 out of 5! It's a long, 6-page review of the game - and they use the pipboy Fallout character-heads as ratings ;)
Anyways, if you understand German, then I suggest you read the full review from Within Games here!
Tuesday, 14.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Today I bring you no less than four reviews, two of which the folks at CI had already posted though :)
The first one is by a site called Thunderbolt, and they give Sid Meier's Pirates! a score of 8/10.
Something that's pretty obvious yet just as clever is the exaggeration and physics of the ships that cruise around the seas. Instead of taking the realistic route which would see players waiting for weeks for tiny ships to move around, Pirates! expands each vessel to a decent size and has them zipping around at a relatively fast speed. However, there's more depth to it than you might think (you might start to see a pattern emerging here) which makes the game that bit more enjoyable to play.
The second one is by Jolt Online Gaming, which is a bit more fascinated by Pirates! - A score of 9.3 / 10 adds to the list of high-scores from reviewers.
It’s truly one of the most addictive games we’ve played this year, and teaches the mildly boring Port Royale 2 a thing or two about how such sims should be done. If you’ve played and enjoyed the original, there’s absolutely no doubt about it – you must buy this game. If you have even a passing interest in pirating, even if its as shallow as enjoying the setting of Monkey Island or the Pirates of the Caribbean film, you’ve still got to buy this to soak up the atmosphere. In fact, never mind any of that – just buy it, and find out exactly what those hoary old hacks who bleat on about the glory days of gaming are talking about. Once your monitor’s covered with seamen, you’ll understand…
The third review is by the magazine Game Informer, I have no quote from that review as you need to subscribe to read it - however they gave Pirates! a score of 85%.
The fourth and last review is by a German site (thanks Alex for the tip) called Gamevision, and they give the score of 88% to Sid Meier's Pirates! - If you understand German, you can read the full review here!
So that should sum it all up for now, I'm sure we'll have our next batch of reviews soon(tm)!
Sunday, 12.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
The folks at Cutlass Isle has dug up a review from Jaded Gamer - and they seem pretty satisfied with the game, giving it a score of 95%!
With the gaming industry exhibiting a disturbing trend of style over substance, titles like Sid Meier's Pirates! can come as a welcome relief. Fans of classic gaming will likely have fond memories of the earlier Pirate games, and this re-envisioning of a classic does little to disappoint.
Wednesday, 08.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By Mescalito
In the previous news, the review on FiringSquad contains one sentence that jumped out of my screen as I read it.
Sid Meier probably didn't have a whole lot to do with it (hint: Firaxis bought the rights to Civilization from Atari for $15 million), but Sid Meier's Pirates!: Live the Life is just as good as the original ever was.
First words I have seen since the purchase of the Civilization license. If anyone has seen Civilization somewhere out there, please call ATP.
Wednesday, 08.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By Mescalito
It is the never ending story of reviews. ;)
The first one comes from FiringSquad. They gave it a nice 86%, mainly arguing that the game could have had more deepth. Gameplay, action's freedom and the ease of use are the positive points, whereas the lack of complexity and some annoying bugs lowered the score (and they are not good at dancing :P).
Deceptively simple, Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life is one of the most charming gaming experiences either. Though this has much to do with the art style and Sims-talk of characters, the entire game is in fact light-hearted and very enjoyable. Sailing the Caribbean, from Florida town to Panama and Vera Cruz to Trinidad is pleasant in and of itself. If you wish to merely trade, you can trade. If you want to be a pirate or a hero of your nation, you can do that too. Save your family? Only if you feel like it.
The next one is from Clubic, a French site about computer world in general. They say almost the same as the previous review: great gameplay and freedom, game is very accessible, may be a little bit too much... Look at this screenshot to understand why they found it too easy (I don't know at what level he played ;)).
One of the points they are missing is also the lack of realism compared to the original game, like being able to see exactly where you are on the map without using a sextant to calculate approximative coordinates. Anyways, they gave it a score of 4/5 stars.
If you can read French, you'll find the full review here.
Wednesday, 08.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
First off today, Cutlass Isle brings word of a new review of Sid Meier's Pirates! by IC Games. The score? 91%!
Over-all if you can remember the original Pirates game from the 80’s then you will love what Firaxis have done to the game, bringing the latest graphics without destroying what made the title a great game to start with. For those people that missed out first time around then give Pirates a try, you will find a game that will really grab your imagination, probably hitting it with a black-jack and dragging it back to the ship where it will wake with a headache and no land in view. Port Royale was the closest that anyone has come to the original Pirates, until now. All hail Sid Meier, the master of the computer game.
Tuesday, 07.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
I'm bringing you some more Norwegian reviews, this one is kind of special - the Norwegian web-based newspaper, Nettavisen, has reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates!, with the words "Here is the best PC-Game this year". The score? 6/6!
Here is a couple of quotes (translated by me:p):
You don't need to look further, you can throw Half-Life 2 to the teenage geeks, and enjoy what's the best PC-game for you with more brain than triggerhappy fingers.
...
As with Civilization, it's hard to explain what it is that makes Pirates! so great. And if you have played the original version, know that this is that game, times twelve!
The review is quite short (quite newspaperish) and in Norwegian, so as usual - if you know Norwegian, Danish or Swedish - you can read the review here!
Tuesday, 07.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Two new reviews are in, this time from Eurogamer.net and Mygamer.com.
The first site, Eurogamer.net, has a rather strange review, and I frankly don't find myself playing the same game as the one I've read about in this review... Clearly sites shouldn't put up hardcore "FPS-like-doom-and-half-life-are-the-only-cool-games"-guys to review a multi-genre game like Sid Meier's Pirates! A score of 7/10 seems very harsh.
Don't reject it out of hand, however. It's a charming game, full of detail, with and old-fashioned deep design. It's still as unique as the day it was conceived in terms of marrying an action front end with a bubbling simulation world to explore. Its execution of an open-ended exploratory world as fine as anything you'll see in gaming - probably including most MMOs. There's certainly people reading this who'll find themselves press-ganged into service, only to fall in love with the life and end up as the next Virtual-Blackbeard sailing the PCeas.
The other site, Mygamer.com, has on the other hand a very positive review (too positive?). A score of 9.4/10 is as far as I recall the best score given to Sid Meier's Pirates! so far, and will probably be one of the highest too :) They bring up one interesting issue though, or, "issue".
The only thing that I would've liked to have seen the developers do for this game is create a more flexible character creation screen. I would've liked to play my pirate as the infamous Anne Bonny or Mary Read. Having the central figure of a game be an immutable male character is a larger issue than this one game. Pirates!, however, carries so many elements that would attract female gamers—the non-linear game play, the almost puzzle-like nature of the treasure maps, the national alliances—it's unfortunate that the developers didn't consider them when creating the main character..
Monday, 06.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Update: Ok, some comments in the forum about this specific news-item, I'm sorry if I was too harsh - and me and my bad English made it look worse than it was suppose to be. "Poorly written" and "Worse Written", no I wasn't thinking of any grammar / spelling. However I felt part of the review was quite unfair, and to me it seemed like the review was done in a rush just to get it out.
Old News Below I almost just wanted to skip posting about this review, not because Pirates! got a low score of 7.6/10, but because I feel it's poorly written, and probably the worst written review we've seen so far.
Am I harsh? "It's just because Pirates! got a low score!"
Well, maybe I was - You can read the review yourself, and discuss the review further in the forums. Check it out here.
Sunday, 05.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Well, I've been slacking on posting reviews lately - our friends that lives at Cutlass Isle has found no less than two reviews that I've somehow skipped.
Gamers-Depot Anyways, first out is Gamers-Depot, which has posted a what can seem like a very low-score review - only 3.5 out of 5. However, their ranking system isn't quite "normal" compared to other 5 star ranking systems - so 3.5 is not a bad score at all :)
Sid Meier’s Pirates gave me the opportunity to wear an eye patch and cutlass, drink plenty of rum while spending the week growling “argh” at my wife. Never have I called some many people “matey.”
I started Pirates half expecting a turn based strategy game ala Civilization, but instead was met with a surprise. This version of the game gave me an odd feeling of deja vu. I thought maybe I was having a flashback or some practical joker took an old Commodore 64 favorite and revamped the graphics and sound. I remember playing this game when Microprose released it in 1987. This version is a remake by developer Firaxis and publisher Atari.
Gamebiz Last out is Gamebiz, which gave Sid Meier's Pirates! the excellent score of 91%, along with the golden "GB Awarded" medal.
There are many points in the game when you will be required to land ashore, but not in a port. This is required for such things as – finding lost family members, digging up buried treasure, locating the lost city of the Incas, and so forth. Walking around on land consists of a rather constricted top-down view of your crew walking around with digging equipment. The target of your expedition should be located using landmarks and maps. The constriction is deliberate so that it’s hard to see things which are far away, thus making for a rather fun puzzle game where you have to orientate and navigate the landscape using a map
Saturday, 04.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
The Norwegian site ITavisen.no has reviewed Pirates!, and gave it a 6-dice score of 5! Very nice indeed, allthough I wonder if the reviewer has had a bad day or something, cause one of the things he puts up on the CON-list is that the music is irritating! I mean, what???
Anyways, I'll list the pros and cons here from the review:
Pros: Incredibly Addictive Beautiful Graphics Fun
Cons: Too simple Irritating Music
Again, if you know Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, check the review out here!
Friday, 03.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
The largest Norwegian gamer-site, Gamer.no has reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates!, and gave it a total score of 9/10 - the gameplay score was 10/10!
Translated quote: Have you played the old Pirates!, and are wondering if the remake could be just as good? Just stop reading, and go out and buy the game right away. It gives the exact same feeling as it did 17 years ago, with the exception of a few changes.
If you understand either Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, you should be able to read the review here!
Thursday, 02.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
GamerDad, a site that seems to specialize in reviewing games for kids and their parents, has just reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates! and gave it top score, 5 out of 5 stars!
Return with us to those glorious days of yesteryear, when men were men and the seas were plied by only the scurviest of watery knaves. In the service of a great power Pirate Kings and Buccaneers sailed, wooed Governor's daughters, and played far into the night. I'm talking, of course, about the late 80's. Back then, anyone who had a PC, Amiga, or Sega Genesis knew the love that was Sid Meier's Pirates. A game that put you in charge of a 30 gun War Galleon and dared you to follow your own path in a digitally recreated Spanish Main.
Thursday, 02.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
GameSpy has reviewed Sid Meier's Pirates!, and as seen from other reviews - Pirates! gets a high score. 4.5 stars out of 5 is very nice indeed :)
What's great is that many of the little graphical subtleties in the game tell you something important for gameplay purposes. Poor towns will have ragged banners flying over the houses as you sail by, so you can tell the merchants probably won't have a lot of money to offer for your goods. When fighting other ships at sea, you can actually see each individual gunport on the sides open and little tiny cannons roll out. They roll out one by one as the ship's guns become active, so you can see at a glance if your enemy is ready to fire a full broadside or not. .
Pirates in Time Magazine's Top Ten List! - (Pirates)
Thursday, 02.12.04 | Captain's Diary | Log Entry By KriFos
Lprieto33 tipped me about this one, it seems like Time Magazine has named the ten best video games of 2004. Sid Meier's Pirates! made it as the tenth best game of 2004. Not bad, considering titles like Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and other great games are left out of that list.
Sid Meier’s classic has been given a 21st century makeover. Meier has added lush new 3-D graphics and a host of minigames within the game. Pirates! lets you play exactly the way you want to, turning the entire Caribbean into your own giant sandbox. Ideal for: Scurvy sea dogs and swashbucklers.
05.10.2010 - 
