Sid Meier’s Pirates! Live the Life advertises itself as a game where you get to “live the life” of a pirate (duh). While swashbuckling and courting governors’ daughters sounds fun in the beginning, I actually found myself getting bored living the life of a pirate. Here’s the story: your family is kidnapped when you’re a child, and you make it your life’s mission to find your family. Along the way, you get to do some pirating which includes ship battles, treasure maps, and fulfilling quests for you or your loved ones. Again, this all sounds good on paper, but once you get going in
Pirates!, it almost seems like you’re doing the same things from port to port. There are almost too many sword fights, not enough land battles, and I hate to be a sexist pig, but your romances take forever to develop!
If you can get past the monotony of Sid Meier’s Pirates!, you’ll find there are some things you have to worry about. Namely, your crew. If you go from port to port attacking other ships and stealing their plunder, your crew tends to get antsy. Apparently, they just want their cut and are willing to take off (if you have a second or third boat) if you don’t dock soon and divvy up the goods.
Another thing worth mentioning is ship upgrades. Every ship in the game can be upgraded with the same equipment, although the different types of ships vary. You may have a large-and-in-charge behemoth along with a tiny speedster. You can get other ships by defeating an opponent in a ship battle. Just make sure not to wreck it too much. Otherwise it may cost a little more to repair.
Of course the other item to mention is the fact that you can move your way up the pirate top ten list. Nine other scoundrels scour the seas, and it’s up to you to beat them at their own game. Some may just have lots of goods, while others may have information leading to your family.
