Sid Meier’s Pirates was a 2004 re-release of a PC classic that was originally released in 1987 and followed-up in 1993. Despite its age, Pirates is a title that is likely to resonate with a lot of gamers. Shortly after that third iteration was released, it found its way to the Xbox. The powers that be have now decided that the game is to be released on the PSP. Given that 04’ edition was among the deeper and more enjoyable sandbox games that has been created, how would it translate to the portable format? From our hands-on time, we’d say surprisingly well.
Sid Meier’s Pirates, for the most part, seems to have minimal but a crucial storyline behind it. You play a nameless character, whose family and their assets have been captured by the most notorious pirate of the time. While just a boy when this happened, the game picks up ten years later, as you get onboard a ship (as a crew member) and set out to find your family. A cut scene shows you overthrowing the ship's captain and assuming control for yourself. Thus, set out to become the number one pirate, find your family and/or do pretty much as you please.
Naval battles ahoy!
Upon joining your first ship as a crew member, you get to choose one of four fleets that you’ll join with. These fleets being the English, French, Dutch and Spanish, each of which represents a different difficulty level. This level is determined by the amount of ports that each nationality controls. From there, you sail around the Caribbean Seas, taking things as they come. With the PSP version of the game, it seems that most actions have been translated into an action-orientated method of control. We first noticed this as we sailed across the open ocean. To control our ship, all we had to do was steer left or right with either the d-pad or analog nub and take the wind into account.
The ship battles were fully under our control as well. Thankfully, they were very easy to pick up. At first, both ships would volley cannon shots to decrease a “health” meter and pick off crew members. If both ships touched, one of two things would happen. If you dominated that ship, you would automatically take over it. If not, than you would duel the captain for the ship. Win, and you keep the ship and option to keep the remaining crew. Lose, and you are forced to abandon your ship. Dueling seems to have been well translated onto the PSP, as you had almost full control, and was simple, intuitive and fun.
During our preview time, it became very obvious that the game is packed with depth and personality. Apart from sailing, plundering and dueling, there are plenty of different kinds of quests and things to do. These included marrying the Governor’s daughters, managing your economics, discovering hidden cities, twisting your alliances and finding your family. The beauty about it was that it was wrapped up in a simple and accessible package, yet was still deep and gave you virtually all the choice in the world. We’re sure that there is even more to discover once we delve deeper into the game.
Duel on land, sea and air... well maybe not air.
There were a few minor concerns about the game during our playtime. It seemed that the wind was stuck and always blowing in the one direction. Hopefully this was a minor glitch that won’t be present in the final game. Even though the control scheme was simple for the most part, at times we felt that it wasn’t responding, particularly when we were trying to change ships or weapons. One of the gameplay additions that debuted in the 2004 PC version was “Sneak into Town.” This version had a grid-based system, which was similar to a strategy RPG for moving around. We couldn’t help but think that action-based system would’ve been more suitable for this format. Finally, there was a lot of time spent in menus, something that may wear as you play.
Sid Meier’s Pirates for the PSP has so far shown that it is quite an achievement for what has been able to fit into the one UMD. However, equally impressive was the technical performance of the game. While slightly rough around the edges, the game very closely resembles its PC counterpart. There was very little slowdown, the load times were very acceptable and many of the finer details were noticeable as well. Furthermore, in terms of visuals, the game’s personality has translated very well. While everyone in the game seems to be talking a sim-lish language, there were no narrations, which would’ve been a nice addition.
Sid Meier’s Pirates for the PSP is shaping up to be easily one of the strongest and best games on offer for the system. Despite being a port of three-year-old PC game, it seems that the developers have really put their heads together and nutted out a number of great ways to get around the PSP's limitations. It appears as though they have been able to translate a very deep game into a portable title that can be accessible to everyone.
We’re off to set sail for Tortuga at the moment, but we’ll be bringing you a full review of Sid Meier’s Pirates very soon.
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