Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)

The action takes place during the Golden Age of piracy in the Caribbean , where the main character arrives as the captain of a pirate ship. The map represents an open world in which the protagonist can freely navigate the sea on his ship, as well as engage in battles with other ships and enter cities ^[4] . In this case, the player can develop the main character (improve his ship and crew, accumulate useful items, achieve social status), and also participate, in addition to sea battles and boarding , in other mini-games in cities ^[5] . It can also receive up to 126 "glory points" for various achievements - the wealth gained and the missions completed - which determine the final position after the end of the game ^[6] .

The game begins with a short introduction: the Spanish nobleman Marquis de Montalban enslaves the protagonist's family for his debts. The hero, while still a boy, manages to escape. After a few years, he enters the bar, where he is given several choices, such as name, level of difficulty , specialization and preferred era . After that, the player must choose the starting nation: the British , Dutch , Spaniards or French . In any case, to the hero and other crew members, the ship's captain is treated like slaves , as a result of which the player raises a riot . The captain is discarded on a boat, and the player takes his place. From this moment, the main course of the game begins, the player’s ship is not far from a major city of a chosen nationality.

In the future, the future of the hero lies in the hands of the player. Engaged in piracy, the service of a particular power and trade, he must earn fame and fame, earn money, save his family, defeat the most famous pirates of the Caribbean and avenge the insidious marquis of Montalban. In addition, it is desirable to successfully marry one of the governor's daughters. The position of the hero in society after the inevitable retirement depends on the degree of success in each of these areas of activity.

The game does not have a pronounced goal as such. In it you can either follow the plot, freeing relatives from imprisonment and hunting for the evil Marquise de Montalban, or just travel without paying special attention to the plot. But despite this, there is a thing in the game that you definitely need to strive for, namely, achievements (or fame). There are several activities in the game, thanks to which you can increase the level of fame, which at the end of the game (when you last divided the booty) will tell you your new profession, of which there are nineteen in the game.

The player receives points in total from earned money, received land, available ranks, status of wife, defeated pirates, freed relatives, treasures found and abandoned cities.

Naval battle

Naturally, the most interesting part of sea odysseys is sea battle. When you decide that a particular ship (for example, a Spanish trading galleon) is suitable for you as a prey, you can fight with it. A battle can consist of several stages: the first is a normal naval battle, in which you need to decide for yourself, fire a ship with cannons, or take it on board. If you decide to go boarding, then the time has come for the second stage: in it you fight with the captain of an enemy ship in a fencing duel. This duel can have four outcomes: the first is if you simply push your opponent to the end of the ship and he falls overboard. Second, if the same thing happens to you. The third and fourth are the most rare, since in this case one of the crews of the ship simply runs out of people (in this case, the side whose people remain is the winner). It is also worth noting that if your ship has a much larger number of people than on a stranger, then most likely (if this ship is not military or story), it will simply surrender. Aggressive ships also go along the sea. Typically, these are either warships of a particular nation, or destroyers of pirates (in which case they will attack first). There are other famous pirates in the game who are unlikely to attack first.

Variants of sea battle with two ships at once are also possible, but such an outcome is possible only with the Spaniards (a military sloop accompanies a ship with valuable cargo, for example).

When hijacking a ship, you are invited to choose what you want to take with you before drowning. The cargo of the ship is limited, so you have to weigh everything well. But you can also take the captured ship with you, thereby attaching it to your fleet, and then it will not be necessary to choose which cargo to take.

Cities

There are four nations in the game: Spaniards , English , French and Dutch . Each nation on the map has a certain number of cities that are interactive for the player. The largest number of cities in Spain , the smallest in the Netherlands . But this indicator is not fixed at all in the game, because there are wars between nations every minute, and each nation can take a city from another, and sometimes you can take a city directly.

Governor

In every major city there is a governor of a certain nation. On your first visit, he will reward you with the private law of this country, which will allow you to attack ships of enemy nations. But with each new arrival, the governors will promote you in rank (but only regarding this country), as well as give land. Ranks are given for different things: whether it is robbery of enemy ships, escort of a new governor, or capture of an enemy city. In the game, there are nine ranks (from captain to duke ) that can be obtained from each nation, and each new rank gives a certain bonus for this country.

Tavern

Almost all the main tasks and quests in the game are taken exactly in the tavern. There are four actions in taverns: a set of sailors, a conversation with a traveler, a conversation with a waitress and a conversation with a bartender.

The set of sailors looks simple: you can go to a small detachment of sailors and decide whether to take them with you or not. This choice is important because there is morality in the game (see morality)

A conversation with a traveler has several varieties: it can sell you a certain thing that gives you some bonuses (see things). He can also tell you a story about your family, which always means that he will reveal to you the whereabouts of Baron Raimondo. The third variant is his story about merchants in other cities, which helps you to decide where to sell or buy certain resources. Finally, the fourth opportunity is to buy from him a card or the location of a pirate treasure, or the lost city of a lost civilization.

The waitress usually tells you about the passing ships with a lot of gold, but can also often tell about the presence of a certain character nearby (be it Baron Raimondo or a famous pirate). Sometimes she can be noticed during a conversation with a rude officer of the nation in which city you are located. If you stand up for a girl, you will be sent to a duel fencing battle with this officer, and upon victory you will receive a bonus in the form of more sailors who are ready to keep you company.

The bartender almost always informs you about the appearance of the governor's daughters, but also always tells you about the whereabouts of Baron Raimondo, Colonel Mendoza or the Marquis de Montalban (if they have recently been to this port). It can also lead you to a criminal who is hiding from a certain country. You can enter into a duel with him, and upon winning receive a monetary reward, along with the thanks of the country from which he was hiding.

Defeating the Pirates

Regardless of the choice of year of action, the game contains nine famous pirates, representatives of various eras of piracy, who can be defeated and promoted in a list of pirates to a greater number of places:

• Jack Rackham (1682-1720)
• Bart Roberts (1682-1722)
• Rock Brasigliano (1630-1671)
• Francois Olone (1630-1671)
• Steed Bonnet (1688-1718)
• Jean Lafitte (1780-1823)
• Captain Kidd (1654-1701)
• Blackbeard (1680-1718)
• Henry Morgan (1635–1688)

Some aspects of the game have been simplified: it became possible to save not only in cities, but also in the open sea, and before the start of the battle and at the entrance to the city, saving occurs automatically ^[7] ; a map of the playing field appeared ^[7] ; the final position calculation scheme became known - by the number of points out of 126 - while the influence of accumulated money on the total decreased ^[6] ; now you can see other people's ships and even their type at a great distance, and not with a direct approach ^{[6] [7]} ; it became possible to shoot only part of the guns, but waiting for a full charge ^[6] ; frequent hiring of new sailors is much less displeasing the team ^[6] ; The regime of storming cities from the sea has been removed ^[7] . If earlier the capture of the city consisted of a turn-based strategy in the field and a mini-game in a fort or garrison, then in a new game - only one thing: a mini-game, if the main character has a significant advantage, and turn-based strategy - otherwise ^[6] . Something has become more complicated: in addition to conventional kernels, buckshot and booklet are now available; although, unlike sailing simulators, switching is instantaneous ^[6] ; new types of settlements appeared - pirate settlements and Jesuit missions ^[7] .

The game received an average of positive ratings. Computer Games Magazine Announces Side Meier's Pirates! second best game of 2004, after World of Warcraft ^[34] . Computer Gaming World magazine awarded the game "Best Classic Arcade of the Year" and named Sid Meier's Pirates! "The best purely entertaining single-player game of the year" ^[35] .

Critics praised Sid Meier's Pirates' excellent (2004) graphics ! - carefully drawn ships, on which you can see sailors moving and the casing flying from explosions ^[4] , beautiful battle scenes ^[5] , nice looking “ shader ” water and clouds running through them ^[7] , but at the same time noted that some objects penetrate each other - for example, one ship through another or a ship through a city fort ^[5] . It was noted that the gameplay is completely intuitive - all the necessary buttons are displayed on the screen, reading instructions for training is not required, but the complexity of the game does not suffer from this ^[29] .

Critics also praised a large number of mini-games that are seamlessly sewn into the main gameplay and add variety to it ^{[29] [5]} , pleasant and unobtrusive sound accompaniment - from background noises to music in cities ^[29] , extensive statistics - you can play in the game see detailed information about the main character, his fleet, other pirates, countries and cities, and “Piratepedia” - an internal reference in the form of an encyclopedia ^[5] .

Of the minuses, the almost complete absence in Sid Meier's Pirates is mentioned ! economic component ^{[4] [5]} and some repeatability ^[29] - in the game you can defeat the main villains, the Marquis de Montalban and Baron Raimondo many times (the latter appears in different contexts, but even his name does not change) ^{[6] [4 ] ]} , and the videos when defeating all nine pirates are almost identical ^[7] . In addition, some opportunities - for example, to capture cities and sneak into them - become available only after a rather long game, but by this moment many players are already moving to high levels and new opportunities are becoming difficult to master ^[29] .

• Top 25 PC Games of All Time ( Page 2 and 3 )
• The official website of the game
• Firaxis Game Page