I have been playing this game on and off for about five years now, and it I still love it. It's probably the second greatest RPG ever made. The story is pretty dumb, and the graphics aren't THAT great (but decent) and the sounds are fairly low quality at some points, but the sheer fun and addiction of the gameplay surpasses all of that. The main problem with the game however, is that is never really fresh. Once you have completed about three different quests or so, you've completed every quest in the game since every quest is practically the exact same thing.… Expand

Fun for about three hours. The swordfights, dances, land and sea battles, and basic sailing are extremely repetitive. The graphics are cartoonish, the subplots are juvenile, and each quest becomes a 30-minute chore. This game does not deserve the high rating it received.

Massively overrated. Gets boring really fast, if you ever played Port Royale. I might have digged it if I was 15 years younger.

For first 6-8 hours this game is a real fun! Taking galleons with small sloop is experience easy to like :) But afer this time it gets too repetitive. Still it's not bad - it's just average.

Great presentation and amusing gameplay. But you quickly come to wonder why you're playing it as you repeat the same tasks over and over. Pirates lacks the structure and magic to make it anything than an okay game, and while I don't regret buying it, I couldn't recommend anyone buys it.

If there was one game that deserved to be remade, then it's Pirates! Fortunately, Sid Meier didn't change anything from the original concept and made yet another game classic. Curse you Sid, I lost weeks of my life... again! ;)

If this game were a real pirate ship, it'd be a Ship of the Line! A solid update for a gaming classic. I played the original when it came out 20 years ago (yes, I'm that old), and it's every bit as fun now as it was back then. You can't really go wrong with a game brought to you by the same folks who made Civilization.

I have played the original a lot back in the 90s, and I must say that when I first started playing it I loved it. Now I have the game for a week and I think its way to easy. In the original Pirates! it was realy hard to get a good end ranking, but in this new version it is far too easy. I played it once on the 3rd difficulty setting and made it to Bishop (only Governor is better) already. Presentation is nice but it becomes a little repetitve after a while. I am glad I didn't spend 45 dollars on it and got it through ebay for 14 dollars including shipping.… Expand

Repetitive garbage....just like most of his other games!! When is this guy going to come out with something" new"?? What a disappointment...What a waste of money!!!

Nice Fun Game, lots of quests to be done, fighting is a little repetitive. An overall fun game.

I've only played it for a day, but it's getting pretty frustrating at this point. I loved it at first, but it seems like it punishes you for getting better. For example, the more money you make, the more you lose when you divide it among the crew you spent so much time assembling, right before you send them packing, along with the extra ships you captured. And the difficulty rises far too steeply at the Swashbuckler level. How are you supposed to complete a dance or win a swordfight on that mode? Anyway, it's fun for a few hours. I picked it up for $20, can't complain I guess.… Expand

This is how computergaming should be. You'll play for an hour, and when you finish, you discover 6 hours have past. It's oldish but the gameplay is so much fun, albeit frustrating at times. One can easily tell how much fun the developers had, when they created the game. Not without flaws, but by far the best pirates-game I know of. Uaaargh, ya lubbers.

Total Rubbish, boring, poor visuals, repetitive. Totally overrated, I just don't know how they give it 88, a score similar to half-life 2! I Would not finish this gave if you paid me too, 0 / 10.

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. After every playthrough, I set it down declaring I will never play it again due to its repetitive gameplay. However, it seems, I can't help myself from coming back for just one more game. I would have assumed it was some sort of temporary charm from nostalgia, but the fact that I can't quit until I finish the entire thing again says otherwise. I'll easily concede that this isn't the freshest game on the market, but its excellent design, charming music and strong tone keep it as one of the contenders for my favorite game of all time.… Expand

Great remake of the original. Updated with better gfx, and more fights and quests. Really really fun game!

Excellent remake of the original Pirates! The world "fun" sums up this treasure. If you play games for "fun", you will like this game. Actually, I like this game even better than the original. How many remakes can you say that about?

Pirates! surpasses the 1993 remake and at last captures the glory (the absolute glory) of the 1987 original, which I consider to this day the greatest game ever made for the PC (with Civilization I & II a close second). I’ve been waiting almost my whole adult life to play Pirates again, and I’m not disappointed, I’m elated: if that is not an endorsement, I don’t know what is. If you are young gamer and haven’t played the original or first remake, do not be afraid to buy this. Technically it is a beautiful achievement with smooth, stimulating graphics that just fly on a good machine. Don’t let the “E” for everyone rating bother you either: this game has first-person combat, realistic tactical battles, hot chicks everywhere, heroism, and the quest for fame and wealth. It is as close to a transcendent experience you can get on a computer.… Expand

I played this game at my mates and thought it was absolutely amazing. I spent ages looking for and I'm pleased I found it for the PC.

I just bought the game, installed it and jumped right in. Easy to play, fun and addicting. Before I knew it, midnight came around and had to stop playing it. Fun game

If you dont like this game your dead. kaput. rip. asleep, belly up, bloodless, breathless, buried, cadaverous, checked out, cold, cut off, deceased, defunct, departed, done for, erased, expired, extinct, gone, inanimate, inert, late, lifeless, liquidated, mortified, no more, not existing, offed, passed away, perished, reposing, rubbed out, snuffed out, spiritless, stiff, unanimated, washed up.

As a Pirates remake this game succeeds 100% The only problem is nostalgia doesnt make a great game. After seeing the same cutscene/animation for each gaming section for the 100th time you might start to get a bit tired of it all. Limited fun for a while anyway.

I've spent more or less three days playing this great remake. In my opinon the best remake ever... I must admit I had my doubts in the beginning since remakes seldom turn out greater than the original. I enjoyed the original Pirates in my youth and consider it the best game ever made (if you consider what was possible "computerwise" when the original Pirates! was released)... Now... back to the remake. I agree that the game will not appeal to everyone, however Pirates! fans will adore it. It has everything you can wish for: Strategy, action, open ended you name... The only thing that did not appeal to me at all was the dancing... There is however a very easy way around it "...pause..." Since you want to be able to break young govenors daughters hearts or marr y them. It's all up to you... Which by the way is the spirit of this great game. See you on the open sea! Cheers… Expand

Perhaps the appeal of this game to many is that it reminds us of Sid's original "Pirates!" Those of you who haven't played the original may wonder what the big deal is, however, and I don't blame you. It seems over the years other Pirate games have taken Sid's format and improved it, and if you've played many pirate games in the last few years, you'll miss those improvements badly playing this game. The animations are well done, and the fencing and dancing are colorful, interesting and simple, but they all get old fast. The nostalgia is great, and may be worth the re-visit, but all told there really isn't much to this game. If you're a big fan of the original I suggest buying this game and displaying it on a shelf for the memories. (It'll be worth more un-opened in 30 years, and you wont play it long anyhow.) If you're new, I know it's painful to pass up anything with Sid Meier on the cover, but if you buy it you'll wish you had your money back to buy a cheaper, more substantial game.… Expand

This is the only game that has entertained me throughout my entire life. Its free roaming, swashbuckling world help create an amazing game that will stand the test of time.

I loved the first one and love this one as well. i could have given it a 9, but well, it's tough to differentiate between the first one and this one, in a way... but i think it's a great update.

It's an amazing game. With excellent free-roaming capabitlies, Pirates is definitely up there with the greats.

This could be the best remake of a game to date, the graphics are outstanding and the open ended playability is a big asset to the game also the newly added content is a big uplift to the old shoot, slash, capture. i would love to see this be a multi player game.

Game's great, make no mistake, but there are some fatal flaws that make it awful or not lasting long enough. Here I'll try to devide + and - in sections: + Innovative gameplay, the difficulty rises slowly at your decision letting you get accustomed to the game. + Many minigames within one package, arcade naval warfare, arcade fencing, tactical assault of the cities, treasure hunting. + You can do many things in SM's Pirates, do quests, rob caravans, follow rumors, collect valuable items, romance royal women, upgrade your ship, board and capture other ships, represent one of 4 nations or meddle in their business and become a notorious pirate, give and receive gifts, share collected gold with your team, etcetera, etcetera... - Controls on the tactical map are just awful... Sometimes you hit Page Down instead of 7 and you automatically retreat from a fight. - The game is way too repetitive. The good experience will not last very long. - It's a sandbox arcade game. A good sandbox game is a game in which you have overwhelming amount of possibilities and everything is happening at random, making up for more fun! Although in Pirates, events are happening at random, randomly generated, they are getting old very fast, due to your limited possibilities e.g. you put your money in a bank, you have some items, but you don't have a character's doll, so at some point (very fast actually) all of the items are applied to your character and this aspect disappears from the game. Moreover, fencing challenging it may be at first, get's overly easy later on due to your equipment. Ship upgrades can only be made in specific cities (What?), so you'll have to sweep the damn Caribbean if you want to find them all. Back to the idea, all of your possibilities uncover VERY VERY fast, after that you don't discover anything new, everything else is just repetition of thing you did one hour ago. = Conclusion: A great game it may be, but it's way too lengthly for an Arcade and way too shallow for a Sandbox. While trying to get the best from each, SM's Pirates end up being none and losing it's greatness somewhere along the way.… Expand