Sid Meier's Pirates! Xbox
User Score
7.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17

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  1. MarkW.
    Jan 3, 2006
    7
    If you've played civ. III this will be a dissapointment. It was fun for a while, but the dancing got old, chasing Raymundo got old, and the (A) button smashing fights got old. The graphics are buggy with water showing where land should be. The difficulty settings make things more annoying (by giving small peices of maps) but not much tougher. The game could have been great with a little more focus on war and strategy. Retiring as a pirate/governor is a little insulting when you have the potential to take over the world and appoint your own governors. This game was fun, but it seems dumbed down compared to other sid myers games. More suited for the masses....not hard core gamers. Rent it for a weekend.… Expand
  2. Kboy
    Sep 1, 2005
    1
    It's.. awful.
  3. DragonKnightofFinalFantasy
    Oct 21, 2005
    6
    This game is solid. It has many gameplay styles in there sadly none are well excuted. The story isn't good and the graphics are awful. Especially for the Xbox. Sailing can be very slow and becoming the best pirate isn't a very hard task but its still pretty fun. The sword fighting is too simple and slightly dull. The boat battles are entertaining yet still slow and I got stuck in something once and that was annoying. The stealth was just dumb and the button=pressing dancing is as fun as it sounds. Yet for some reason it all wen together to be mildly entertaining. Rent it. I may be a bit too kind on this game but at least rent this.… Expand
  4. JonathanZ.
    Oct 3, 2005
    5
    This game isn't Sid Meier's Ninjas! I just have to accept that and review that game I actually played instead the potential awesomeness I could've played. In opposition to the PC version, the XBOX version has some hastily tacked-on plot (something about having to save your family from an evil baron.) Like I'm sure everybody else did, I choose to ignore all that in lieu of terrorizing the French. You may remember that Sid Meier is responsible for the insanely addicting Civilization III. Pirates! is a bit of a change of pace in terms of scope - instead of overseeing the fate of an entire civilization for several thousand years, you're limited to taking charge of a single pirate crew in the Caribbean from the mid- to late-1600s. (Since most pirates never got past the wizened age of 45, this makes sense.) After naming your captain and choosing a proficiency (most would choose to improve their dueling prowess, but I choose Wit and Charm for more effective wooing) you're given control of a small ship. Sailing around and just randomly attacking passing boats can be highly amusing, if not totally broken. Case in point: I was in my insignificant sloop when I saw the Queen Anne's Revenge sail right on by. Channeling my inner Johnny Depp, I decided to go in for the kill. Out-gunned and severely outmanned, I knew the first volley of 15 cannonballs (in opposition to my three) would knock me right out of the water. Instead, I found myself to be... unharmed. I then did what any completely insane pirate would do--bashed my pathetic heap of timber against the legendary ship. Onboard was the fearsome Blackbeard, flaming beard and all. After a suprisingly easy game of Simon Says that required all of three button presses, I had slain the most fearsome pirate on the high seas and taken his ship. If that isn't evidence of a game in need of balancing, I'd like to know what is! (Speaking of Blackbeard, my dad is writing a miniseries all about him. Check it out.) That's basically an apt description for the entire experience: an abundance of strung together mini-games. You've got the "dancing to win the affections of the governor's daughter" game, which I prefer to think of as "virtual finger torture." Other examples include the "laying siege to a city" pseudo-RTS and the "sneaking into a hostile area" stealth portion. Needless to say, playing gets to be repetitive in a big hurry. BOTTOM LINE: I'm not saying you won't be highly amused for a couple of hours. Quite the contrary. Once the novelty wears off, though... I'm afraid you might come to the same horrified realization that I did. You're just playing the illegitimate child of a Mario Party game.… Expand
  5. BrianK.
    Jul 14, 2005
    8
    Definitely a PC game ported to a console, but a great one. The controls take some getting used to and the load screens are plentiful, if fairly short. Also the graphics are nothing to write home about. Still, the game is heaps of fun and instantly addictive. Folks who loved the original game will find the new version in excellent shape. It's not for everyone, but those folks who enjoy a nice mix of strategy and action will enjoy it immensely.… Expand
  6. DudeLabowski
    Aug 16, 2005
    10
    Arrrrgggggh! This game be better than enjoying the booty in Davey Jones' locker while sippin on grog and juice YO!
  7. Ricardo
    Jan 10, 2006
    6
    A lot of fun, but a missed opportunity. Richard S. below sums it up well. I would add a few more flaws that detracted from gameplay: the worst being that no-one spoke a real language. You challenge an English captain to a duel and he says "Chewbow!" each time. All of the characters talk unintelligible gibberish. It is very annoying. It would have been much better if they had spoken real English or English with a Spanish or French accent for instance. As it is, it's stupid sounding. Maybe there wasn't enough memory left? But I find that hard to believe as everything else about the game is a duplicate. The spies all look the same. Each fight is the same. All the mysterious strangers are the same. The barmaids and innkeepers of each nationality are all the same etc. Not enough variety. But it kept me strangely addicted. But I wouldn't play much again.… Expand
  8. RichardS.
    Dec 16, 2005
    7
    Very addictive and a lot of fun, but it gets too repetitive after a while with too many repeated sequences and some missed opportunities. The open-ended gameplay is fun, though it can be frustrating tyring to track down the baddies. The mix of collecting, fighting, sailing, dancing, etc is great variation and entertaining. There are so missed opportunities tho - once I married the beautiful daughter of the Governor of Nassau the gameplay did not change when I visited, it was just more dancing. It should have been more varied and realistic. Equally, the fencing was too repetitive - what was the point of the pistols? The characters also looked too similar. Sailing east against the wind was also too slow! Try it out, it's alot of fun and I couldn't stop playing inspite of the flaws.… Expand
  9. DarrenM.
    Jul 15, 2005
    9
    Strangely enough, this is the xbox version of Killer 7. the controls are very adequate if more than slightly dated (think proto-95, hey) and the gameplay is straight monkey island. in this new era of sandbox-style in every genre, a simple old adventure game like this is out of place. which doesn't make it bad. if you're looking for a nice change of pace in a positive, relatively innocent sort of way, pirates stands with lego star wars as this year's best entry.… Expand
  10. SteveL.
    Jul 17, 2005
    9
    This is a awesome game! I have been waiting for this release for many years. The only thins is they should make a mac friendly version..
  11. MikeE.
    Jul 28, 2005
    7
    Don't get me wrong, this an entertaining game, but considering this is 2005 and Pirates was created by Sid Meier, I'm a bit disappointed. What initially feels like depth, after a few hours playing the game, quickly dissolves into redundancy. You do the exact same thing in the beginning of the game that you do until the very end- Attack a ship, have a sword fight, sail to a town, sell what you don't need, and play Simon Says on the dance floor, get a tip to travel to another town. The only interesting mini game is the Might and Magic/Risk, storm the castle, strategy game. Granted this is an update on an old classic, but what worked when this game first came out seems like a vintage throwback compared to games of today. There are also so many reality bending , common sense issues with this game that could have been tweaked (e.g. you have to capture the same guy 16 times to get a piece of a map, or you're a pirate who collects gold, but gold isn't really used for anything, unless you want buy and sell goods, so basically the game is to stock pile wealth- what fun is that?) I guess I was expecting more strategy like Civilization than a smaller, dated sandbox world. I really hope one day somone makes a sequel and really blows this game out the way it could, and should be done.… Expand
  12. LaurieD.
    Aug 16, 2005
    10
    I'm not much of a gamer. I don't have the reflexes for the button mashing games, but Pirates! is a hell of a lot of fun and has loads of game play, even for the casual gamer like me.
  13. Loc
    Oct 13, 2006
    10
    It was the most fun I've had playing a game in a long long time. Thank you Sid!
  14. Andyman
    Jan 15, 2007
    10
    Yaaarrrggggghhhh! Walk the plank, ye Halo-ridden landlubbers! Sid Meier's Pirates is EASILY the best pirate game ever made. Even more amazing is the fact that Sid somehow improved upon the seemingly perfect formula introduced in the original Pirates! game. There are few games in existence that are more addictive than this one... you'll want to explore every inch of the Caribbean before you retire from privateering.… Expand
  15. GeorgeL.
    Dec 21, 2005
    7
    it's a weird game with pirates making wierd noises and ii a longass journey. but its a good game for the people that dont like role-playing.
  16. calcipher
    Feb 15, 2013
    5
    When porting a PC game to a console, your first concern should be to make this game controller-friendly. Well, I hope someone was fired from Firaxis after this port because they somehow managed not to do it. What you get is "Sid Meier's Pirates!" for PC, but it's on your Xbox. No graphic improvements, no new content (after 1 year from PC release) and you have to play this game with the controller, while the game itself is still thought for keyboard+mouse control. Until you get used to a control system that seems specifically designed to get on your nerves, everyone in the Seven Seas will assume you're steering your ship while drunk. Sword combats will be extremely hard since you're forced to use your D-PAD instead of the sticks or the triggers or even the bumpers. Who came with the idea of the D-PAD? I hope the same guy that was fired. --It's a shame, because I loved the PC version of this game. This Xbox port just got me to re-install my old "Sid Meier's Pirates!" on my desktop and got deleted after a couple of boring (and very frustrating) games. I give this game a 5, just in memory of the good old times and because you might enjoy it if you're patient enough to get used to the controls and/or do not have the chance to play it on a PC. Otherwise, go for the PC version.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 47 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 47
  3. Negative: 2 out of 47
  1. Yahoo! Games
    90
    It's not the most glitzy-looking coin in the haul, but it's finely milled, expertly crafted, and has just enough hidden nicks to give it Old World character and a sense of adventure. It's addictive, and you will lose hours of your life.
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  2. Games Radar
    90
    If you missed the original game 18 years ago, you should definitely pick this up - it could be another 18 years before they make something this purely fun again.
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  3. Boomtown
    90
    The historical period is beautifully realised, and the included onscreen encyclopaedia is great reading. If you have an interest in this period, pirates, the age of sail - you'll find lots to enjoy, especially if you're a fan of the works of Patrick O'Brian or Alexander Kent.
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