Pirates! Gold Plus

I remember playing the Commodore 64 version of this game back in 87 and I got to tell you. I LOST ALOT OF SLEEP PLAYING IT! I would start playing 6 pm in the evening and at 3 am I would literally had to pry myself from my computer to get what little sleep I could get before I resume playing again the next evening. ( I still had to go to school the next morning, heh.) But by then I would've already have raided more that have of all the ports in the Spanish Main and sank enough ships to have my own alcoholic beverage named after me.

I used to play this game on Commodore 64 in 1986, the graphics was, when compared the games of its era, fantastic, musics, the best I have heard in Commodore, the world you play in was real world with real and living cities. When you are in a town you can ask the bartender in an inn to get the latest news. Sometimes about a gold vein found in a city, which leads population and wealth boom. Sometimes femine hits a city. Sometimes countries goes to war. and sometimes they make peace. Cities can be captured by enemy countries during the war, you can also help your nation capture towns by raiding them. And ofcourse you can slowly climb the ranks of your choosen countries navvy, gaining land and reputaiton on the way. And with luck you can marry the daughter of the mayor. There are two fleets of Spaniards, Tressure Fleet and Silver Train. If you know in which date in which city they will be in you can track them down for extra gold and the best in game ship, galleon. All in 64kb Ram. This is a classic, may be the best game of Sid Meier.

...and just as fun. Sailing around the Caribbean, raiding towns, seizing ships, fighting a dual to win the hand of the Governer's daughter, playing the English, Dutch, French and Spanish off against one another to gain land and titles from multiple countries...what's not to love here? My only complaint would be the combat on land where I can't seem to move more than one group in unison. Overall though, a bargain for the hours of fun you'll have. A lot of replayability too, with multiple skill levels and scenarios.

I've played the first Pirates! on the C64, Pirates Gold on the Genesis and the newest version of Pirates! Honestly, the newest is my favorite, but these games here hold their own. You start with almost nothing. You'll need to learn how to use the winds to make your self-guided trading routes profitable. You'll sink enemies and battle pirates. You'll send expeditions hundreds of miles inland looking for lost native gold. Or you can target a massive Spanish galleon hauling years worth of mined gold. Each step you take earns you points. By the time your career ends, you'll be judged at how well you played the game (i.e. how well you lived your life). Did you die rich with lots of land, a beautiful wife and powerful allies? Or did you fall in combat against an ordinary hooligan pirating the seas? You can live out tons of lives in an extraordinarily accurate portrayal of life in the Carribean during six different time periods, starting as a Spaniard, Dutchman, Frenchman or Englishman. If you haven't played these games and you want to avoid some of the annoying aspects of the newest version (dancing, a preset story and often tech problems on Win Vista+), then you should pick this up and enjoy the pirates life!

Pirates represents some of my most cherished gaming memories from my childhood. The original was light years ahead of its time fluidly combining aspects of several genres into one incredible package with almost endless replayability. Sail the seas, collect bounties, raid merchants, attack forts, search for buried treasure, woo the governor's daughter, the possibilities are endless.