If you ever dreamed of being lost at sea with a wild crew of men uglier than a warthog with skip problems, you might just be a pirate. If you love drinking frothy ale from a filthy mug in a tavern where the barkeep’s awful BO smells better than your rotting teeth, you might just be a pirate. If Pirates of the Caribbean or Pirates: Legend of Black Kat for the Xbox disappointed you, well, Sid Meier’s Pirates! is the game for you. At last, a pirate game worthy of those who always thought the pirate life is for them.

Released awhile ago on the PC, Pirates! resurfaces on our favorite black box with Xbox exclusive features that, while it cuts the massive playing world in half, adds more goodies that make this an all-the-more enriching console experience. Even if you do own the PC game, you might want to catch this version loaded with more cinematic cutscenes, shorter sailing time and more bonus material to keep you even more busy. Even the simplistic control scheme fits the Xbox perfectly. In short, this is how you port a PC game to a console!

Sid Meier’s Pirates! tells the tale of a young man who, at a young age, watches his family being taken prisoner by the dastardly Marquis de Montalban. As the quiet dinner becomes a tragedy, the young boy escapes and vows to find his family and have his revenge. The young boy grows up to join a mean captain’s crew only to head a mutiny and take over his ship. From there it is up to the gamer to pick a nation (English, Spanish, the Dutch or the French) and attempt to become a famous pirate captain while keeping your promise to find your family.

You can also pick a skill that will serve you well as a pirate captain. You can become proficient in fencing, gunnery, navigation, medicine or charm. Either one you choose you will put to the test each of these skills in order to become a successful captain. There are responsibilities you’ll have to tend to such as the supply stock (your crew has to eat, you know) and plunder to split with your crew (or you’ll have a mutiny in your hands). Aside from looking for your family and making Montalban pay for what he did to you and your family, you must make a name for yourself and that means pillaging, capturing ships and stealing gold ... you know, the pirating essentials. You’re never pushed into completing the main task so you’re free to live the pirate’s life and, seeing how massive this world is, there’s plenty of riches to be had here.

Each of the four nations is always in turmoil and you can earn some respect as well as money by doing deeds or crossing swords with enemies of a nation. For example, sail under the English flag and take down a Spanish trade ship and you’ll be rewarded a rank from the English governor as well as, say, a Dutch governor who hates Spain. The more ships you sink or take as your own and the more each governor of an island will reward you with titles, property and even a proper introduction to their daughters (both beautiful and plain-looking ones). You can even head into taverns to recruit new crew members, get the latest information or capture hidden criminals wanted by different nations.

Sailing is a major part of this game and this is where the game takes on a bird’s eye view of the action. Steering with the wind, your ship will encounter galleons from many nations as well as pirate ships. You’ll even encounter famous real-life pirates along the way such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd or Henry Morgan. The rewards and riches for taking down these pirates will make you known throughout the nations and will even put you on the list of famous pirates. The higher your rank the more different ports will grant you cheaper repairs or supplies.

Ship battles are also a major part of the game and in Pirates! the ship battles are pretty simple and downright entertaining. You start by engaging a ship and the view moves to the two ships locked in battle. You can select different cannon fire and you can even ram another ship. When you ram a ship it game automatically shifts to a boarding battle. Here your fencing skills are put to the test and while there’s some limited moves including a taunt and dodge move, it’s really a tug-of-war-styled mini-game. You’re given a choice of swords such as a longsword, rapier or a cutlass. Rapiers are for quick attacks and thus the best choice of the three. Defeat the captain and you’ll have the choice to sink the ship (taking all the valuables first, of course) or take it. Taking a ship means you’ll have to surrender some crewmembers to the other ship but at least you’ll have backup during your journey.

The game is also filled with various mini-games. You’ll have the opportunity to court a governor’s daughter, which will open a dancing mini-game. Simply a rhythm-based game, you’ll have to push the button that flashes on the screen but at the right moment. Thankfully your dance partner indicated the direction with her hands but it is still a pretty challenging game. From there you can court your chosen sweetheart by bringing her gifts and finally marrying her. There’s even a stealth mini-game that has you sneaking into a town third-person style while attempting to avoid being caught by the local watchmen. You can even knock out guards, hide behind objects to make your way through the maze-like streets. It’s fun stuff, all right.

New to the game is also an even-the-odds mini-game that has you evening the odds when attempting to board a ship with a crew that outnumbers your own. It’s really a short sequence where you attempt to push the right buttons before the timer expires. Successfully push them correctly and you’ll be shown a cutscene of your heroic efforts and will lead you to a fight with the ship’s captain. There’s even some cool land battle sequences in the game that gel together nicely on the Xbox. There’s even a multiplayer mode for up to four players that kind of makes up for no Xbox Live multiplayer. You can also use Doubloons (the game’s currency), to purchase bonus content such as galleries and behind-the-scenes stuff just to name a few extras.

Visually, the game might not be a graphical treat but then again it’s not a bad looking game either. The world of Sid Meier’s Pirates! is a colorful one and it definitely gives off the effect that you’re in the tropical seas and islands of that period. The character you control is a dashing young pirate who is nicely detailed but, strangely enough, everyone else that isn’t a famous pirate seems to look alike. Even the girls you court seem to be cut from the same template ... with the exception of a change of skin and hair color, of course. Still, the top-down view during the sailing is filled with little details such as dolphins swimming besides your boat or a patch of dark clouds with lighting and thunder. There’s some great cutscenes but by the first hour you’ll probably have seen all of them again at least twice. 

While the visuals won’t impress the gamers looking for eye candy, it will certainly more than make up for it with its sound and score. Composed of snippets of familiar seafaring tunes you’ll associate with old pirate movies, the soundtrack is delightful yet repetitive. It certainly isn’t repetitive enough that it will drive you nuts, though. While the dialogue is purely text, you’ll hear some nonsensical gibberish from each character you speak to throughout the game. Yet the best part comes while sailing. You’ll hear the storms coming before you see it and during the battles you’ll hear men scream with pain and cannon balls splinter hulls. These detailed sounds can also be heard in taverns or seaports.

Sid Meier’s Pirates! is quite simply one of the most enjoyably addictive games and a genuine treat for those who longed for a really great pirate game. Brilliantly designed and filled with enough things to see and explore, this is a world we can easily get lost in and enjoy every second of it. While there are certain things that could have been a bit better, you can’t go wrong with this one. A Must Have for sure.

Gameplay: 9.5
Simple and to the point, Pirates! gets straight to the heart of the matter and makes everything from plundering, conquering the hearts of governor’s daughters and duels with famous pirates short but sweet. There’s just so much to do, see and thankfully its all handled well thanks to a simplistic control scheme.

Graphics: 8.0
Gorgeously colorful with nicely detailed environments while on ship or land. Ship battles look good even from the distant bird’s eye view of the action but does every governor’s daughter have to look alike? The animations are good but quickly become repetitive.

Sound: 9.0
Incredibly detailed sounds can be heard while sailing and the ship battles sound even more brutal than they appear on screen. The music has that pirate movie feel and all the pirates laugh and heartily spout their trademark “Yarr!” Good stuff, indeed.

Difficulty: Medium
The ship battles, especially those against the more massive galleons, make for some truly strategic and challenging battles. Some pirates are also better with swords than others but time it just right and everyone goes down the same way. If things are too easy the game offers you the option to continue the game at a much more difficult setting.

Concept: 9.0
The game offers loads of mini-games, the freedom to sail wherever you want and marry the prettiest girl in the Dutch islands. Who doesn’t want to set sail and plunder gold and fine spices with a rambunctious crew of seadogs anyway? Xbox Live downloadable content is also planned.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Skipping Xbox Live online multiplayer action (sob), there’s an up to four-player multiplayer ship battle mode that allows you to pick from just a few ships and attempt to sink your friends' battleships. It’s fun but this would have made a great online multiplayer game seeing as how the map is big enough to place dozens of ships at sea.

Overall: 9.0
Without a doubt, Sid Meier’s Pirates! is just one of those rare gems that make you glad you own an Xbox. If you love a game that offers a lot and does it simple yet addictively entertaining, this is a game you should pick up right away.