Sid Meier's Pirates!

After Hordes of the Underdark, I switched gears to some role-playing on the high seas. Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2004) is a modernization of the original game which came out in 1987. I loved the original and spent many hours playing it on my PS/2 Mod 50Z. I even bought Pirates! Gold, an updated version from 1993. The core gameplay hasn’t changed much through the years. The presentation has changed a lot, however. As expected, the graphics are quite a bit better. Also, a dancing mini-game was added for interactions with governors’ daughters.

When I played the original game back in the ’80s, I usually played as a Dutchman. This time I decided to play as Julio Campos, a Spaniard. Julio was making quite a name for himself. He captured several ships, built up a sizable crew, and completed several missions for Spanish governors. Señor Campos also bought several treasure maps and successfully located the loot. Things were going great until I ran into a technical glitch. Something seems to be wrong with my game disc. I’m getting read errors from the second layer of the dual-layer DVD. Unfortunately, that has put the career of Julio Campos on hold for now.