Pirates! Gold (CD32)

Title         Pirates! Gold (CD32)
Game Type     Adventure
Company       MicroProse
Players       1
Compatability CD32
Submission    Courtesy of Sean Caszatt


Review
PIRATES! GOLD is a game about a historical era.  It also has a history
of it's own.

Going as far back as the Commodore 64 computer, gamers have been putting
themselves in the place of a swashbuckler on the Caribbean.  Fighting,
sailing and dueling in the name of gold and riches.  Back then, the
game was known as PIRATES!

Now, PIRATES! has returned in a new version, PIRATES! GOLD.  This new
version seems to be the same game with some slight graphics enhancements
and some other superficial tweaking.  Essentially, however, it's the same
game as the one played on the Commodore 64.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though.  A good game is a good game
no matter what platform its played on...unless something is ruined in the
translation, that is.  Fortunately, PIRATES! GOLD has survived intact.

Unfortunately, this is not a game that tests the CD³²'s limits.
Now, you're probably going to hear that about a lot of games until one
comes down the pike that DOES push the envelope.  In this case, we're
not going to count it against PIRATES! GOLD.  It's a good solid, fun game.
It's worth the price of admission, so to speak.

The game casts you as either a young swashbuckler just acquiring his
first ship or as a famous explorer set on completing one of several
expeditions.

The main point of the game is to sail around. (Sounds like fun, huh?)
You can encounter ships on the open ocean and fight or get information
from them.  The information is useful in planning treasure hunts as
well as attacks on port cities.  You can also dock at some port cities
as long as the flag you're flying agrees with the particular administration
running the city.  While you're there, you can get a stronger crew, buy
a bigger ship or bank your stash.

The game is involving because you never quite know how things are going
to turn out.  Not that the game's unpredictable, but there is a sense of
adventure in the game.  You aren't quite sure who's going to come
bounding on to your ship with sword-in-hand asking for a fight, for example.

The graphics aren't great.  They're standard Amiga game-type graphics
which are, of course, just as good as something like the Genesis or
SNES machines.  They don't push the envelope of performance and if
not for a rather nice 3D animation introduction, you'd never know it was
a game for a 32-bit game machine.  But, like we said, we're not going to
hold that against it.  The sound, however, is marvelous.  The music is
wonderful.  Listen for the "remix" version of the PIRATES! GOLD theme!
It's doubtful this kind of sound could be accomplished on anything less
than the CD³².

Not every game can be responsible for pushing the CD³² to its limits and
this game more than makes up for what it lacks in graphics with gameplay.

Alphabetical list.