Sid Meier's Pirates!: Live the Life

 The remake of Sid Meier's Pirates! (yes, that's the title - they could have shortened it, but oh well) holds the record for the game I have installed, uninstalled and later reinstalled the most times ever. It represents the very simple, yet crazy addicting gameplay that all the Sid Meier-games are known for, but foregoes the whole colonization and citybuilding simulation perspective, and instead sets sails to an interesting new premise. 
   

Gameplay

 Unlike most of Sid Meier's games this one actually has a story. The premise is solid enough: A boy embarks on a quest to reunite his family and avenge their downfall by taking down the evil Marquis. It's a 'classic' plot, but the game is not story-driven at all. Rather, it's a complete sandbox gameplay in which you are free to do exactly what you want, when you want - if the wind blows in the right direction, that is.  
   
 The gameplay is what you make it. That sounds advanced, but it's really quite simple: You can chase after the Marquis and seek to vanquish him or you could seek a career in service of the English crown, or you could try taking the governors daughter to the Grand Ball. Hell, you could spend the whole game just sailing around the Carribean sinking ships at random, or earn a fortune by buying and selling goods to the highest bidder. Or how about treasure hunting? Pirate hunting? Infiltrating cities under the cover of the night, or simply conquering and sacking them in broad daylight? Pirates! has it all!
 
Pirates! seem to be filled to the brim with all kinds of activities, but at the same time this freedom showcases the lack of proper story progression. While the story isn't as non-existing as in e.g. Mount&Blade, you could still sometime wish for a bit more character development. But, hey, this is a Sid Meier game, after all.  
 
The gameplay of Pirates!, while plenty, is by no means groundbreaking, as the whole 'pirate simulation' genre is flooded with games including several of the same kind of gameplay activities (but hey, they're probably all influenced by the original game anyway!). 
 

Graphics and sound

What makes Pirates! stand out among all these swashbuckling adventures is, amongst other things, the sheer charm. The characters in-game, while all being generic, are depicted in a slightly cartoonish, but also cute way that really goes a long way in making the gaming experience. The cutscene of the player character finding a buried treasure while his pirate buddies stand cheering at the side, those same pirates later sharing the loot, the look of your family members as you come to their rescue or the governors reactions when you ask out his daughter all manage to be nice and sweet and adorable without sacrificing the piratey feeling or going all LittleBigPlanet in the process. A good deal of this 'cute effect' is because of the facial animation of characters, which is absolutely fantastic - whoever was responsible deserves a payraise. While the expressions are not as subtle or life-like as the face of a worried Alyx Vance sending Gordon Freeman down a dangerous elevator (read up on your HL2 lore everyone!), the very coarse and cartoonish expressions helps the game tremendously in making the characters jump to life. 

 
   
Another thing which has to be mentioned is the sound. Everyone in the game speaks some Simlish-derived nonsense, and all voices are overdone and caricated as all hell, but, again, this works to the games' advantage: There's nothing like seeking treasure with a bunch of pirates mumbling, burping and laughing with their gruff, piratey voices, or being in audience with a jolly French or an English governor who sounds like he just stepped out of Buckingham Palace for the first time ever. There are, however, also voices that will get on your nerves, and while the voice (and visual) of the governors daughters is really, really cute, the constant welcoming 'wi-nin-sala' and 'tu shala?' (which is governordaughtish and means 'Let's go dance!') had me gritting my teeth in the end. 
 
The music in-game is varied, although keeping with the Carribean and pirate roots of the game. The town music is essentially the same everywhere, but played by different instruments depending on the factions (sort of like Banjo-Kazooie did in Gruntilda's Lair back in the days), and gives off a very Monkey Island'ish feel (for obvious reasons).  
Interesting, when you're out sailing it's mostly dead quiet. That's right folks, no ambient or misplaced techno here! Instead, you have only sound of the wind and the seagulls (and the occassional thunder storm) - a brave choice indeed, although it admittedly can get quite boring. Curiously, if you keep your crew happy you may hear them start singing pirate shanties - some of which are quite catchy (for mumbling, anyway). 
 

The bad

 
 In a strange, realistic turn the game actually has you aging as time progresses. You start off as a young boy, and as time goes by you gradually grow up. While this has no real visual effect (as far as I know your avatar remains the same), it has the annoying effect that it decreases your abilities, and makes stuff like swordfighting harder. A bit annoying, yes, but it's really no big deal.

A thing which is more annoying, though is when you want to rescue your family. In order to find out their whereabouts, you have to chase some evil henchman dude called 'baron Raymondo' and defeat him to obtain a piece of a map. Okay, now how do you suggest we get the other pieces? That's right - by defeating him AGAIN! I really can't help but be annoyed when I capture Raymondo, have him hand over a piece of the map, only to have to chase him again right away.
A really annoying part of the gameplay, which also throws any perceived 'realism' out the window when you end up capturing and releasing the same dude 20 times. Just make him walk the plank and loot his ship, goddammit!

Conclusion

Whatever shortcomings the game may have do not change the fact that it is addictive as hell. The huge amount of things to do and the absolutely non-linear sandbox gameplay means this is a game you can keep playing, even after you complete the 'main quest' (if you can even call it that!). It is immensely entertaining, and the design of the game keeps you so hooked that you probably never realize the fact that it has no story to tell. Instead, you get one big, Caribbean sandbox. But that is more than enough!