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The Butterfly Effect:
One of the more interesting elements is the opportunity to affect the prosperity or security of the towns by intercepting or escorting ships. Sailing around the Caribbean you'll find all manner of cargo ships transporting different supplies from one town to another. Rather than being abstracted a few days out of town, each ship travels in real time from town to town performing whatever mission the town AI deems necessary. Troop transports reinforce a town's military strength so if you take them out you'll reduce that town's ability to defend itself from attack. Ships carrying colonists increase a town's population and, by extension, it's prices for commodities. Whether or not you let these ships get through will shape the course of the entire game. Even the seizure of a single military payroll ship can have consequences that ripple all across the Caribbean.
Nefarious Schemes and Governors:
Sometimes a town governor will even task you with carrying out one of these missions. In some cases he'll tell you that he's been assigned to a new town and ask you to escort his ship there. While you'll still have the chance to take care of other business in town, the second you set sail, you'll see the governor's ship heading to its new destination. Protect it from his nation's enemies and from the general pirates at work in the Caribbean and you can earn yourself a nice little reward. Occasionally you'll be asked to ensure the safe delivery of peace treaties. This can really give you a lot of power. In one such case, an English governor asked me to escort a peace treaty to Santiago. I sailed ahead of the ship carrying the treaty, sacked the town and gave over control to the English. The treaty still arrived but, with no Spanish governor on hand to receive it, it went undelivered and the war between the two countries continued.
Land fighting:
We also saw that land battles had been changed significantly since last we saw the game. Instead of the real-time Gettysburg!-like system that had been shown before, the new battles play out in a turn-based format. You'll start out outside of the town leading groups of officers and sailors. You'll even have a few cannon to act as artillery. Against you the enemy can field units such as riflemen, indian scouts, and cavalry. Each unit takes its turn moving, shooting or engaging in hand-to-hand combat. As you move across the terrain, you'll find that the facing of a unit, the terrain it occupies and its height factor into its combat effectiveness. Units are also rated in terms of morale. You can see how shaken a unit is by the state of its flag. If the flag is bright and waving proudly, you needn't worry. If the flag is shot to hell and drooping, perhaps you ought to hold those units back or move a group of officers closer to them.
Graphics:
You can see almost all of these aspects of gameplay in the ten or so new movies in our media section. You can also see just how good the game already looks. The sailing sequences, playable either from an isometric or chase view, reveal a living world with a compelling and convincing wind and sea model. The way the sails puff in the breeze, the way that damaged ships trail smoke, the way lightning flashes from dark thunderclouds, all make the game world seem very alive. Nearly every interaction within the towns comes with a nice visual, from the portly governor gesturing to a map of the Caribbean to the dark stranger in the tavern reaching up to snatch a coin spinning through the air. These small moments combine to create an effect that can't quite be captured by a mere description.
Limited Edition and X-Box:
For PC gamers, a special Limited Edition version of Pirates! will be available for pre-order next month. Those of you who pre-order the game will get access to a bunch of exclusive content including the original 1987 version of the game and "making of" feature. The Limited Edition will also have mod tools, developer diaries, tips and tricks and a lot of the early concept art. It will also, unsurprisingly, feature the game itself on DVD-ROM.
Similar behind-the-scenes features can be unlocked in the Xbox version of the game. This will be the company's first console title but it's not likely to be the last. The console version, which will enjoy 480p HDTV and widescreen support and will feature 5.1 audio, could be out as early as Spring of next year.
Similar behind-the-scenes features can be unlocked in the Xbox version of the game. This will be the company's first console title but it's not likely to be the last. The console version, which will enjoy 480p HDTV and widescreen support and will feature 5.1 audio, could be out as early as Spring of next year.
Licks lips.
Oh yes this will be good.
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