One of my all-time favorite games, is without a doubt, the original "Pirates!" by Sid Meier. I'd venture a guess, this game is on the top 10 best games list of every gamer that grew up playing games during the timeframe it was released - mid eighties I believe.

It was with great anticipation that I awaited the return of Pirates! last week.. Finally, we'd see an updated, and amazing version of the original, done with current technology. Sid was at the helm of this new version as well, so it couldn't go bad, could it? Well that's what I thought, and I was horribly wrong..

I had my first game of it last night, and first impressions were good. The graphics were nice and festive, the sounds were great, the controls and interface were all in line, dang, this is going to be good! Boy was I wrong.... Within 15 minutes of starting the game, I had a fleet of something like 8 ships - two of which are massive War Galleons with 30+ guns each. I have crews of nearly 300 men, and well over 9,000 extra gold. FIFTEEN MINUTES! To add more injury to this already spoiled game, over the next 30 minutes of play I managed to kill and plunder Captain Kidd, gain 3 ranks, and plunder another 12 ships.

I guess either I got lucky, or this game is devoid of any play testing by ADULT gamers that actually know how to play a game.. Either that or game designers nowadays think that we all are a bunch of brainless and skill less console gamers that don't want a challenge? Whats going on in this industry? The last 7 games I purchased were either 1) Too Easy. 2) Too Short. or 3) Buggy as hell and unplayable.

Furthermore, the collectors edition of Pirates! was promised to have an updated, windows ready version of the original Pirates.. Saving grace, all I need to do is load up this new and improved original game, and all would be good. Wrong. Its not updated, its the same abandonware version that's been floating around the internet for the last 10 years. Worse, the instructions for installing it say "Go on the internet, and try and find a tool to slow your CPU down to 233Mhz."... Hah!

Its really sad a game that people have been waiting for, for decades, is released like this. But of course, the usual subjects in the gaming press will line up and award it 90-100% ratings and proclaim it as "The game of the year" and other such nonsense. But the fact of the matter is, the game is overly simple, uninspiring, and downright boring. Those looking for a more cerebral pirate type game, should consider Port Royal 2, its a far deeper, more challenging and involving game with graphics that are even better than Sid's. But of course, if you listen to the usual suspects you will see they rated this considerably lower than Pirates! But even more ironic is the reasons for rating it lower, sound exactly the reasons why most of us would rate it higher, to quote: "You will get a lot of out Port Royale 2 as long as you have a good eye for menus and details and plenty of patience. Port Royale 2 is engaging as it delivers a complex gameworld." Oh the horror, a game that takes patience, has a complex interface, and actually has long term playability and challenge? Heaven help us!

Sorry Sid, you blew it, if you wanted to make a console game, then you should have made one, and spared us PC gamers the grief of this one..