Sid Meier’s ‘Pirates!’
For almost 20 years, fans of this game have taken to the virtual high seas in search of adventure, and Sid Meier has been happy to provide it. Meier, the mind behind the “Civilization” franchise, created the first iteration of “Pirates!” in 1987 for the Apple II. It survived the test of time by changing and adapting as it passed through the Commodore 64, PC and a number of different machines including the Xbox. Now, the cult classic is hand-held.
“Pirates!” for the PSP brings all the swashbuckling, sailing and plundering to a portable system. The game plays like a series of mini-games, but they flow together amazingly well.
You play as an unknown pirate who as a child escaped a pirate assault that shattered his family and forced him to flee. Upon reaching adulthood, you choose which nation’s flag to fly under, and off you go.
While there is a lot to do in the game, not much of it is really that exciting. After a while, the ports all start to blend together, your fleet is overpowered and the governor’s daughters just look the same.
Final Fantasy VI
About 10 years ago, “Final Fantasy III” debuted on the Super Nintendo, and anyone who picked up that game learned true gaming joy. Now, Nintendo has made it so that you can feel all warm inside wherever you go. A port of the title, now correctly called “Final Fantasy VI” (“FFIII” for the SNES was only the third to come to America, not actually the third game in the series), is now out for the Nintendo DS.
With only a few tweaks to the translation and a few more of the espers that teach characters their spells, Nintendo recreated the game exactly as it appeared on the SNES.
You play as a band of adventurers thrown together by fate in a world under the rule of Emperor Ghestalt. The War of the Magi robbed the world of its natural magic, and 1,000 years later, signs that the magic is returning to a world now overtaken with gunpowder, steam and gears stir the forces that be into action.
The mysterious Terra, the sneaky Locke, Edgar the ladies’ man and the wild child Gau are only a few of the varied and ultimately interesting characters that make up the world that is “FFVI.”
If you look in any used-game shop, copies of the original game go for about $50. This is after the exact same game has been released on the original Playstation and now the DS.
