Reddaye

Wouldn't MGS eventally come out on X-Box 360 anyways? I mean they released Substance on the X-Box, whats to stop them from eventually releasing MGS4?

Sid Meier's Pirates! Live The Life (XBOX)

Features:

* Overtake and command 27 different ship types, enhanced with assorted ammo, cannon and other Upgrades

* Take on deadly foes from all sides - Merchant and military captains, ferocious pirates, evil gentry and even rival suitors

* Dispatch your buccaneers in battles and try to take over entire cities -- confront enemies on ramparts, mansions, even taverns

* Collect items to help you become a better pirate - swords, spyglasses, armor, even hats & coats

* As your wealth increases you'll get chances to impress the governor's daughter -- charm her with your fame, heroism and even dancing skills

The Why:

I actually bought this game way back in November but never had the time or energy to devote any significant time to it. Having recently watched Pirates of the Carribean my need to sail the high seas while looting and plundering every ship and port in sight has become too difficult to resist. I started playing yesterday and have hardly stopped since then. Sid Meier will truly go down in history as making some of the most addictive games ever.

The What:

As a young boy of eight your family has come under debt to a Spanish noble known as Montlebon. The ship carrying gold to pay off that debt is lost at sea and the noble comes to collect, enslaving your family while you escape into the night. Ten years later you're slaving onboard a ship on the high seas under a cruel captain. Suffering enough of the shabby treatment you lead the crew to a mutiny, overthrowing the captain and taking control of the ship. What you do from there is totally up to you.

Graphics - 7/10

Not much to say here. The graphics aren't jaw dropping, yet at the same time don't make your eyes bleed either. Anyone looking for incredibly realistic visuals should go elsewhere as Pirates is much more of a colorful cartoony style of game. Everything is bright and colorful without any of the grime and filth you'd expect from a game about pirates. That's hardly a knock however as the recreation of the Carribean seas is very pleasing to look at. Waves flow along and foam at the coasts. Clouds float along overhead and the coming of a storm can be seen with ripping waves and dark storm clouds (complete with thunder and lightening).

The character models are decent. Your character is easily the most detailed of all, including lines and wrinkles that appear on his face as he ages. Each of the nine famous pirates are recreated nicely right down to the flaming matches in Blackbeard's beard.

Due to the viewpoint it's hard to get into the gritty details about the ships. Each type looks different based on size, flags, sails, shape, etc. Sails visibly take damage during battle until they collapse from too much brutality. The three different types of cannon shot (round, chain, and grapeshot) are easily recognisible and you're treated to some pretty little explosions as the ships sink into Davy Jones' locker. You'll even see some debris, tossed cargo, and sailor's that abandoned ship floating in the water as you engage the enemy.

(PC Version Screen)

Sound - 8/10

Once again nothing offensive. Music fits the theme and even changes depending where you are. Noticeable changes in music can be heard when you're nearing missionary dwellings, pirate hideouts, and ports owned by the different nations. Every different faction in the game has a specific theme that will play when you near their territory. It's a nice subtle thing that adds a little something to the game.

The sound effects are beautiful and really capture the feel of the sea. Crashing waves, seagulls crowing, the explosions of cannons, the collapsing of ship masts; are all here in great detail. The screams of crew abandoning ship as it sinks into the brine is a nice touch if you're a sadist like me .

The one major fault I can find in the sound is the annoying "Simspeak" that everyone uses. No one speaks English here, they just babble out random little gibberings that can get a little irritating after a while. It's not worth muting the TV for since you'll miss the other sounds and excellent music if you do.

Controls - 8/10

Since Pirates is basically a collection of smaller games blended into one making a control scheme that is easy to use in each situation is important. That's been pulled off here quite well. Ship control makes use of almost every single button, including the triggers to turn, the face buttons to fire, the D-Pad to change shot type, and the white button to raise and lower sails. Dancing uses the face buttons; while sword fighting uses combinations of the joystick and face buttons for the different moves. Everything works well enough once you get used to come of the naunces in the swordfighting and dancing.

Gameplay - 9/10

This is where Pirates truly shines. From the instant you get control of your own ship you can do whatever you want. Three countries have taken up residence in the Carribean: the English, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch. Depending on the time period each of these countries start with a different number of ports and types of ships to rule the seas with.

Although you choose one of the four as your nationality it really makes little difference in the long run. You can ally yourself with any of the four or none of them at all if you choose. If you side with them you'll earn promotions, land grants, gold, special missions, and even the chance to whoo a govenor's daughter. All of these things add into your final score upon retirement if you're worried about that sort of thing. If not you can attack any of their ships and ports and find recluse in the different pirate havens located along the coasts. Even the Natives and Missionaries make appearances offering you a few different services.

Pirates features a real time economy system. The countries wage and end wars as the years pass. Every port, whether it be a town, fort, city, etc has it's own economy which affects how many sailors will be willing to join you, how much money the merchants have, and how much goods will be sold for. It's possible to destory a thriving city's economy by sending Indian raiding parties, pirates, enemy ships, and your own men to shack it. If you're looking to gain a countrie's favour you can even install one of their govenor's into power after you take over.

The game has a nice number of different gameplay types that factor into the overall experience:

- Ship combat

- Sword fighting

- Dancing

- Land battles

- Stealth

Ship combat occurs whenever you're in range of a target and hit the 'X' button. Your flag ship will engage all nearby enemy ships. This is the most common thing you'll be doing the entire game so it's important to get a handle on manuvering your ship and which type of shot is best used when.

Sword fighting is another common feature in the came. You'll face off against an opponent in various locations; usually on the deck of a ship but sometimes in a garden or tavern. Timing is everything as you attempt to block enemy thrusts and counter with your own. Oftentimes the crews will be battling around you so time is of the essence if you're outnumbered and losing men fast.

Dancing is possibly the hardest of the activities to learn. If you want to romance a Govenor's daughter you'll need to learn how to dance. On lower difficulties you'll be given icons showing which buttons to press, however as you go increase the difficulty level of the game you'll only have the movements of your partner to judge from. Timing your presses with the beat of the music will let you perform a "flurry" which is a fancier form of dance step. The more impressively you dance the more the daughter will like you. This increases her affection, gives you info, and if you're good enough even special gifts to aid you.

Land battles work similar to Civilization or other turn based strategy games. You and the AI take turns moving your units on the battlefield. You'll make use of rocks, hills, and forest to gain advantage as well as flanking the enemy to generate an attack bonus. Once you defeat all the enemy units or reach the city gates the battle is won. Alternately if all of your units are destroyed the battle is lost.

Lastly is stealth, the least common of the activities. If a country has a bounty on your head you'll be unable to dock in their ports. You'll instead need to enter the port at night, avoiding the guards, to sneak into the area you want to go.

All of this is only a light brushing of what can be done in this game. So much more awaits you if you decide to take the helm of your own ship. Trading, pirating, privateering, treasure hunting, and hundreds of other optional tasks make every game you play completely unique.

Overall - 9/10 (Not An Average)

This game certainly isn't for everyone. It does many things, but doesn't do them with an incredible amount of depth. Each game lasts roughly 8-10 hours depending on a few things. It's the replay value that keeps you coming back for more. Pirates is really lighthearted fun for people who are looking for an addictive strategy distraction for a while.

Just got done reading through everything and I have to say this is a solid diary. The graphics are wonderful and really add to the overall feel, and I greatly enjoy the format you use for writeups.

The only real problem I have is the insane number of run in's during your Wrestlemania. The card was stellar, but I believe only two of the matches didn't involve run ins which is a little out of hand. Even the cage match had a damn run-in . Besides that everything is really solid; keep up the good work.

The only problem graphically with non-HD graphics is if you're an RF Modulator (which you hopefully wouldn't need to). Then you'd have problems making out any of the text. I'd assume your TV is new enough to use typical Analog component cables. I myself have it hooked up through my VCR, which works just as well.

I ended up with all of the previous gen consoles (PS2, XBOX, GC) and the only one I still play any amount is my XBOX. Microsoft design sturdy stuff, which I can't say for Sony. I usually regret buying a console at least once or twice, that's not really the case with the XBOX, it's a good system.

As of right now the PS3 is confirmed to be launching at 600 USD which is totally insane if you ask me.

Currently I'm playing the X360 without any kind of HD enabled and the graphics look great to me. Obviously with HD they'd be 100% crisper and smoother, but I'm not too worried about that right now. After a while even the best graphics on a system fail to completely floor you like the initial games on that same console did at it's launch. Remember when the PS2's graphics were considered godlike? Hell, the PS1's graphics? In the end it doesn't matter how great a game looks, it's how well it plays.

The 360 lacks titles right now BIG TIME. There's very little out currently, but the future looks bright. The PS3 will have loads of Japanese RPGS, the 360 is already showing signs of being heaven for people who like to shoot and kill things. You just have to go with where your interests lie.

Not saying that's all you get on each system, but you know what I mean. Stuff like SD vs RAW, Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil, etc are now going multiplatform right up front. I dunno what you specifically like to play Puke (besides wrestling) so I can't make any suggestions there.

By the way Drifter, did you steal my sig gimmick? tongue.gif

One more question, is the harddrive for XBox (the hard drive included in the fat Xbox package) required to rip music onto the XBox?

She was always home between 20:00 and 12:00 for me.

Nice little show lukie. I can see where you're coming from with putting everything into one large block of text, good idea actually.

I'm half and half on the Florida Bros splitting up. While I find their antics entertaining, I'm interested in seeing the characters possibly evolving a bit with Dragon Gate, even if much of it remains the same. Overall, it seems to be moving in interesting directions...unless Crazy Max ends up taking on a new member. :-P

Awaiting the next show with great interest

Glad to see SUWA back, things didn't feel the same without him. Overall a solid show lukie, you've done a good job of capturing some of the more crazy spots the company is known for, and it's trios triple teams too.

The main gripe I have is how the matches are all just one long paragraph. The length is great, I'd just like to see the matches broken into paragraphs, it's kind of annoying to read one huge block.

I have set up a Training Camp, and I do plan on having students debut in their own class groups as Toryumon used to do, but I don't see that happening until around a year or more in-game time.

Great idea there lukie, I was going to use the same idea for a diary of my own, but didn't bother.

Overall this is looking great, you're doing a great job of capturing Dragon Gate perfectly. Just a quick question, do you have any plans for titles?

Toryumon/Dragon Gate is without a doubt my favorite puroresu promotion going today. I'm 100% sure your knowledge will make this a great diary lukie. I'm interested in seeing not only what DG does in real life now that Ultimo has pulled away, but in what YOUR ideas on the situation are.

You've got a reader in me, that's for sure. Good luck with this.

"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings

Not a bad book, some of the stuff you need to reread a few times, so you can fully understand what the hell he's talking about.

I don't know how "epic" you'd consider this, but they're good bands with at least a few "epic" kind of songs...

Dark Tranquility

My Dying Bride

Old Man's Child

Vader

"Roots" by: Alex Haley

Scott McKenzie - San Francisco

Circle Jerks - Beverly Hills