By Jim Drewes - September 11, 2005

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Summary

Pirates doesn't provide the most fantastic jaw-dropping graphics possible, which is understandable and expected.  Bright colors and relatively smooth edges, along with a somewhat cartoonish feel help to keep gamers immersed in the game.  Similarly, the sound quality of the game isn't over the top either.  Those gamers who have 5.1 DTS audio systems hooked up to their Xbox aren't going to be utilizing their high-end audio equipment with this game.  After all, what purpose would precision audio serve in a pirate game?

Originality and price-point value are the two things Pirates has that will best serve it in the game market.  When a gamer walks into their local game store, there aren't going to be any other games on the shelves that offer the same experience as Pirates.  Other titles may share a few game play elements, but Pirates pretty much runs without competition on the Xbox.  The price-point for Pirates (at only $39.99) makes the game a better value than $50 games in tired old genres.

Overall Pirates is a fairly decent game.  Not everyone will be thrilled by the game, but gamers owe it to themselves to at least put it on their rental lists to give it a try.  Most likely it will turn out to be one of those games that sits on the shelf for a year or two after players beat it, but then is picked up again and played all the way through a second or a third time.  If you are tired of first person shooters or other supersaturated genres, drop the forty bucks on Pirates and enjoy something slightly different.

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