A pirate's life for me!
A more modern version of the classic bit of adventure that is Sid Meier's Pirates!, Sea Dogs brings all the fun of the glory days of piracy to gamers seeking some good old-fashioned entertainment. It is very similar to its inspiration but adds in some RPG-style progression and leveling up to bring a little more depth to proceedings. The game finds you in control of young Nicholas Sharp, a sailor who was captured by the Spanish, then escaped and now finds himself in command of a small ship and a handful of crew. Your main goal is to get rich and it's up to you how you do this, whether it be through piracy, honest trading, by taking revenge on those who did you wrong or a bit of everything. You get to explore towns, trading with merchants or making business transactions, while you can of course also take to the high seas and blow up everyone you see. There is an overall storyline, which has multiple routes through it, but you can also just explore and get into trouble if you like. Although very similar to Pirates!, this one adds in more modern complexities and additions, such as realistic tides, damage, and sharks roaming the seas all bring in even more flavor. If you have ever wanted to live the life of a pirate, this is probably the best way of doing it, short of traveling back in time. The visuals are all pretty splendid, with a nice sense of the period thanks to some nice environmental and character work. The gameplay is highly varied and you can tackle things how you like, so really, this is top notch stuff.
