Pirates of the Burning Sea This unusual new MMO which blends on shore combat and ship battles. The game is all about boat enthusiasm. It’s ideal for history buffs and for people that have to watch every show on the History channel. It’s a niche game, but one that will appeal to many people because of the pirate angle. It takes itself and the historic era that is portrayed very seriously. The result is all very dramatic and well rendered.

It takes place during 1720 in the Caribbean Sea. The story starts with four countries battling to ‘control’ the seas and ports. You have to choose British, Spanish, French, or Pirate. Then there are a few professions to choose from Naval Officer, Privateer, Freetrader, and Pirate. Once you pick one you are stuck with that choice unless you erase the character. Your subsequent characters will all be of the same pedigree.

This game does require commitments. Apparently once a Pirate always a Pirate in this game. It is a huge time commitment too. At the start if you’ve bought the retail copy in a box you will be required to subscribe with a credit card, it will not allow you to play for the thirty days included in the box unless you have an additional game time card or enter your future billing information. Of course you could cancel, but the box does mention this in the fine print and expects you to get with the program.

There is lots and lots of reading. If you didn’t pass macro economics in college and if you don’t even know what that is, you might not want to venture into this game. The strengths in this game are the very excellent graphics of the boats and the water. There is great attention paid to all the background material on the era that is portrayed. The function of the ships will delight anyone who has a passion for sailing. Sailing takes patience, so does this game.

If you are used to the standard slash, crash and burn of the usual MMO this might not be fun. Granted the explosions at sea are pretty good. It feels more like a real time strategy game. Sword play isn’t complex enough there are only a few different attacks. The motivation in this game might not be fun as much as it is satisfaction. Certainly there is a feeling of accomplishment when you manage to raise your sails properly, give your crew orientation commands and take in to account the direction of the wind.

For the typical MMO player, Pirates of the Burning sea might actually make you miss the grind. You want to break out of the endless tutorials and all the reading and just kill some things. Another damper to me is the lack of magic in the game. I enjoy being a caster or at the very least a ranged weapon user. If nothing else some charmed arrows or voodoo would help make it more familiar and sparkly. That’s another thing, since it’s 1720 things aren’t very psychedelic or neon, so the color palate is subdued.

The game attempts something fresh in that everything that is bought and sold in the game is crafted by the players. How that will evolve will be an interesting experiment. As gamers we do ask for something new. We asked for richer story – lines and more realistic crafting. We should remember to be careful what we ask for. This game is really superbly well done. It just doesn’t have a sense of humor. It’s a bit like live chess.

The first mission is lots and lots of long reading about economy and commerce. Both the Privateer and Pirate both have the same Tutorial at the start. You find your way to the deck, you click the sword fighting and defense icons for battle. Then you sink two small pirate ships before moving back to land. As a Pirate you take a treasure map. As a Privateer you went to yet another Tutorial mission about the details of commerce, building warehouses, erecting a logging camp, and the sale of logs as well as estimating time and labor of workers, obtaining deeds and auctions. It was tiresome.

I was surprised by just how poor the opening mission for the Privateer was. You just were walking back and forth between two characters that were about eight inches apart on the screen. Sometimes you would have to meet one of them in the ‘back office’ but an exact copy of the same non playing character (NPC) would remain where you met him. If you click on the wrong duplicate NPC they just mumble a default message. So there is need for a bit of tweaking to be done on the opening missions.

For example since sailing your ship is very realistic you have to know maneuvers, the wind, range of cannons, the firing arc, and tactics. Sometimes unwanted battles go on and on as AI circle around your boat and last as long as thirty minutes chasing you. After getting used to the sparse and easy controls on Pirates of the Caribbean Online I wasn’t ready for the far more complex and intricate requirements to pilot a ship in Pirates of the Burning Sea. It’s more like a model ship building program as well as a real time strategy. This game is more detailed than most MMO’s and more extensive in many ways than it’s direct competition Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean Online, (PotCO). The two games are different animals. PotCO is played in a browser and is free to download and play. It doesn’t have the same type of graphics that Pirates of the Burning Sea has.

I got stuck in a loop where when I wanted to move 20 logs to the cargo hold of my ship, I ended up at sea. My character was standing on the dock one second and the next she was whisked away. Due to lag my interface was frozen. but the ship went out and got attacked while I couldn’t see it or operate it. I couldn’t get it back to the port. It was getting destroyed while I was attempting to disengage the battle and return to the mission, but it was impossible.

So I quit out and restarted and when I re-spawned I could see the port ahead of me with the name over it. I am glad I can finally get in, but no, suddenly for no reason the boat goes out 55 miles and is again attacked by the same ship. I try to maneuver it to shore but it won’t move at all. The other ship continues shooting. I get the boat going a little and the other ship is still following. I can’t get to shore, even though I diverted all the crew to sailing. With all this damage, all the resources that I just spent a day building are going to be trashed. I quit again, log back in and just delete the character because you can’t leave the game while at sea. If you do the boat will continue to be attacked!

The graphics do vary widely, which I assume will be refined in future updates as many MMO’s now do. The ocean views are beautiful. They are a bit different and have a more faceted texture to them. You can see rocks under the water, and sunken ships and sharks. The towns don’t look as good, and the characters look about average compared to what is out there. You could design some very pretty several female character options with lots of clothing choices. You can change character options in game for fee, including hair hats and accessories. That is a welcome addition.

The shoes and boots so far are ugly. I have yet to find a game with good footwear choices for women. If you want to make a fortune in gaming make an MMO where we can make our avatars look good. If Meez can make such good clothes and shoes for a flash game certainly with the programming power of an MMO we can get some decent accessories.

In conclusion this is a fantastic game. It is rich and deep and engaging. If you enjoy ships, pirates, and history you are going to enjoy this game. It has very few flaws. It appeals to a specific type of gamer and there are plenty of them out there who have been playing serious RTS and battle Sims since the PC started. This one is an homage to you. Even this isn’t my cup of English Breakfast tea, I know who will enjoy it and for that reason I give Pirates of the Burning Sea an eight out of ten.