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England in the late sixteenth century. The fair queen 'Liza is enjoying her glorious reign. The great enemy, Spain, has been scorched, and those other untrustworthies, Holland and France, are keeping their heads down. Now's the time for adventure in the Caribbean, the well-fingered corner of the vast blank page that is the New World.

This short hundred years is the Pirate's century. With the tacit approval of island governors, he does things for Her Majesty that the navy wouldn't dream of. And there's something in it for him: money, ships, women and of course adventure. Take to the seas off the Spanish Main and live the life of a renegade, a cut-throat, a hero.

Pirates was an old Microprose game for the C64 with a disk drive. Amiga and Atari ST versions followed. This is an updated edition.

Pirates' Gold is an ongoing strategy adventure. Go round plundering ships and ports, to achieve a good pirate reputation.

When you're at sea, your ship (or fleet) is viewed on a large scrolling map. This takes you from port to port unless you encounter another ship. When that happens, the crow's nest tells you what ship type and what country's colours are flying. You may choose to hail them for news, sail away or fight. Watch out for bad storms or treacherous reefs when you're sailing.

Other useful stats when you're under sail are found in the captains cabin. Your crew's temperament is important, it varies according to the amount of food and action they're getting. Your reputation, along with your health and what the authorities think of you is also important.

There are several ways of entering a port when you get to one. If it's a 'friendly' port, and you enter peacefully, you're presented with the main street. Walk into any of the following buildings:

1. Bank
   Here you divide the booty between your retainers. This keeps them happy and loyal - if the shares are good.
2. Harbour
   This is the place to sell ship or cannon, or have repairs done.
3. Tavern
   This is the starting point for many an adventure. The tavern has news, and it's the place to gain secret information and hire new recruits.
4. Governor's Mansion
   The Governor may give you a special mission, a commendation for attacking the port's enemies or he may even introduce you to his spinster daughter...
5. Shop
   The shop buys and sells three commodities: Food, Sugar and Goods. You need food for your ship, but as prices vary from port to port, you can make a profit by shrewd trading in the other two.

When you choose to fight (which is often) your first line of attack is the cannon. Each ship can carry a certain amount of cannon. When fighting at sea, both ships are shown in close range. By pressing A, you fire the cannon from the ship's side. A certain gap is required to reload.

Direct hits weaken your quarry's fighting strength, but also damage his ship. If you don't want to sink her, ram the ship to board.

When you ram the ship, you're often faced with a fencing duel with the Captain. Using the simple duel commands you reduce the other captain's men and morale. When either go completely, the ship is yours to do with as you please. You can add it to your fleet, or plunder and sink it.

Combat on land is much the same as that at sea. Bombard the fort with ship's cannons, then land your soldiers to storm the town.

Pirates' Gold is actually ages old, as this version is much the same as that which appeared on the C64 eight years ago. However, it was one of the best games for a disk drive then, and it's still great fun now.

The graphics have been seriously improved, adding a great deal of atmosphere, especially the Monkey Island-esque ports. The little bits of sampled speech like "Ship ahoy!" go towards an excellent standard of game presentation.

However, a few problems of the original remain. Combat usually takes ages, but perversely seems to hinge on the frantic swordfight at the end.

The game also lacks a long-term structure (although the sub-plots and scenarios help that). Strategy fans have nothing else like it, and their timbers should be well and truly shivered. But others should note that this isn't an 'action' kind of game.

I really liked this game. The graphics are clear and detailed, there's a lot to see and do and the whole thing is beautifully presented with a real feeling of bygone days emanating from the game.

The only problem I can see cropping up on the horizon is one of lastability. At first it's great fun trundling around, picking up a crew then keeping them happy as you sail around blowing rival craft out of the water or plundering their wares but whether the enjoyment would last all that long is another matter.

Overall though, a fun and very original game and one which should keep strategy fans happy for some time.

Presentation 90%
P. Very well presented, with an authentic feel of the period, and adequate save game and skill levels feature. The controls are sensible and instinctive.

Graphics 73%
P. The portraits of the pirate characters and the inhabitants of the port are great. So are the little animations.
N. Both ship and fencing combat graphics are pretty crude and unexciting.

Sound 74%
P. Little nuggets of speech, when you spot land or other ships, or even surrender. Lots of little tunes.
N. Some of the music is a bit cheesy.

Playability 84%
P. It's a really fun experience putting together the life of a pirate, even the setbacks spur you on...
N. There's only a limited amount of things to do, and ship combat becomes repetitive.

Lastability 77%
P. The play area is vast, and lots of hidden features to discover are included.
N. There is a real danger of Pirates' Gold becoming repetitive.

Overall 83%
A curious game that rates highly for its original and involving gameplay, even if action is not so important.