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Shiver me timbers! Another pirates game? Let's run out the Jolly Roger and take a trip on the high seas with those old sea dogs Microprose. It's tough to know where to start - the game is so large, but here goes anyway...

It has to be said, straight off, that Pirates is nothing, I repeat, nothing like Pirates Of The Barbary Coast from Cascade - for a start it's easier to get into, and a whole lot more fun to play.

Pirates is a time-consuming game - so you'll have to set aside a day or so to play it - fortunately there's a save game facility, so you can keep your swashbuckling hero safely on tape or disc.

You can keep your character created by experiences battling vicious pirate captains, sea battles, quests for pirate treasure, searches for long-lost relatives and so on.

As you can see, there's lots to this sprawling action-adventure game. You can choose to be a goody-goody, allying yourself with one or other of the "super-powers" who ruled the Caribbean in the 16th and 17th centuries - England, France, Spain or Hollard. Or, you can simply become an out and out buccaneer - attacking everyone and anything for a fast buck and a few thrills.

Quite how historically accurate the game is, I don't know - but you get a fascinating handbook with the game package which outlines the background to the period, the ships that were sailing the waters around the West Indies between 1560 and 1700.

That's yet another nice feature of the game, you can join one of the famous historical explorations or war campaigns and try your hand at repeating - or altering - events.

The game itself consists of several adventure style and arcade scenarios. There are screens where you can select various options from various menus which affect the action.

The best way to get into the game is to simply select the pre-defined options and get stuck in at apprentice level. This way you get to learn the mechanics of the game while having a good time and not getting too frustrated each time you get thrown into jail.

The arcade style section includes sea battles, attacks on ports from the dea and on land with bands of your pirate crew and the one-on-one swordfighting combat with pirate leaders or ship captains.

Pirates is an impressive and absorbing game - one for those of you who enjoy getting all wrapped up in a strategy-style role-playing game with enough action to appeal to the arcadester.