Port Royal 2 Video Game

[Isabella]

Didn't see another post about this game, so I figured I start one. It came out in August of this year.

I saw this game over at Best buy and it looks fantastic. As where in Tropico your pirates for and do the dirty deeds for you, this game you actually can fire in your vessels upon other ships! Woot!

Check it out, I put it on my Chirstmas list! :)

Port Royal 2

[Bilgemunky]

I picked this up a while back, and was a bit underwhelmed. I never played the first Port Royale, but several folks have expressed they thought it was the superior of the two.

I reviewed it a while ago on Bilgemunky.com - the review is as follows:

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I never played Port Royale 1, so I can't compare. But popular opinion has it that the first was actually the better of the two.

Port Royale 2 is primarily a game of economy - managing your businesses, expanding your influence, and instructing your captains on trade routes. You can also do a fair share of privateering on behalf of the governors, possibly even winning one of their daughters' hand in marriage. Sound familiar? It should - a little bit Sid Meiers' Pirates! and a little bit Tropico 2, the game doesn't really live up to the standards of either. The graphics are decent, but I felt substandard. This I can easily forgive.

What I can't easily forgive is the overall atmosphere of the game - in short, it has none. Many games have some sense of emersion - even if you're looking down on a pixilated pirate ship from third person view while punching a keyboard, somehow the combination of music, imagery, strategy, and overall feel gives you the impression you actually ARE commanding a mighty sea battle. Not so with Port Royale 2. I found initial sea battles to be very tricky, but after some practice it became tedious and mechanical - send in ship, beat enemy down with chain shot, send in second ship with grapes, board. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Person-to-person encounters are equally dissatisfying. Sword combat is even more tedious than ship combat, and interactions with people in town are about as engaging as a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

I'm sorry this game wasn't better. In an earlier time it would have been top-notch, but today it just seems substandard in most every respect. When I first got it I honestly enjoyed exploring its features and learning how to play, but after my first several hours it began to feel more like a process than a game, and merely served to whet my appetite to dig up Tropico 2: Pirates Cove again and give that another go.

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So there you have it. Take it for what it is - the mutterings of a purple monkey.

[Isabella]

Mmm! All good points Munk! It'll make me question putting it on my list! I am missing Tropico 2, since it did some weird things to my comp (like didn't fully uninstall, because of a giltch with the software, so hence now I can't install it! Yarrrg!)

Gosh the dang box made it look mucho better than your discription, definately rethinking now!

Hey I never see ya on Pirate Puzzle! How come? I'm with the British Sea Power with the Looterati, bump into us sometime. :) I'm Izzybella there, if you look for me. :) We do a Governor's Pillage on Tuesday nights with the US side of the Loots, we'd love to have ya if you aren't busy. :)

Isabella :)

[Bilgemunky]

It's such a tragedy - I adore puzzle pirates, but I think it falls in the Mr. Miyagi school of thought:

"You the Puzzle Pirates do, safe. You the Puzzle Pirates do not do, safe. You the Puzzle Pirates do 'guess so', sooner or later, SQUISH! Just like grape!"

I can only afford the time to play once in a while - I went though batches where I could play most every night, then months where I could only play for an hour every couple of weeks. Puzzle Pirates doesn't work well that way - crews grow and move on, things change, I log on to find myself demoted and forgotten. It's very sad (don't you feel soooo bad for me? Well don't, cuz I'm drinking RUM.)

I love the game, but I just can't keep up. But maybe I'll try and sneak on some tuesday.

[Isabella]

Understood, Munky, I'm only back, cause am a dunderhead and didn't cancel the subscription.

I only play twice a week, and when I need sanity from the holidays, which has been a whole heck of a lot lately. :) Sorry I wasn't on last night, but the Governer's Pilliage is every Tuesday, and we do drinking/swordfighting tourney on Jorvik for the Haaatttt. Anyone is welcome to join. Most of the Loots are 25 and older which makes it a refreshing play, to not have to deal with the kids. :)

[El Pirata]

Anyone know of where a review for Tropico 2 is online?