If you are tired of attacking by sea, you can also attack by land..of course this is more difficult as you’re just a bunch of pirates and you’re facing a lot more people.

If action isn’t your thing, there are many RPG elements included as well – for example, when docking your boat in port, you’ll go into the bar and sometimes be able to purchase a treasure map, which will then lead to a quest. During the game, you’ll also be required to rescue some of your family members and discover lost cities.

Your character has a skill set that can increase as you earn more experience. As mentioned before, age can adversely affect some of those skills.

Things aren’t all good however as some strategy is involved. You see, you have a lot of crewmen and they like to eat and get paid. Make sure you always have ample rations and pay those people now and then, especially when you raid a ship or find treasure!

Also for those that like a little Dance Dance Revolution, there is a dancing game – old school. Like 17th Century old school – no it’s no DDR -- it’s more of a “do what I do” matching type of game.

If you can tell – this game has it all – action, strategy and role playing all in a nice little package. The only thing the game is missing is online multiplayer. Yes, there is ad-hoc available and if you have two PSPs and two copies of the game, you can have some fun.

The game has so many independent variables – for example, when you meet with Native American tribes along the way, they’ll ask you who they should fight (best have them attack places you want to attack). And immediately after you leave you can see their boat leave and attack – which of course you can attack yourself if you’re so inclined.

What I really enjoy about Pirates! is that the game is totally open-ended and never the same game twice. Each variable that you choose does have an impact on the game – each skill as well as the nationality you choose do make the game play differently!