Port Royale 2

Fairly recently, the sequel to this game was released- meaning the price for this game went way down. SO I decided to buy it, as it looked like the kind of game I'd enjoy.


Open ended.

This game is a bit of a sandbox, where you can pretty much play it however you want. Like in Civ V, however, you can complete scenarios created by the makers of the game. These scenarios can also act as a type of tutorial for the game, as the first scenario is compulsory and lets you learn the basics of the game.

You start off trading within the Caribbean, but you can then use your wealth to buy ships, other goods, cannons etc.

The ways of playing the game include- business tycoon, where you trade with towns to gain their friendship and buccaneer (with a letter of Marque), where you can attack any of the four colonial nations in the Caribbean area.

Boats!

There is a huge range of boats in the game. They range from small boats which should only really be used for trading (you start off with one of these) to large, cannon-swamped ships that you can use to rule the waves. I quite enjoy pretending to be the British Navy when shooting down Spanish ships... Though I'm unsure why.

The actual gameplay.

Port Royale 2 is quite an old game by today's standards and hasn't really lasted very well (I assume this is one of the reasons they made a sequel). The graphics are slow and jittery and to play the game on WIndows 7 I had to patch it so the sea looked like... sea.

The music and graphics are reminiscent of older versions of Civ, with cities being tiny and their names reflecting their size. Not that this is a bad thing, as the game did come out in 2004- a year before the release of Civ IV.

The game is quite good overall, but does have its flaws. If you're ever bored and have £3 to spend on a game, I'd suggest you play it.

MmRed