Fighting has a few new moves but is pretty much the same as you can parry. But the game is still clunky when moving your charactor on land or in hand to hand battles.
breakdown:
Gameplay: B (many new quests and better sotryline bring this score up and the new roll playing P.I.R.A.T.E.S system bring this score up)
Plot: C (don't really have one as its a open ended game)
Value: B($29.99 is really too high of a price in a old tech game more like $19.99)
Sound: B(voice acting is not this games strong point)
Graphics: C(need better island and land textures as well as town buildings)
Replay Value: B (neverending amount of quests and things to do make this one long game)
Overall: B (average pirates roll playing game that is a rare gem and worth playing for those who don't mind its game flaws and outdated graphical textures)
Ship combat remains the same but some new features have been added such as traveling in a row boat to another friendly ship (not enemy) and is a neat addition. You can advance time as well but this was present in the last version. Now it seems you can install new canons on your ship and have up to four allied ships at one time traveling with you.
The games quests are more numerous but some seem tacked on. I only played through the beginning of them and they are vague on telling you hints or what exactly to do to complete them. Still some are really interesting such as treasure hunting maps.
The world map is much larger incompassing most of the Car. sea and even Central America and Northern South America. You have new cities such as Belize, Puerto Bello, Panama, Caracos Trinidad & Tobago and Lake Texcoco Tenochtitlan in Central America. It now seems to take a good deal of time to cross the entire map area but makes it more real.
The new PIRATES roll playing system adds new characteristics such as Power, Insight, Endurance and Success. There are seven total. The other charactor attributes from the last game are present and you can choose from four classes such as a Adventurer, Merchant and Corsiar the hardest since it means a pirate class (a enemy to all).
The same countries are present like the Dutch which are well rounded, Spain the most powerful, England Spain's spiritual enemy and France the Dutch ally and England top rival. Of course there is a pirate faction but this is hard since you are a out cast and I would recommend playing for one of the other nations above first then going for the pirate class after you gain experience with the game.
The graphics are outdated and the resolution only goes to 1280x1024 which on a 22' wide screen monitor the game looks kind of distorted. Textures especially land on the islands need updated badly but charactor and ship textues look decent. Water textures are this games strong point of course but other textures mentioned need updated.
Sounds are meh. You have background music that is OK but I found it annoying as it repeats over and over so I turned it off. Most charactors have one intro voice and after that its text when talking to individuals. Combat sounds such as canons and gun sound weak but pass for immersion.
Overall you have a game here that Age of pirates Car. Tales should have been. If you don't want to spend the money on this just downlaod the super mod for the above mentioned game providing you own it already and if you don't I would buy this game instead as it would be much less hassle.
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For those of you having problems playing this game in Windows 7, blame Microsoft and it's security features! This game runs perfect in Windows 7 both 32 AND 64 bit, just don't install it to C:\Program Files\. Install instead to something like C:\Games\City of Abandoned Ships\ it will run just fine from there! Microsoft in it's infinite wisdom decided to treat everything installed in C:\Program Files\ as protected operating system files, and to access programs or files in those directories properly, you must either be logged in as Administrator or set everything to run as Administrator. Save yourself the headache and install it to C:\Games\ instead!There are a few other technical issues I won't get into here, but if you want real support for this game, go to \\ Playlogic's marketing and support for this game have been absolutely pathetic and almost non existent! This game is not perfect, but it is a very good game and well worth the original $30 price tag, for $10, it's a steal!
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I have "Steelkeys 6G" the mistype years series. the only reason i menton it is it is a horrible key board for typing and gaming, it is well, just a horrible keyboard, durible but badly registered keys. However, I have six other keyboards and all of them don't register on this game. Much. A command either goes through or not. You can usually execute mouse keys but you can't always go into "combat mode" even when someone is attacking you. In additon, firing cannons is horrendous and I just let the crew do it. thier is no clear reload progress meter as in "Cid Meyer's Pirates!". the graphcis and imersion are better in this game, for it is a first person(heads up third person) perspective, unlike Cid Meyres which was more a point and click graphic adventure on land and did not have the true persepctive on you on your ship, two pluses to get you emersed in the game, Cid Meyres did not. Also, this is not generic as CId Meyer's version but it is hard to issue key commands. If you start a new game, thier is a chance(in ship, not captain blood) your "cut scene" will not play out and you will be stuck on the boat with no insident to get the plot out of the way. If your crew(hand-to-hand sparring instructors) don't show up, you must not only restart the game, but reboot your PC, that is the only way I found to solve the problem, and sometimes it doesn't. If you play either the dutch guy or the spanyard this happens, not with Captain Blood as you begin on dry land. One important thing of note, do not pick fights unarmed, your "pirate" can't fight unarmed. He just stands there with his arms down(the moron yetusz) taking it. If the police take your sword and then you try to, for example, plan a riot to escape enslavement, you won't succed you will have every soldier, slave, woman, and her freggen dog and all the world attacking you and you will not be able to do anything, it maybe a glitch as it is truely a 'showstopper" when it happens to "Captain" BLood in the beginning town. You can 'sneak" a wheapon past the home where you rescue the provisioner but you will ALWAYS get caught, you cannot open the gate you cannot sneak past and you ABS-o-LUte-ly will not get past the gards in the slave plantaton and the slaves will attack you too! How nice to be appreciated!Honest reviews on Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships - PC
If you are fan of games with an RPG element and enjoy the Golden Age of Piracy, this is a game that you will thoroughly remember for years to come.However, I have to give warning for those that have not played the previous titles from Akella including Sea Dogs and Age of Pirates. This game is much deeper that Sid Meier's Pirates! This is the game that AoP and Sea Dogs should have been, but the learning curve is very steep initially. Fully compatible with WIN 7 and looks sharp and has good atmospherics. You can easily modify the system.ini file to allow proper widescreen resolutions up to 2650X1600 in proper aspect ratio. Probably the one major complaint I have is the interface. Its archaic. Controls for the player are not naturally intuitive, and don't "flow" like say the Prince of Persia series, as keyboard and mouse is the predominant means of movement. Using a gamepad is NOT the best option here. Expanded options for fighting with multiple types of attacks and and a more realistic sail model are the real updates here. Contrary to some opinions, there is a plot but really only if you play as the first primary character, Peter Blood. Due to the depth of the game, only hardcore players will ever see the true ending as quests can be incredibly difficult without first building up your character even at moderate difficulty.
Overall, if you willing to accept the interface issues, and get past the gigantic learning curve at the beginning the game, the whole procress starts to pick up steam as you gather experience. Being able to face down a Man-o-War with a single frigate, board and defeat the crew through multiple levels of decks until you face the captain for capture is exciting. The number of side quests is substantial, and will literally take hundreds of hours to complete. This is game where at the beginning you really have to pick your fights carefully. If you expect to take on hundreds of soldiers and cut them down like bundles of wheat, you will be disappointed, as death comes quickly to the unprepared.
One final note, I highly recommend downloading the fan-made COAS Combined Mod 3.1.5 which fixes a number of bugs and glitches, massive graphic overhaul, a modified trade system so you may be a peaceful ply the seas, adds 12+ new playable characters and questions, a plethora of new items and weapons, and most importantly dozens of new ships and sea battle capability. This pushes the game install well over the 15 GB range. Even after the main quests are finished (which are incredibly complicated), there are still many new areas to explore.
Play as Captain Jack Sparrow and defeat Davey Jones and the Flying Dutchman!
UPDATE MAJOR Upgrade 31 MAY 12
Age of Pirates City of Abandoned Ships just took another major facelift and upgrade.
The most definitive age of piracy "sandbox" game ever created.
Long after I posted this review Pirates Ahoy! and modders finally have developed the game into the full product it should have been back in 2009.
Gentlemen of Fortune 1.2 was released in late MAY 2012, and has brought the game to over 16 GB. Ship models have continued to surpass all expectations.
Even after playing the game for over 3 years, it still keeps me coming back to start over. I have yet to finish all the major quests, including the selling your soul to the devil to be granted immortality or the naval books and knowledge for reading. Just as challenging as it was after the first round of "bug fixes" and control issues, but playing the game in full 2560X1600 resolution is breathtaking on a large monitor or 1920X1080 on a HDTV is equally as impressive. Build your empire for the colonial power of your choice after a lot of hard work! A MUST buy for the pirate enthusiast with a solid gaming computer.
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It does have it's glitches, but it is more fun than it's predecessors. Wish they had gotten to patch Sea Dogs and make it better. I liked that interface better where you don't have to be evading other pirates, mostly because it was easier to control your own game experience and when you got attacked. Here you can lose your ship from one bad move.It's graphically great and the music is nice. Combat could be easier, but then I could play the game at an easier difficulty... It does, however, not seem tiered. Encounters should be moderated between easy and hard for the player's level, rather than getting a very high level pirate on you, which you could never beat (again, I probably should just adjust my difficulty).
Overall a very good game, must have if you have been following since Sea Dogs!
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