First look - Pirates of the Burning Sea

Posted at: 5:32am 29th August 2007 by Phil Hartup

It’s an MMORPG, it’s got pirates and you get to blow up huge ships. What more could you want? And we thought Sony wanted to stamp out piracy …

Beyond the running, sailing and shooting is the economy and the realm vs realm combat system. The realm vs realm aspect is the capturing of ports and the control of resources, while the economy involves building structures at ports to harvest and refine resources and manufacture products. The economy is very sophisticated and relies on planning, co-operation and good old fashioned supply and demand, as opposed to the repetitive clicking and dragging common to most games. Ships and items are expendable, so the economy is based on the need to build, use and replace such items. The nations are, naturally, all at war with each other, so fighting over ports to control their resources is a vital part of the game. Capturing enough ports wins you the map, and there will apparently be rewards for this in the finished game.

To capture a port, you have to ‘flip’ it, which means blockading it, attacking ships that come and go to it, and putting it into what’s called ‘contention.’ A port in contention becomes the centre of a region of unrest; an area of the open sea where players from different factions can attack each other. These areas are the hunting grounds for pirates and a smart faction can try to set up these zones to make life difficult for enemy freetraders hauling cargo. There is then a battle for the port 24 hours after it’s entered contention, where 25 players fight from the defending faction, and another 25 fight from the faction that flipped the port. These battles are huge and spectacular if the sides are evenly matched.

Graphically, Pirates of the Burning Sea looks great in some regards, but dated in others. The ports and the avatar combat aren’t going to cause palpitations, and many of the ports look alike, as do the decks of ships during boarding actions, although they at least look good enough to serve their purpose. The open sea isn’t the most staggering visual spectacle either, but it once again serves its role well enough. Where the graphics really come into their own is during the sea battles, which look amazing, despite having to be scaled to cope with up to 50 ships battling at once. Not only are the ship models intricately designed and skinned, but they even have great little details. For example, you can see the crew on the ship loading guns, taunting foes or dying horribly during combat, and you can even see your captain on the deck leading them on.

As this is a game about pirates set in the Caribbean, it’s really important that the ship combat works well and thankfully it does. Combat requires strategy and intelligence, particularly when using bigger ships, as these can be almost immobilised if they turn into the wind. Choice of ammunition plays a role too, as you can choose whether you want to sink the boat, cut down the rigging and masts or simply shred the crew. Smart players can also use small ships to exploit the ponderous nature of the bigger ships, so it’s not just a game where the player’s level indicates who will win.