Port royale 3 gold review
Hell, even EVE Online, which is no better as far as accessibility is concerned, has all the information for you to organise and use as you see fit. Games like this don’t need to be easier – there has to be a base level of depth to be any good, but you can at least improve on presenation and usability. Even though the UI is as horrible as ever, that’s really the core thing Kalypso/Gaming Minds have to work on. Being a pirate is far more viable here than it ever was in Patrician, and the deep, robust trade section is still present.
The beauty here is that as long as you continue paying whatever upkeep you have, you’re pretty much your own boss. Interacting with towns is also more interesting as well, especially in terms of attacking them and taking over. Towns need to be ‘discovered’ instead of just waiting for you to rock up in your dingy, the four major factions present are constantly warring with each other, and you can get involved any which way you want in a very Mount and Blade kind of way. The intricacies of Caribbean politics at this time (can’t believe I just said that) means that the ‘living world’ is far, far more interesting than what happens over in the Hansetic league.Ĭombat in this game is hands-on, and there's plenty to keep your attention.
Port royale 3 gold review for free#
The options for Free Play are actually slightly more extensive here than in Patrician, allowing you to really set up the world as you want it. Outside of the narrated solo experience, the game becomes pretty standardised with Patrician – the Free Play mode lets you customise the world and where you start/who you start for. It is also dependant on which path you take – if you choose Trader you’re trying to fend off the intentions of a rival suitor, but as the Adventurer she actually gets kidnapped by pirates, which is a nice touch and produces a longer lifespan for the game. What’s especially good here is the way the story plays out. Still just as confusing initially too, so be prepared to lose your first couple of bouts as you try and get used to the system. The real-time combat system in Port Royale is almost a carbon copy of that in Patrician.
Ship management, convoy raiding, privateering, starting wars with entire nations. If you choose the trader, the game will take you through the economic side of the game, from trading, to buying and setting up businesses, to even owning your own town.Ĭhoose the life of an ‘adventurer’ and the game will take you through a different route. In Port Royale 3 you actually have a choice – you can either be a trader, or an ‘adventurer’, and whilst the story essentially revolves around you trying to win the affections of one Spanish beauty called Elena, how you go about this depends on what choice you make. The town interface is the best looking of the lot, and there's plenty of stuff to play around with as well… Like Patrician, there is a central storyline where you are an up-and-coming entrepreneur trying to make a name for yourself in the Caribbean, and you’re being mentored by a kindly old man who just loves giving you free stuff. Port Royale 3 at least does a better job of pulling through the basics of the game as far as the solo campaign is concerned. We’ll just call them twins separated at birth or something. A more cynical person would say this was simply Patrician IV re-skinned, but dig a little deeper, you’ll find the game does actually try and stand on its own two legs. It’s made by the same people, uses the same engine, has the same gameplay characteristics and elements. Despite being part of a completely different franchise, it’s easy to think of Port Royale 3 as part of the same family tree as Patrician.