The Sega Genesis, unlike its rival, the SNES, was somewhat weak when it came to RPGs. Putting aside the Phantasy Star and Shining Force Series, it took me some time to find an RPG on this system. However, I was not disappointed when I stumbled across MicroProse's Pirates Gold.

Throughout history, the sea has always been a source of trade for civilization, and like all sources of trade, it suffered from many of the most vile thieves and villains that the world has ever seen. Their names would horrify the captains of any merchant vessel and even today, they have an infamous aura about them. These monsters like Long John Silver and Blackbeard killed thousands and stole everything they could find. Cities weren't safe from their pillaging raids, and when they came, women and children would hide as the men took up arms to clean the Earth of the craven scum that was approaching. You can be craven scum too!

In Pirates Gold, you take the role of a pirate captain who's headed for the top. After choosing which time period you want to live in, a trade to excel in, such as swords or medicine, a nationality to fly under the flag of, and your family name, you go out into the simulated world of privateering (Pirating) and begin doing all that stuff that pirates do. If you want treasure, go into town. Maybe you'll find a guy selling pirate maps. If you want to hurt someone real bad, go get into a sea battle with an enemy ship and ram it. This game even lets you pillage coastal towns. There are four difficulty modes to choose from, very little managing to take care of, and so many little ships out there just asking to be blown up. Although it doesn't have as many options as you'd hope from a Sim game, it's got pirates! Pirates Gold gets a 93% in Gameplay.

The Genesis lacked some of the power the SNES had, so obviously you can't expect this game to be anything special visually. It wasn't. This pixilated package was, well, average. It had average fight scenes, average sailing animation, average colors, average anything else I haven't mentioned, and was, in all graphical areas, average. Every town looked exactly the same and there were only about five different faces on the heads of those poor fools you wound up swashbuckling with. It gets a 76% for Graphics, plain and simple.

The Genesis was similarly weak in the sound department, (Guess who doesn't like Sega! One hint: he's dancin'.) and much like the graphics, we can't expect much here. I can only remember one song off hand from the game, and that would be the sailing theme. Not only does this get played for a good three quarters of the entire game, but it wasn't even made for Pirates Gold originally. Once you hear it, you'll know what it is. Even the sounds were empty. All of the stabs, gunshots, surrenders, and splashes were unable to make much impact on me, and if the game weren't so fun in itself, the sights and sounds of it would've chased me off. Sound/Music gets a 74%.

Storyline in a Sim game is hard to keep up, but MicroProse gave it a good effort. By choosing which scenario to play, you decide some of the events that happen in your career. In each town, you can meet the governor's daughter (Beware the hags!) and eventually marry one of them, if you earn her respect. Those kind programmers even give a brief insight into the background of your pirate hero. Although the plot is not incredible in the least, and even if the text parts of the game make you want to just hit those buttons until you can hurt innocent people again, Storyline get an 82% for good effort.

The controls in this game were not that bad. The only area that I can complain about is sword fighting. All you do is hit the button to swing your sword and keep hitting it until the opposing fighter surrenders. This tactic can beat all but the hardest difficulty modes with ease. Besides that, all you do involving the controls is sail, and aside from sailing against the wind, there's nothing wrong with that. Controls get an 83%

This game has some bugs, I'll admit, like blocky visuals, mind-numbing audio, and a repetitiveness that destroys replay value, but I just have one thing to say before you decide on the game. Pirates Gold has pirates, and pirates are fun! Overall, Pirates Gold gets an 86%.

Gameplay - Arr! This be truly an addictive game! 93%
Graphics - Arr! I be wishing I had two eye patches. 76%
Sound/Music - AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR! 74%
Storyline - Aye, tis a sad tale. 82%
Controls - Piloting a pirate ship is harder than it looks. 83%
Overall - It's got PIRATES!!! 86%