Sid Meier’s Pirates! is a 2004 strategy, action, and adventure video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by Atari, and later on 2K Games. Pirates is separated into several mini-games requiring different skills, as well as an overall “sailing map” mode where the player navigates around the Caribbean, looking for things to do. Sailing technique, evasion (running from guards), naval gunnery, turn-based strategy, dancing with the governor’s daughter, fencing, and strategic planning are all skills needed to succeed in Pirates. During the game, players can acquire items and special crew members who make some mini-games less skill-dependent, but must also choose one of five different skills at the start, which the game will give them an advantage in. Most controls are relegated to the nine keys of the number pad, and the game is completely playable using only the keyboard (numpad keys and enter), excluding the start menu and control screen. This is assisted by a visual representation of the keypad in the lower right corner of the screen, which also shows the function of each key at any given time.
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