Port Royale (PC)

I was browsing through the catalogue when I noticed that no-one had written a review for this game, so i felt it my duty to give all you avid game fans an idea of what this game is about. So here it goes...

I came across this game a couple of years ago, the age rating on it was very low, about 3+ so i thought child's game.. sure what the heck why not I'm bored..... Oh boy was I wrong! I have sworn never to judge a game by it's age ...
...detailed tutorial level, which not only introduces you to the basics but allows you to continue the game at a lower difficulty setting. The game is set in the Americas at the times from the Spanish Dominance to that of the English. The balance of power between the 4 major powers varies between these periods and you get a chance to affect these balances according to your own wishes. The Four major powers are Spain, France, Holland and England. However ... more

I was browsing through the catalogue when I noticed that no-one had written a review for this game, so i felt it my duty to give all you avid game fans an idea of what this game is about. So here it goes...

I came across this game a couple of years ago, the age rating on it was very low, about 3+ so i thought child's game.. sure what the heck why not I'm bored..... Oh boy was I wrong! I have sworn never to judge a game by it's age rating again!

The game offers a fairly detailed tutorial level, which not only introduces you to the basics but allows you to continue the game at a lower difficulty setting. The game is set in the Americas at the times from the Spanish Dominance to that of the English. The balance of power between the 4 major powers varies between these periods and you get a chance to affect these balances according to your own wishes. The Four major powers are Spain, France, Holland and England. However you wont have a major impact on balance of power unless you go completely out of your way to do so.

The game incorporates trade (both sea and land), production of goods and combat. When you start a game you get a choice on how you wish your starting assests to be distributed. For example, you can start off with mostly money and a smallest ship, or having some money with the second smallest ship, or having only a little money and the third smallest ship. You may think what the biggest ship they offer you is the third smallest!??!!! Well yes but it's a fairly medium sized ship and they're hardly going to start you off with a ship of the line now are they? So, what's the point in these options? do they offer any advantages? How you wish to play (at least how you want to start off playing) can be helped by how you start off.

You start off in a colony in which you are deemed popular enough to speak to the governor, accept missions from him, and to use the bank (loans) and to buy a building permit and to build buildings. Buildings available differ from colony to colony, ie. you will be able to grow potatoes and sugar in one colony, in another perhaps only one of them and in another colony you may not be able to grow either, but essentially there are two main types of buildings (other than the mandaory storehouse). You have your production buildings to produce tradeable goods which you can sell on for a profit and houses in which you can have tenants who will pay you a rent (note: at first the expenses you pay for these houses will outweigh the rent you receive). You can also build things like hospitals, and other buildings which you can't make use of, and which only serve to increase your standing in a colony.

So if you opt for the money and smallest ship you should really focus on trade, you can buy couple of buildings to start producing your own goods and buy goods and travel from colony to colony buying goods in one place and selling them in another for more money.. as prices vary from colony to colony depending on demand for that commodity. The only downside is that you have a small ship so it cannot hold many goods, although on the plus it doesn't require as large a crew to handle it. You can also fill you ship with cannons to use in naval fights, but with this ship.. you RUN!

If you opt for a half and half option you can do the same except the money is a bit more limiting and you will need to hire a larger crew for a larger ship. However you can carry more goods, thus make more money. However even though you have a relatively small ship you can pick on smaller ones.. and capture them.. sell their goods.. then if you want to.. sell their ship for extra cash.

If you go for the ship option..trade is not really the best idea, as you cannot really afford to set up a business and you cant afford to buy many goods..especially seeing as how you need your money for your larger crew! instead you have to rely on your ships superiority over others and loot and/or capture their ships to use yourself

In naval warfare there are three types of shot depending what you want to do. If you just want to sink her then you use your average shot, but you can use grapeshot to decimate the enemy crew or another type if you wish to destroy the sails so it cannot escape and you have better speed and manuverability whith which to further batter it

The game has a basic story which has a young man going off to seek vengence on a bunch of pirates who killed his mother and captured his sister...ok so the storyline isn't that great... but it gives an incentive to increase in rank so you can manage more ships and you get harder missions (the rewards also increase as due compensation) For example at the beginning you may be asked ot just move a few settlers about.. then you may be asked to capture colonies for the good of the cuntry you serve.

To capture a colony you have two options, you either get lots of soldiers to and take them to the colony you wish to capture and they fight the troops stationed to protect the colony.. or you fight a naval battle by which you have to destroy all the cannon protecting the port.

Right so assuming that you've begun to start well you're making some money... then wham your money goes down.. this is mainly the crew currently running your ships... although it also goes down when you dont have crews, it's also general maintenence. This is what makes this game so hard, it's SO SO easy to lose money and drift into the red, then you can't do a lot. Losing money is the reason why i have to re-start games... i just cant do anything until i have money.

Now then, don't get me wrong, this is a very enjoyable game once you've got going, but it's incredibly important to get a good start.

You have to balance your gameplay ito incorporate all aspects of the game in order to succeed, perfect for those who like a challenge. 

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