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Sid Meier's Pirates 'Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life' is an expensive game. It was thus a shock to find the discs in a card folder instead of the customary protective box. Worse came when I played my first game and found the characters speaking in gobbledygook. I found this so unpleasant that I switched off all background sound rather than suffer it a moment longer. But the worst point of all came with the Governor's thoroughly unpleasant racist slurs. I find the terms “evil Spanish”, “slimy French” and “greedy Dutch” so objectionable that I would not have obtained the game at all had I known they were there. Sadly, the only way of avoiding them is not to visit the Governors at all and play without troubling about the peculiar mixture of military rank and patents of nobility. The game has a number of changes from 'Pirates! Gold', not all of them felicitous. The interactive scenes in town, the captain's cabin and the treasure cave have been replaced largely by lists reminiscent of old style text adventures. It seems no longer possible to marry the merchant's daughter and so obtain preferential trading terms. And to win the heart of a governor's daughter one must learn to dance! I accept this is appropriate to the historical period and would not object if there were a way round it. But as it is I find this feature unacceptable. So marriage, which I much enjoyed in 'Pirates! Gold'. Is no longer available to me. But to be fair, Sid Meier's genius is still apparent in this new version of his classic game. I have very much enjoyed the part which I do play, and I shall probably play that part many times more. The graphics is astounding, particularly weather and sea effects; the music is delightful; and the background sound (apart from dreadful speech) is very good indeed. I like the addition of many additional villages, Jesuit missions, and a mysterious character in the taverns who offers information and artifacts, some of which are even quite useful in a piratical career. The barmaids are suitably attractive, though one can no longer spend a pleasant evening with one, the barkeeper is a sly old nuisance who acts mainly as a marriage broker for governor's daughters (and is therefore ignored) and there is a bullying captain of the guard on whom one can practice one's sword-play. The battle scenes on land and sea are excellently portrayed. 'Pirates! Gold' was one of the most fun games I have ever played. Had I given it a rating at the time it would have been 4 (even 5) stars for entertainment value, use of available technology and value for money. 'Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life' is only partly in the same category, though Sid Meier's genius does shine through. I rate it as 3 stars for adults, but I would not like to see it played by children without clear parental supervision.