First things first. Comparing this title to such AAA hits as Sid Meier’s Pirates! or Mount & Blade: Bannerlord paints an entirely incorrect picture. No, this game is far from that. Think of it as a more hardcore version of either Morrowind or Kenshi. Expect lots of grind, very little help, and no forgiveness for mistakes. Yet if you persevere through those initial days, you will receive one of the best experiences in pirate video games that exist today.
What Hooked Me
Complete freedom of action is what made me keep coming back. From the moment you create your own character, you are a complete nobody especially if you choose a sandbox scenario and skip the tutorial Peter Blood campaign, which I strongly advise not to do. This "hobo phase" is really long. At first, you will have trouble defending yourself against even the weakest thugs, and you will have to accept merchant quests just to buy your first decent crew. But as soon as you manage to acquire your first heavy warship, the reward will be huge.
This game has got completely new and vastly improved RPG elements. No need to say how nice this rebalance is for all of us. I should note the fantastic addition of the dynamic trait system. Yes, you get dynamic traits based on how you behave. Too much drinking in the taverns? Great! You have another new drunkard trait. This addition makes roleplaying in the game absolutely authentic, as it used to be in the old games of the series back in the time of pirates' glory days.
Finally, combat is worth mentioning. Naval fights here are incredibly tactical and rewarding. You have different rates, types of ammunition, and boarding phases. Finally, on-foot sword fights are fun thanks to the possibility of moving while blocking, finally turning them into real dances.
What Made Me Walk the Plank
I really love this game, yet it's not like everything here is perfect. Its engine is, well, a relic. While the skybox and the ocean looks absolutely amazing, exploring towns or jungles reminds me of a console game of 20 years ago on Xbox 360, at best case scenario. Plus, there are many bugs. Some of them will crack you up, yet others will spoil your gaming experience for real. Finally, we are coming to the most frustrating thing about this game, its archaic auto-saving feature.
Indeed, you will be saving yourself manually every 5 minutes. You see, this game saves automatically only during boarding. If something happens while you forgot to use quicksave and make some kind of stupid mistake or crash happens while you are loading the game, you will lose a lot of time you spent. You simply need to develop your saving skills.
Additionally, this game has the toughest learning curve I ever came across. For instance, you decide to take a passenger quest and take him/her to an enemy port without having the needed license. Well, expect an extremely persistent NPC telling you how angry he/she is for hours and hours.
A Classic Pirate Moment
A wonderful smuggling scenario gone wrong perfectly illustrates my gaming experience with this title. I loaded my little boat to the point where it started shaking with tons of illegal tobacco and sneaked on to a secret location. There I sold this precious cargo twice the money, yet as I tried to leave the place, a huge patrol of the enemy ships caught me. Those were bigger ships, and after the first attack they almost destroyed me. In a panic situation I managed to put a chain-shot on my enemies' ship and rip out their sails, making them unable to move fast. And so began the slowest escape in my entire life. While this patrol ship kept shooting holes in the waters around me, I was struggling to survive at the lowest speed possible. It was incredibly stressful, extremely buggy, yet totally awesome.
Verdict
Caribbean Legend: Age of Pirates is the rough diamond. It has clunky mechanics, outdated graphics, and lots of bugs, but underneath all that dust lays a truly wonderful pirate game. Complex, unique, and absolutely addicting one.
In conclusion, if you crave for an entertaining game with cinematic action, you should definitely try out Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Otherwise, if you prefer a grinding simulation with lots of tactics, I would recommend this game.