This is an open-ended game. There are no set levels or must do tasks. You just sail around doing whatever you wish. Your ultimate aim is to become a top pirate but how you achieve this is up to you. You can sail about attacking other ships and stealing their treasures, or you may wish to spend your time trading goods between ports, or maybe just gain popularity with the governors of cities in a hope to marry one of their daughters. There are also plenty of other ways of moving up the ranks of pirates and any combination can be chosen, (digging up treasure, upgrading your ships). It's not all plain sailing though. Governors may get a little annoyed at you, and traders may refuse to trade with you for sinking a particular nation's ships. But the Caribbean is a large place and there will always be somewhere to do something.
Sub games play a large part in Pirates and these range from battles on the sea using cannons, sword fighting and turn based land battles to dancing with governor's daughters. The ship battles were my personal favourite, including slight strategical elements such as using the wind direction to your advantage and using different types of cannon shot at different stages in the battle.
This is also a good looking game with graphics that are bright, colourful, detailed and very clear. The ships even bob about and lean over by different amounts as they turn depending on where the wind is blowing from.
The only downside to Pirates is that playing the sub games may become repetitive, but there are so many different things to do that if you get fed up of one thing you just go and do something else for a while. This game can be as involved or as simple as you want it, and the only route through it is whichever one you want it to be. Be warned though – you may lose friends as this game could quite easily start to take over your life. It's that good.