Anyone who has played Sid Meier's Pirates should feel right at home with Pirates and Traders, an open-ended game in which you sail around the Caribbean seas in search of wealth and glory.
You start off by choosing a name, your nationality (British, Dutch, French, or Spanish), some skill points (sailing, fencing, charisma, and cunning), the type of ship you want, and the difficulty setting. You also have some options for adjusting when the game's autosave feature kicks in.
When you start playing, you'll find tons of information to take in. Luckily, no matter what screen you are on, you can always consult the help menu, which explains all the information on the screen, as well as what you can do. It will still be a lot to absorb at first, but at least it will be a less daunting task.
What you do in the game is largely up to you. You can spend your time as a merchant, trading cargo between islands and supplying certain goods to islands that have a demand for them. You can wage war against enemy nations. You can double-cross people you encounter, go treasure hunting, and engage in any number of other activities. While sailing the seas you will come across other ships, and how you engage them is up to you. When you arrive at ports, you can meet with the governor, trade with merchants, buy and repair ships, go to the tavern to recruit sailors and listen for news or job offers, and go to the bank to put away money for retirement. That last step becomes crucial, since you age in the game and eventually your skills will begin to decline. Learning when to retire is something of an art.
Pirates and Traders is an extremely fun game with a lot going for it. If it's representative of where gaming is heading for the Android platform, Android users have a lot to celebrate.
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