I wonder, do we have naval battle or it simply board each other ships and start fighting close combat?

It seems like it's a pretty mixed bag of stuff. I looked this up: http://www.gamespot.com/corsairs-conquest-at-sea/reviews/ ; I think both the user reviews and the main one agree that it's fun in general, but not very deep in terms of its mechanics. Only other review I could find without plunging deep into the internet abyss was this: http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=19053&tab=review ; it seems to say pretty much the same thing, but in a more positive way.

Gamespot gave it a 5.9, but the 102 user reviews gave it a 7.9:


http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/corsairs-review/1900-2538458/


Usually, when the difference is that big, it can't be a shitty game .

When visiting Gamespot, trust the users more :p

The dream has come true. Has anyone played this release? I'm tempted to buy it right now.

I had this game. Don't remember that much but I would say if you are even slightly interested and not looking for some complicated management game than it's easily worth the price tag, you won't regret it.

Both actually. You can fire at ship from a distance or try to engage in a direct combat.

Simplicity is alright though. I love complex games like Sim City and Sim Tower, but sometimes I just want to play something simple after a tiring long day of work.

Well, I already spent a lot of money in EA discount, I will wait for the discounted version. Thank you for info, Appreciate it.

Can a gaming expert highlight the differences between this and Microprose's "Pirates" ?

Great game, I have the normal version and was actually addicted for a while to this game back in its day.
It differs from SM's Pirates! in that you can fight with several ships at once and have to do a little base management, it has none of the adventure elements of Pirates! like visiting taverns or seducing governors daughters, Corsairs is played through a set of unrelated scenario's of increasing difficulty.

RTS is hands down my favorite genre but there are a few titles I don't dig so much so I'll ask here. Are there any other RTS games that this can remotely be compared to? My favorites are the AOE series and the early C&C games. The ones I don't like so much are Cossacks/Dark Reign (WAAAAAAAYYYY too hard!!!!) and the TA games (I'm sorry folks but every backdrop and every unit looks identical, it's a fact).

Any advice is a appreciated though at this price I'll probably snag it anyway.

RTS you can control many ships at once (there are different types). If I remember well you can use different ammunition (to kill crew, destroy sails or rip holes in a hull). I think there were generally more battle oriented ships and more of a cargo ships but it was pretty simple more cannons and crew meant you win. Some ships were aslo fast so I think you could theoretically run away from combat. Also you had a direct control over units when boarding or assaulting a town however it was pretty simplistic (aka if you had more units you were likely to win).

Economy- you can trade and expand cities that are your allies to allow you to build more ships. I think there a few different resources you could trade (cotton tobacco spices) and their price was different in various cities so you had to move around to get the best price again it wasn't anything too complex really and I thought the trade was just an additional feature rather than a main thing.

Adventure - well you were a corsair not a pirate so you had missions from the country that hired you. I think there were 4 factions in the game (Spanish, English, Dutch and French) + the proper pirates. I think you receive different missions from the governors of towns you visit but I don't think you had to do them all... I don't think there was any character development as such... I remember you could raid hidden pirate hideouts.

All in all I found this game very enjoyable, as some people said it was not particularly complex but for me personally it’s a plus as it does take a lot of time to get the idea how to win (many games these days try to be too much at the same time and end up being crap in all aspects). I noticed many people state it was a Pirates rip off but I never played the latter (it was before my time) so can't comment on that, however in itself I think its a decent game and I had a lot of fun with it.

I'm also one of the people familiar with the game title, but no idea about the game itself. Heck, I could have sworn GOG already had this game?

Or then I am mixing it up with Cossacks...

Totally wishlishted. It seems right up my alley

I don't usually follow GameSpot but man they really tear this one to shreds. I must stop and think.

Never heared about this one but looks interesting.