Port Royale 4 | Review (PC): Caribbean Entrepreneurs

The discovery of the New World is one of the focal points of human history, but it is initial development of the new colonies one of the most adventurous paragraphs for Europeans, especially in the Caribbean between piracy, trade and naval battles. Port Royale 4 brings players to this very dimension as a manager of one company of the indies at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Now in its fourth chapter, Port Royale is a real time strategy game with a strong emphasis on the economic side and on trade, interspersed with turn-based naval battles. This is the second title in the franchise released by Kalypso Media, a German house already accustomed to Caribbean scenarios thanks to the successful Tropico saga, and developed by Gaming Minds. You can find Port Royale 4 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch.

If Port Royale 3 had convinced few audiences and critics in 2011, its new iteration tries to overcome its shortcomings with a longest running campaign it's a more functional and fun fighting. Although Port Royale 4 is not without errors, it is still an enjoyable title that will please a large chunk of longtime fans and will attract new onlookers.

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest

Before hoisting the sails for the Caribbean Sea, there is a long and detailed tutorial divided into chapters which, if followed entirely, will allow the player to unlock bonus content for his campaign.

There are 4 nations that have historically fought over the Caribbean islands and the eastern coasts of Central America: Spain, England, France e Holland. While in the Free Play the player decides the kind of game to be played by choosing for example the starting colony, the country of origin and the game difficulty, in the Countryside the actual history that has characterized these places is retraced a bit, obviously with a hint of Kalypso-style wit and player customization.

It starts with Spain in 1570 which has its small colonies scattered over most of the continental coasts as well as a couple of inhabited centers on the island of Cuba. Caution: despite the massive tutorial, much of the start of this campaign is focused on developing the first trade routes and it will take a long time before the first fights can be faced. The reason is due to the fact that the game does not allow you to know all the objectives immediately of the campaign, but he will deliver them in batches as the precedents are overcome, limiting the analysis of the general context of the game by the player.

Only after completing the Spanish campaign is it possible to access those of other nations. There English countryside is set in 1589, in the period when the fleets of Queen Elizabeth I are allowed to hunt pirates (and the Spaniards, but shh…). There Dutch countryside allows the player to revive the 20s of 1600, when the few and small colonies of Holland established the Dutch West India Company which soon became the Caribbean's most influential trading power. Finally, the French countryside, set in 1600, catapult the player into an open war with Spain, and will commit him to increase the number of colonies in the nation and their prestige.

The choice of your character is essential: there are 4 different types, each with its own characteristics. The Adventurer specializes in long range battles, the Merchant allows you to trade with any colony without buying licenses, the Buccaneer has pirate hunting perks and starts with a fame boost, and the Piratessa he can easily engage in piracy without particular malus in case it is discovered.

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Much of the Port Royale 4 gameplay experience is characterized by establish trade routes. The vast game world Caribbean offers numerous resources, cataloged in the game according to their usefulness. Each colony produces a certain amount of these resources, and it is up to the player to understand which and how many it is useful to trade with: in general, the economic management it is very detailed and responds to minimal price fluctuations, for this reason, selling a barrel more or less of a given resource can make a big difference. Creating trade routes is a long process in which both the necessary resources and themarket trend, Both sea ​​currents.

From time to time they will appear Events in random places, near colonies or in the open sea. Whether it's receiving a piece of a treasure map, barrels of free resources, or combat tactics to use in battle, events like this have a dual function within the gameplay: on the one hand they break the monotony made up of planning and automatisms with a little travel done manually by the player, on the other hand they guarantee experience points necessary to receive fame to spend on new licenses.

Fame is also earned by playing the assignments of the Viceroy of your country and completing the main objectives of the campaigns. Unlocked licenses allow you to have multiple captains for your fleet and different types of buildings for the resource production. And speaking of production, we must not lose sight of the colony management: beyond the starting city, the player can buy building permits in the other settlements present under the crown of their nation to encourage the production of resources; reached 6000 inhabitants, the player can also ask the Viceroy to become a real administrator to build other buildings mostly dedicated to real city management, such as churches and taverns.

Producing resources by oneself obviously also affects market prices, just as they do and pirates. Piracy actions can be countered by your own military fleets by putting them on the run or facing them in battle. Or they can be done by the player by hoisting a nice black flag. If you are skeptical of a turn-based combat within a real-time strategy game, do not worry because the battles, in addition to being well structured and fun, prove to be an excellent diversion when automatic trades and game assignments will flatten your fun.

Naval battles are heavily based on strategic positioning of boats. Combat actions are divided into standard attacks between targeted cannon shots, machine guns and boarding, e tactics, consumable techniques that allow you to perform special actions such as repair or forced displacement.

The bottle and the devil have thought of the rest

From graphic and sound point of view, Port Royale 4 performs in a more than good way. The game map is distinguishable from every distance, but perhaps the most rewarding way to look at the Caribbean is up close: tropical storms on the horizon, water displaced by the floating of boats, ships moving on the water, all these elements have a very pleasant stage rendering.

I personally enjoyed the extreme smooth transition from the far view to the detail in the colonies: the loading of the close areas is practically nil. Both the placement of buildings in the colonies and the combat by sea are handled by a hexagonal grid system, excellent for positioning strategies in both cases.

A toast with a nice glass of rum is to be had at music of Port Royale 4, perfect playmates in all contexts. In particular, a special mention should be made of the introductory movie which perfectly summarizes the entire game from the point of view of a barrel of rum, all accompanied by a beautiful and iconic pirate song.

Where, on the other hand, the game does not shine, it is unfortunately in the interfacing of the game and in generalusability of these by the user. The style of the menus, although contextual, seems a bit dated, but the whole organization of these is even more outdated. The general feeling is that it all turns out to be the cumbersome game, when then you could get the same results with a few clicks less: for example, to assign a route to a fleet you must first select this and then keep the routes menu open, search for the route and click on the assign button with the fleet menu still selected ... it could all be managed from a simple menu to curtain.

Unfortunately, such solutions limit the gaming experience a lot, especially when it comes to management video games where there is always a need to access the most disparate menus. Take a look at what Paradox has done, for example, with the menus of the new Crusader Kings III.

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Port Royale 4 is in effect an economy simulator with some playful elements to reinforce the concept, all immersed in the Caribbean Sea. The depth and detail of the management of the markets and of one's finances are very accurate, sometimes even too much, but when monotony takes over, you can take a good break with a healthy and fun turn-based naval battle. Too bad that the same care has not been put in the usability of the player and in the game interfaces that limit the title making it a little too cumbersome. Purchase recommended for fans of numbers and strategy.