That said you can also drive prices up cornering the market so that you can make a killing with goods you produce. You can also have a real impact on pricing yourself, sending the price of a good up if you buy lots of it regularly, so you have to be judicious if you don't want to make things too expensive to resell. Trading prices fluctuate a lot and you will also be able to keep tabs on critical shortages in settlements as the symbol of a particular item in dangerously short supply will pop up over a town's map icon from time to time. If it is lower, then it is time to slink back out to sea like the scurvy dog you are. If it is higher, then matey boy it is time to make a deal with the land lubbers. This makes trading quite easy as you sail into a port and check their buying price against your cargo cost. Thankfully the system aggregates your purchase price, lowering or rasing your break-even price point depending on whether the cargo you are adding is more or less expensive than that of the same kind you already have on board. Prices go up as you buy out a settlement's stockpile and you have to be careful not to purchase goods at too high a price. You can buy units (in this case I presume they are tons) of various cargo types and you are given a reminder of what you paid for them with a figure which pops up on the margin of the trading table as you begin to buy or sell.

That said, the trading system is quite elegant, even if it is also reasonably complex. This latter option is actually the most involving, complex and challenging part of the game, as getting a handle on the various trading menus can take a little time. You can engage in a little piracy, bounty hunting or in the simple processes of economic growth, trading, buying properties and setting up businesses. There is a lot you can do in this game and in sandbox mode the options are delightfully open indeed. However, Port Royale 2 does still have the right stuff to keep more than a few of you stuck in front of your machine absorbed in the Machiavellian machinations of colonial politics and the struggle for economic dominance. That said, this is never the sort of game you are going to want to use to show off your new graphics card to your friends. There is plenty of color splashed about on screen and when you are in town each of the key characters you meet pops up in an animated window in the bottom right of the screen. The ships are presented in 3D though, even if each boat boasts very few polygons. The bulk of the game is presented using isometric 'pseudo 3D', with sprites and not a mind boggling level of detail. In technology terms, Port Royale 2 is more 98 Oldsmobile than brand spanking new Acura sports coupe, as the visuals are effective but very spartan. The game is an evolutionary step forward with a few new elements and tweaks here and there.

Port Royale 2 is a much better balanced effort. Indeed the first Port Royale also did its best to emulate the brilliance of Pirates!, but somehow missed the mark with a few interface and design issues seeing the game confined to quarters until a few remedies could be found. However if you can't wait for Sid Meier and his mates to get the sequel sorted then Port Royale 2 is a reasonably seaworthy alternative which is another Pirates! in all but official name, as the main elements of the original game design are here. Pirates! is only now coming in for a much needed revamp. The word seminal is a term tossed about way too often these days when describing games, but if you are looking for the original swashbuckling simulation which combined naval combat, trading and sword fighting then Pirates! is the only game which can rightfully claim to have launched the genre.

Port royal 2