East India Company: Privateer is the first expansion pack to the well-received title from Paradox Interactive: East India Company (click here for our review).  There’s no doubt that the original East India Company is an excellent game (we gave it a well deserved 9/10) but the new expansion offers even more scope for gameplay.

While East India Company inspired patriotism and loyalty to one’s country, East India Company: Privateer encourages a much more mercenary attitude and here, as the saying goes, ‘Greed is good’.  The aim of the game in Privateer is amassing wealth, as much of it and as quickly as possible, by fair means or foul.  The so-called fair means largely involve trade.  Independent trading is possible, simply peddling wares from one port to another but the real money lies in fulfilling trade contracts for other countries.  Often this will involve buying a remarkably high quantity of one type of good in a designated port and transporting it to another specified port.  High quantities often mean high cost, so be wary of taking on these challenges without a little gold in your pocket to support you.  I confidently took on a contract with a deadline of three years before realising that my limited funds and ships meant it would take me at least five.  I lost time, money and standing with the country who had offered the contract.

For those who prefer more aggressive tactics you can take on privateer missions instead of (or as well as) the aforementioned merchant missions.  These can involve a variety of things, from sinking a ship to capturing a port.  These high stakes ventures offer high rewards but are not without an element of risk.  Again, you need to carefully weigh up whether your fleet can handle a particular mission or if you’re likely to end up with half your ships at the bottom of the ocean.

East India Company: Privateer offers two new campaigns, which might not sound like a lot but given that there are ample missions available within each campaign, it offers the possibility of being able to play each campaign several times over and get a slightly different experience each time.  Paradox Interactive have also added new commander skills into the game to help you adjust to life as a privateer, such as ‘False Colours’, which allows you to get close to an enemy without them perceiving you to be a threat and ‘Critical Hit’, which gives the player a chance to hit an enemy ship’s magazine and cause a catastrophic explosion!

In line with the original game (which is required in order to play the expansion) the cutscenes continue to be stunning.  In particular, the introduction to the game is an absolute work of art and well worth watching more than once.  I praised the music in the previous review and I’ll praise it again now: it fits in perfectly with the game and is certainly one of the main highlights of the game.  Playing without the music just isn’t the same somehow.

East India Company: Privateer is available for digital download at a cost of just £7.95, which I think represents extremely good value for money.  For those who have enjoyed the original East India Company, it’s certainly a must have.  For those who haven’t been convinced as yet, I hope this is enough to help you make the decision: try it, I’m sure you’ll love it!

**Review by Donna Haw**