Road Pirates seems have to drawn inspiration from several sources. It would be difficult to pinpoint all of them, as they all seem to draw inspiration from similar sources themselves. However, one undeniable source of inspiration for Road Pirates is a game called Car Wars, which was a card game published by Steve Jackson Games. To an outsider, it may appear that Road Pirates obtains too much of its inspiration from Car Wars, as the two games do appear very similar in nature. The first striking similarity is the fact that it’s a card game where players battle convoys. In addition, even much of the play-style seems to resemble the Car Wars game. However, these are really the only two major similarities which the two games seem to have in common.
One thing that I noticed about Car Wars is that it is a game that which only about cars, which was good for its time. Road Pirates, on the other hand, breaks down the elements a little further to incorporate a more personalized strategy into the game-play dynamics. Unlike Car Wars, Road Pirates will give its players the freedom to choose their drivers and passengers, and not every ability is tied to the vehicles you pick. The one other major element that will really set Road Pirates apart from Car Wars is the concept of the real world map, which should really help bring the game to life. Ultimately, Road Pirates may seem to have a lot in common with this game, but the game-play mechanics will have an entirely different foundation. The only thing that Car Wars and Road Pirates will have in common are cars and cards.
Next time, we’ll talk about Spy Hunter, which sounds more like an anti-malware/spyware program but no, it’s actually yet another game.