The spray of sea salt, the smell of canon fire in air, the humid tropical waters of the Caribbean... every gamer who is a fan of old time naval battles and the history that surrounds them, or those who love the golden age of piracy, will find Port Royale 3, a long awaited release, worth the wait.

Breaking away from the first two Port Royale games and being manned by publisher Kalypso this time around, the third installment of the series revitalizes and freshens everything about its predecessors. Two days ago, I had the chance to sit down and check it out, and at first look, Port Royale 3 seems like a basic resource / business management game. You have a fully viewable map of the Caribbean with around 60 port towns, many needing to be discovered, all under different factions (Spanish, British, and even pirate-controlled). The goal is to rise to financial and territorial prominence by building trade routes and assembling convoys to protect those trade routes / cities. 

However, deeply layered within Port Royale 3 are all sorts of wonderful additions that will keep things fresh as you rise to power. By either choosing to play the military side of things or the pirate side, you'll have plenty of ships – from the biggest war galleons to the smallest sloops. Depending on how you choose to play, you can go rebel against allied countries or join the fight against pirates, or simply strive out a living by securing routes independently and exploring. Port Royale 3 goes even deeper by giving each port city its own "town mode", sort of like a mini version of SimCity, so if managing your trade routes doesn't keep you busy, micro managing your cities will.

Of course, what many gamers will be looking for are the epic sea battles of the era. I can safely say that Port Royale 3 has plenty, and they are as well crafted as one could hope. Each real-time battle plays out with nicely 3D-rendered ship models with the ability to zoom in, out, and around the battlefield. You will be able to manually control one ship, while giving A.I. commands to the other ships in your fleet with a simple push of a button. With a broad choice of weapons, from cannon balls to ball chains, your strategy will consist of using broadside attacks and evasive maneuvers to fire off shots while receiving minimum damage yourself. The ability to board, fight man to man, and take over enemy ships is also available. Boarding ships is not the easiest, but its well worth it; it takes carefully strategic planning by chasing enemy ships into shallow water, slowing them down, and boarding them from there.

To create even more detail within these sea battles, with each hit, crew members fly off the decks into the water, where they wait to be rescued. However, shark infested waters prove that you only have a certain amount of time to collect your crew again before they become shark food and are gone for good. For those gamers who wish to skip over these RTS battles, the option is there to do so, thus making the battles quick and automatic.

The economy system in Port Royale 3 is amazingly well crafted, with easy to understand menus and customization. Icons at each port city let you know what each town needs supply-wise, so you are not constantly guessing and delivering unnecessary goods. With a resource building element based on supply and demand mixed with RTS ship battles, Port Royale 3 is both complex and exciting. Even better, the historically accurate game can be played in a free mode or campaign mode. The campaign mode unfolds with a simple story of a young person attempting to make it big in the Caribbean. A slew of luscious hand painted artwork tells the story as the gamer progresses. Port Royale 3 doesn't skimp on aesthetic design either. Each port city is designed to be culturally accurate to its location on the map, while music changes to match the region and culture alongside it.

With a lot of passion and thought into bringing the Port Royale series into strategy gaming relevance, Kalypso and Gaming Minds have made a good series absolutely great. For those in love with resource building and management games looking to add in a little RTS spice, as well as those who love 17^th century naval adventures, Port Royale 3 will be the perfect choice. 

Kalypso is aiming at a Q3 release for Port Royale 3.

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