Age of Pirates Preview

Game Chronicles has previewed Age of Pirates, which is one of my anticipated games this 2006. Here's some interesting highlights from the preview:

"This game offers no overall story. Instead it offers a slew of side mission while you generate your own story[...]It’s a great looking game that plays out a lot like Grand Theft Auto with its leaner mission structure."

It's another game with freeform gameplay, in which you have the world as an empty canvas so you could paint your own story. I kinda like that, but why does it have to play like Grand Theft Auto? GTA is not a role-playing game, and I didn't like that game.