In Cosmic Pirate the player takes the role of a criminal who works for The Council, a space pirate organization. It offers several missions to the player, all with the goal to hijack a space truck. During the course of the game the player will undertake increasingly more dangerous and difficult missions. This game is a multi-directional shooter. For each mission the player gets transported to the estimated destination of the truck. However, the correct space sector has to be found first through the means of elimination. The player uses warp beacons to go to the next sector and when the correct one is found, the radar shows the way to the truck. However, every usage of a beacon costs money which is earned by shooting alien ships in the current sector, which can be freely explored in all directions. Every killed enemy gives credits and probably leaves an extra behind which gives advantages if picked up, e.g. bonus credits, a protection shield or a smart bomb. Money left after finishing a mission can be reinvested into ship upgrades.