Written by Jeff Buckland, 7/14/2003
Played on:
Xbox
It wasn't long ago that Bethesda announced that the Akella title they were overseeing, Sea Dogs 2, was to undergo a name change to match up with a movie license. And now that the game and the movie are both out, it's obvious that Akella didn't change much in the game to match the movie - but pirate movies and pirate games rarely come out at the same time, so it seemed to be a good match despite that.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a difficult RPG with a bit of action and tactics thrown in. Gameplay is split between your on-foot exploits and exploration (or battles) at sea, neither of which are easy to get the hang of. If players have put down any time in front of a third-person action game, though, the on-foot part will come quicker than the sailing.
I'm reviewing the Xbox version of the game, and here the controls seemed mostly adequate (while the PC version's controls and interface were very clumsy). This isn't a new Halo, so the on-foot controls are more geared towards an RPG - you'll find no sidestepping or dual-stick action at all. This is usually acceptable, although some situations will have you begging for some more exact controls.
Most of the on-land battles will have you drawing your sword, using your pistol to shoot an enemy at a distance, then closing in to finish him off. X draws your weapon, A swings it, B will make you dodge backwards, and the L trigger is your block button. After a couple of minutes you should have the system down (which mostly involves maintaining a block until the enemy is done swinging).
The sea interface takes a bit more getting used to, as you will have to switch between modes and fire the right types of ammo out of your cannons. At the same time, controlling your sails while trying to match speed to another ship (if you want to board it, that is) all have to be managed constantly. It takes a couple of hours of practice, but one can get the interface down after a while.
Pirates of the Caribbean's graphics simply shine. The ships are very well modelled, the characters look great, the villages and outposts you visit are quaint yet detailed, and the water - it's the best water I've seen in any game. Period. The frame rate wasn't anything to shout about, but I rarely had any real problems with it dipping too low.
The interface is well detailed, and almost everywhere you go includes tons of stuff to check out. The only exception I've found is in some of the caverns or dungeons you enter; the bare walls with an occasional torch or mine cart run seem to go on for miles sometimes.
Character animations in PotC are stiff and a bit boring, and while there are plenty of combat animations, that's about it. Characters do wander the streets, though, and the bar denizens all have little animated flourishes. The special effects in Pirates aren't too shabby, but they're far from the visual highlight of this game. They simply get the job done - you know when you hit an enemy, got hit yourself, or when a ship is on fire. Don't expect much more than that, though.
Pirates of the Caribbean is quite a difficult game. A little like Morrowind, you will start out and be able to explore the first town, and can leave and do what you like after that, but that's where the main quest begins. There are plenty of side quests to go on, and there are several types of rewards for doing them. It's not a full out RPG in every aspect, though; while you can equip new swords or pistols to fire, there is no new armor or clothing to wear. You can give gear to the officers on your ship(s), though, so that they won't die so quickly in a melee.
The learning curve is tough to get over - while you do get a tutorial, the big problem is that it tells you little about how to actually do anything while sailing. That stuff, you have to figure out mostly on your own. The starting equipment you have is pretty unspectacular as well, and that includes the boat you get to start with.
The story has very little to do with the actual Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and your main character, Nathaniel Hawk, barely resembles Johnny Depp in the movie. For that matter, they don't even have the same name (in the movie, Depp is Jack Sparrow). The culmination of the main quest has you taking on the enemy from the movie, though; at least they got that in. The game's development history gives us an obvious reason why there's little in common between the two, although I imagine most players seeing this game on the shelves will have no clue about any of this.
