Game: POTC: At World’s End

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END

Published by: Disney Interactive Studios


Developed by: Eurocom


System Reviewed on: Xbox 360


Also Available On: Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii,
PlayStation Portable, Wireless

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INTRODUCTION:

And here we have it! Another film-to-game adaptation, Pirates
3 takes puts you in control of your favorite characters as you deal with the
likes of Davy Jones himself in what could be the final installment of the POTC
movies (yeah, right).

GAMEPLAY:

Okay, well, I have to be honest here, there is not a lot of
fun to be had with POTC 3’s gameplay. I’ll tell you why- it’s friggin’ boring
and repetitive beyond all means. Let me lay it out for you- you will enter a
level with one of our three heroes, and you will have an objective. Usually,
your objective is to find a certain someone, or something, and interact with it
or collect it. Sometimes you’ll find jewels, or rip down wanted posters, or set
people free from jail cells, but yeah, usually there’s a similarly themed
find-and-do-this sort of thing going on. This isn’t fun or challenging, as 90%
of the time the whole thing is tremendously linear and easy to do. That being
said, the normal platforming controls are sluggish and annoying, you’ll often
find yourself taking extra steps when you don’t want to, which gets old. Other
than that though, you can do almost anything you can do in Prince of Persia, but
not quite as cool.

And then, besides all of this, you’ll be immersed in combat.
Now this combat system quickly becomes a chore. You mindlessly press the attack
button until you find an opportunity to parry an opponent’s attack. From this
point, your opponent will suddenly stand there, stupefied until you punch him or
slice him. This gets SO old, so fast, and is not fun at all. You do, as the game
progresses, earn more attacks (each character has four skills they can learn),
but it doesn’t add a whole lot to the proceedings. The shooting is lame, as you
can only shoot three shots at a time, and they’re not all that effective.

The best part about the gameplay were the boss battles, where
you’ll face mighty foes in scripted scenes throughout the game. You’ll use a
combo meter and lock swords with your opponent, and I thought this system was
ingenious to work, and dug it .

Gameplay: 5.5/10

GRAPHICS:

Oh, they definitely got this part of the game right. Pirates
3 is just gorgeous, for the most part. The whole thing is just striking- the
motion capture for this game is incredible, you’ll notice all of Jack’s
mannerisms are spot on.

Environments are rich, lush and incredibly detailed. Flags
flap in the wind, and you’ll notice the grit on the stones. The only complaint I
have is that the game’s camera is loose and clunky, a true kiss of death for any
great platformer, well that and that the awesome animations tend to repeat-
there aren’t enough of them.

Graphics: 8/10

AUDIO:

Well, the score of the film does creep in from time to time
at the right moments, which addresses the game pretty well.


The biggest cardinal sin this game commits is that the original voice cast is
nowhere to be found. How can you not spring for the voice cast? Gamers expect
quality like this, and despite the fact that this game lacks great gameplay,
it’s obvious that there was a lot of work put into it, so this isn’t right at
all. The sound alike do an okay job, but after you realize there’s no depth to
the sound, you’ll be bummed. The last game had the Depp, why couldn’t this one?

Audio: 7/10

FINAL VERDICT:

Pirates 3 definitely isn’t the worst movie-to-game experience
I’ve had (that probably goes to Superman Returns in current generation
systems), but it falls in the completely average category, with my thoughts
leaning towards “I probably won’t ever play this again” more so than
“Need to start over to earn everything.” If you’re a big fan of
Pirates, I’d suggest this as a rental only- it is a button masher that gets
tedious, there are some lame one-hit death sequences, and although the dueling
system plays okay, it’s certainly not reason enough to buy this otherwise
mediocre title.

FINAL SCORE: 6/10

BUY THIS GAME
HERE!!!