Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

By Brooks Huber -- 21/5/2007

Video Game Review by 1UP.com

Unlike the swashbuckling Disney trio of cash-cow films, developer Eurocom's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End comes closer to walking the plank than it does scoring some sunken treasure. Well, at least in terms of summertime fun. Casting minor inconveniences aside (long load times, especially when moving between interiors and exteriors), the attention to detail -- such as the rowdy pirate town of Port Royal or Capt. Jack Sparrow's inebriated mannerisms -- is spot-on with the films. And while Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley don't provide their respective characters' voices, the actors portraying them sound so close to the real thing that we had to do a double-take just to make sure they really were soundalikes and not some mutant clones created by Disney.

It's painful, then, that the swashbuckling combat (if you can call it that) consists of only a few simple sword swipes that don't always feel very responsive when you try to pull them off. And why does every enemy soldier/barman/sea crony turn his back after only two sword clinks? Such antics cause some serious déjà vu: attack, attack [enemy turns his back], attack, and the enemy drops dead. Simple? Yes. Fun? Well, only if repetition is your thing. But while the various controllable pirates (Capt. Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and so on) are mostly identical, at least character-unique, trigger-based sword fatalities offer something different.

Tossing daggers and flinging grenades are both large parts of being a pirate, but without crosshairs to properly display a locked-on target -- save for the direction in which your character is looking -- misses are fairly common, even in a room full of cronies. And with only one projectile item allowed at any given time, it's far easier to just slash away with your sword than it is to take the time to bend over, pick up a projectile, and then properly align yourself up to strike.

When not sword-swinging your way through levels, you'll be tackling exploration-based puzzles, especially in the later levels. One area in particular, Davy Jones' Locker, forces Capt. Jack Sparrow to work his way out of mirage-filled sand dunes -- complete with one-hit-kill booby traps. Also particularly frustrating is a puzzle in which you must locate five hidden bottles throughout a mundane environment. Luckily, distractions -- such as bare-fisted bar fights -- fall in between some of the more obnoxious puzzles to keep things fresh.

Boss battles manage to shake things up a bit from the repetitive hack-and-slash combat with 1-on-1 duels. Dueling consists of timed defense maneuvers as you alternate between high and low blocks with your sword. After successfully blocking an enemy's barrage of attacks, the chance to finally land a successful strike opens up. Strategy takes a backseat in this mode, as you simply watch the onscreen displays, which indicate where to block and when. Again, as with the regular combat, dueling lacks fluidity and feels like more of a chore than anything else. The best parts of these 1-on-1 showdowns, however, are the cut-scenes that cleverly show off baddies' comedic deaths at the hands of Capt. Jack Sparrow.

While it certainly isn't the worst movie-licensed game out there, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End isn't exactly the best, either. Sure, it's cool that you'll find references to some of the more popular third-person action titles, such as Prince of Persia's balance-beam act and hand-over-hand wall crawling, but nothing in here screams innovation. In fact, if it weren't for Johhny Depp's humorous onscreen likeness and Disney's unmistakable pirate love (films, rides, memorabilia, etc.), At World's End would lie on the seabed right alongside Davy Jones' Locker.