Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is setting to unleash a fury of box office insanity as the movie's Friday release is now upon us. It may not be the final Pirates movie to reach the big screen (money talks, after all), but people are definitely looking forward to the conclusion of the Cinderella story that is Prates. On the gaming side of things, Pirates has had a much smaller impact. We got an accompanying game with Curse of the Black Pearl, but with no console-wide game for Dead Man's Chest last year Pirates has left a void that needs to be filled. Little did we know that releasing alongside this year's movie would be a game that combines the final two movies into one package, and though At World's End still doesn't live up to AAA status, it's a fun game to rip through, and a nice accompaniment to the summer movie madness that now ensues. Much like the movie though, be sure to check your brain at the door.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is exactly the type of game you'd expect it to be. Take control of the main cast members in an adventure that parallels the movies, controlling Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa in third-person action. The game focuses primarily on action, with enemies spawning from any and every location, each of which is focused on a main area from the movie. And for the most part it works. Since the game follows both the second and third film, the first third or so is based on Dead Man's Chest, with the final two-thirds resting within the final movie. The game is entirely linear, and tailored specifically for a single player adventure, with multiplayer add-ons as extra content. As for the main game, it's all about getting from point A to point B, cutting down anyone in your path, and completing mini-objectives to earn more style points and unlock more content.
It's a pretty straightforward design, but when you factor in the added sub-weapons and constant AI-controlled supporting cast there's plenty of diversity to go around; just don't expect the game to change too much from the main mash-fest. During your adventure you'll participate in multiple enemy combat with sword fighting, have access to throwing knives, pistol rounds, and grenades (which the game gives in heavy supply, encouraging players to break up the otherwise-basic sword fighting), and giant roasted turkey breast for retaining health. All sub-weapons are accessed by hitting the D-pad and then using the sub-weapon button; simple, yes?
As you progress through the game you'll happen upon more circumstantial events, having sword-only duels on a fixed, 2D-esk dueling area, or cruising down rapids on a rotating raft. As a quick note, sword fighting in the Wii/PS2 versions of the game is far better than the HD console counterparts, as there's still a somewhat-entertaining combo system. Later in the game you'll need to pull off multi-objective levels, which include protecting certain characters, using basic stealth to navigate enemy-infested areas, or set up giant chain-reaction sequences through a plethora of mini-missions. As one of the finer points in the game, sword dueling is a blast, as it plays out like a more refined battle strictly between two characters. You'll be able to move left and right only, using a combination of grabs, thrusts, light attacks, and power attacks to take down a rival. Battles take place anywhere from on the city streets of Tortuga to the top mast of a pirate ship, and since it's an on-rails battle it constantly evolves around the arena in a fluid, cinematic way.
Pirates has its fair share of problems as well, but luckily enough none of them are deal-breaking issues. For starters, the game's overall design is still a bit on the basic side, and while there are always new objectives and one-on-one duels to look forward to, the core of the game is still two attack buttons, grabs, and blocking; not too amazingly deep. Both the PS2 and Wii versions each have their downsides as well, as PS2 suffers from button-mashing syndrome, and Wii deals with horizontal and vertical motion attacks that are a bit awkward to pull off, as well as extremely basic - as well as slow in recognition. Sometimes they don't translate to the right attack, and other times you'll swing too late, doing the gesture while the window of opportunity is open, but having the game register it too late to actually land. These are of course nit-picking flaws in the game, as both Wii and PS2 are still fun to play for the majority of time, but both are also a bit too basic for our liking, and even the most loyal Pirates fan (six year-old A.D.D. youngins aside, of course) will grow a bit tired of the continuous attack, attack, attack…
One of the finer points of Pirates, though, rests in the sheer amount of cinematic gameplay that peppers the experience from top to bottom. The game is constantly delivering line after line of VO, whether it's mid-battle accompaniment or in-game cut scenes. The main cast wasn't available for VC recording, but the sound-alikes are top notch, as Jack Sparrow and Will Turner come alive in the interactive world in a way that few other licensed games are able to deliver. The in-game camera-work - while a bit sketchy at times - is also a very high point to the package, as characters work their way around environments with ease, giving the entire game a more scripted, deliberate feel not in what the player does, but how it looks when it happens. Duels feel like controllable cut-scenes, and actual cut-scenes blend well into the gameplay.
To add a bit more spice to the game, Pirates allows for a ton of multiplayer options as the single player mode is completed. In a more arcade-like challenge mode, a second hero can be added into the game and used in multiplayer-specific events. Mainly the challenges are combat-intensive, requiring a number of enemies dispatched or a certain amount of time, but there's a bit of variety by including multiple locales, specific rule types, and an astonishing amount of playable characters. There are literally dozens upon dozens of characters to use, as every model in the game (even such superstars as "Villager 5", for example) can take the spotlight. Any and every character model in the game is unlocked, and though they all use the same core set of attacks, it's pretty awesome to pair Davy Jones up with some random hobo from Tortuga. Savvy?
On the visual side, Pirates does a decent job of making good with what the game has. Wii and PS2 were split from the 360/PS3 project for a reason, and as such the games are tailored to fit the less graphically-intensive platforms. Animations are solid, textures and lighting are pretty impressive for a licensed, non-HD effort, and at no time do the visuals bog down the experience.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is exactly the type of game you'd expect it to be. Take control of the main cast members in an adventure that parallels the movies, controlling Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa in third-person action. The game focuses primarily on action, with enemies spawning from any and every location, each of which is focused on a main area from the movie. And for the most part it works. Since the game follows both the second and third film, the first third or so is based on Dead Man's Chest, with the final two-thirds resting within the final movie. The game is entirely linear, and tailored specifically for a single player adventure, with multiplayer add-ons as extra content. As for the main game, it's all about getting from point A to point B, cutting down anyone in your path, and completing mini-objectives to earn more style points and unlock more content.
It's a pretty straightforward design, but when you factor in the added sub-weapons and constant AI-controlled supporting cast there's plenty of diversity to go around; just don't expect the game to change too much from the main mash-fest. During your adventure you'll participate in multiple enemy combat with sword fighting, have access to throwing knives, pistol rounds, and grenades (which the game gives in heavy supply, encouraging players to break up the otherwise-basic sword fighting), and giant roasted turkey breast for retaining health. All sub-weapons are accessed by hitting the D-pad and then using the sub-weapon button; simple, yes?
As you progress through the game you'll happen upon more circumstantial events, having sword-only duels on a fixed, 2D-esk dueling area, or cruising down rapids on a rotating raft. As a quick note, sword fighting in the Wii/PS2 versions of the game is far better than the HD console counterparts, as there's still a somewhat-entertaining combo system. Later in the game you'll need to pull off multi-objective levels, which include protecting certain characters, using basic stealth to navigate enemy-infested areas, or set up giant chain-reaction sequences through a plethora of mini-missions. As one of the finer points in the game, sword dueling is a blast, as it plays out like a more refined battle strictly between two characters. You'll be able to move left and right only, using a combination of grabs, thrusts, light attacks, and power attacks to take down a rival. Battles take place anywhere from on the city streets of Tortuga to the top mast of a pirate ship, and since it's an on-rails battle it constantly evolves around the arena in a fluid, cinematic way.
Pirates has its fair share of problems as well, but luckily enough none of them are deal-breaking issues. For starters, the game's overall design is still a bit on the basic side, and while there are always new objectives and one-on-one duels to look forward to, the core of the game is still two attack buttons, grabs, and blocking; not too amazingly deep. Both the PS2 and Wii versions each have their downsides as well, as PS2 suffers from button-mashing syndrome, and Wii deals with horizontal and vertical motion attacks that are a bit awkward to pull off, as well as extremely basic - as well as slow in recognition. Sometimes they don't translate to the right attack, and other times you'll swing too late, doing the gesture while the window of opportunity is open, but having the game register it too late to actually land. These are of course nit-picking flaws in the game, as both Wii and PS2 are still fun to play for the majority of time, but both are also a bit too basic for our liking, and even the most loyal Pirates fan (six year-old A.D.D. youngins aside, of course) will grow a bit tired of the continuous attack, attack, attack…
One of the finer points of Pirates, though, rests in the sheer amount of cinematic gameplay that peppers the experience from top to bottom. The game is constantly delivering line after line of VO, whether it's mid-battle accompaniment or in-game cut scenes. The main cast wasn't available for VC recording, but the sound-alikes are top notch, as Jack Sparrow and Will Turner come alive in the interactive world in a way that few other licensed games are able to deliver. The in-game camera-work - while a bit sketchy at times - is also a very high point to the package, as characters work their way around environments with ease, giving the entire game a more scripted, deliberate feel not in what the player does, but how it looks when it happens. Duels feel like controllable cut-scenes, and actual cut-scenes blend well into the gameplay.
To add a bit more spice to the game, Pirates allows for a ton of multiplayer options as the single player mode is completed. In a more arcade-like challenge mode, a second hero can be added into the game and used in multiplayer-specific events. Mainly the challenges are combat-intensive, requiring a number of enemies dispatched or a certain amount of time, but there's a bit of variety by including multiple locales, specific rule types, and an astonishing amount of playable characters. There are literally dozens upon dozens of characters to use, as every model in the game (even such superstars as "Villager 5", for example) can take the spotlight. Any and every character model in the game is unlocked, and though they all use the same core set of attacks, it's pretty awesome to pair Davy Jones up with some random hobo from Tortuga. Savvy?
On the visual side, Pirates does a decent job of making good with what the game has. Wii and PS2 were split from the 360/PS3 project for a reason, and as such the games are tailored to fit the less graphically-intensive platforms. Animations are solid, textures and lighting are pretty impressive for a licensed, non-HD effort, and at no time do the visuals bog down the experience.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved