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| | Title:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World`s End
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
Action
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Publisher:
Buena Vista Interactive
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Developer:
Eurocom
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Release:
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Teen (T)
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When you boot this game up you’re expecting some swashbuckling action; impromptu moments of adventure, shock and intrigue; or at least something that is half-way decent. While Spider-Man 2 for the PS2 was a movie tie-in that failed miserably, it at least had some very, very nice web-slinging action. However, shoddy sword fights, a confusing story and repetitive gameplay not only makes Pirates 3 an awful game, but it might make you hate the franchise.
The story is supposed to cover the likes of both Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Players will control Jack, Will, Liz and Barbarros in different stages, completing specific tasks. However, instead of getting something remotely related to the movies, we get some crap involving a pirate conclave to rebel against the governing establishment, which is set out to destroy piracy altogether. Davy Jones is hardly even in the game. I’m not really sure what the point of the pirate meeting is, because nothing happens afterward. Elizabeth is just given control over all the pirates(?)...I guess...I don’t even know. The entire scene is interrupted by attacking ships (I’m not sure how they all fit into the cave where the meeting took place) and then the scene clicks off and changes directions altogether. In all honesty, the entire game is like this – there’s one incoherent scene after another, with very little cohesion whatsoever.
Now if you’re thinking that the gameplay will resolve the dirge that is the story, you’re awfully mistaken. The gameplay is equal to (if not horridly worse) than the game’s dire story. The best way to describe the gameplay is that it’s a hack-and-slasher with a coating of feigned elegance. We’re supposed to be believe that this is a technical sword fighting game, yet the blocking system is totally screwy and the combos will sometimes carry the character away, out from under your control. What’s worse is that there’s sub-missions and unlockable challenges that require players to perform a specific amount of combos to unlock new swords, characters, stages, etc. The stupid part is that combos are more-so based on luck and character positioning rather than skill.
Unlike The Warriors, Dynasty Warriors, Hunter and other hack-and-slash/beat-e’m-up games, Pirates: At World’s End does nothing to rectify the disadvantage of taking on more than one opponent. If you perform a combo your back is left completely open for attacks, but if you block your combo is broken. What makes matters worse, still, is that bad guys only attack you from behind. They block everything that’s tossed in front of them – by the way, if an enemy blocks while you’re performing a combo, your combo is broken. Oh, and if you happen to get stuck on one of the many static, immovable, unbreakable objects in the game...your combo will be broken.
Graphically Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End just looks plain ugly for the PS2. The characters have terrible texture mapping – the lighting effects are drab and sometimes nearly non-existent and the backgrounds are plain hideous. It’s amazing how a game can get green-lighted because the movie makes $100 million+. The audio for this game isn’t much better...actually it’s worse. The dialogue is cheesy and the Pirates theme (Hans Zimmer’s rendition) is no where to be heard. Maybe he seen how awful the game was and decided he didn’t want to be associated with it in any way. If that was case, that was a good call on his part.
Overall, PotC: At World’s End for the PS2 has a lot of unlockable content to earn and play around with, but it’s just not a good game. If you want lots of bonus items, objectives and sub-missions, try The Warriors. If you want lots of fighting and action, with killer combos, try Dynasty Warriors. But for the love of your wallet’s $40, don’t bother with this game at all. Sadly, it’s not even rent-worthy.
Pages
| The Core Score |
Overall
5.2 |
| Fun |
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5 |
| Gameplay |
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5 |
| Graphics |
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5 |
| Audio |
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5 |
| Replay |
|
7 |
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| Kid Safe Score |
| 7 Good |
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Mild pirate action. |
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