Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
On paper playing as Captain Jack Sparrow in the rich pirate universe should be a dream come true. The game follows suit with the story of the picture and easily fits into the mythos that is PotC. In that regard the game does a fine job of representing the motion picture. Unfortunately the functionality and enjoyment of said adventure just doesn't quite cut the mustard in this particular form.
Gameplay:
After playing Pirates of the Caribbean I began to appreciate the finer things in life. Things such as a working camera, functional combat system, and reliable hit detection are the ingredients that make a gamers relationship work. Sadly each of these elements is missing from this particular title.
Since the main focus of PotC: DMC is to put you in the swashbuckling boots of Jack Sparrow you can pretty much assume that you're going to be fighting a lot (and swaggering). With sword in hand; and the occasional bottle or two, you'll fight an onslaught of pirates and pigmies. These dastardly enemies spawn from doors and crevices like it's nobodies business and you'll have to face them until the very last one is defeated. Now, this may sound like your typical action game but the concept is dated compared to other games on the market. The actual combat however; now that's something else.
Each enemy you face will (sometimes) prompt you as far as what button you have to press to attack them. It may be the O, the X, or sometimes the square, but whatever the case be warned that you have to lead off with that type of strike in order to get anywhere. If you don't press the corresponding button you'll simply miss and get hit. During your color-by-numbers battle the attack icon will change and you'll have to begin pressing a different button. This system not only leads to an ample amount of frustration but speaks volumes for a lack of creativity on the part of the developers. Why bother making an intuitive combat system with useful attack combos and special maneuvers?
Another bane to the existence of the fighting sequences comes in the form of gang-banging. It's quite often that you, as Jack, will find yourself completely surrounded or pickled in some way. When this happens you are truly buggered. Due to the set up of the combat system you can only really attach one enemy at a time and even then it still has to be with the corresponding button. As more foes join the fray don't be surprised if you find yourself getting passed around like those 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Half of your life bar can easily be depleted in a matter of seconds. A dodge of block feature would have really gone the extra mile to making the game more fun to play but alas there's nothing like that here.
To make matters worse the camera gets to be very cumbersome since you have to manually control it with the shoulder buttons. You'll often be attacked from somewhere behind the camera and frequently find yourself shifting to and fro just to get a better glimpse at what's going on. This proves to be just as annoying when it comes to attempting to solve some of the game's light puzzles.
Many areas you face will present you with a brain-bender in order to get beyond that pesky locked door. Don't get too excited just yet, the puzzles are no where near the complexity of those found in Zelda. Sometimes they boil down to pressing switches, turning objects, or just plain blowing stuff up. The solution is almost always as plain as the nose on your face. Sometimes just fending off enemies while you're attempting to get past a roadblock is the most difficult part.
If the single player adventure doesn't fit the bill for you, then the multiplayer features just may. Through the PSP's wireless connection you can play some naval ship to ship battles with other gamers looking to kill some time. Overall the gameplay in PotC: DMC (both single and multi) just feels unpolished from start to finish. Things are often clunky, the adventure is pretty short, and many things just feel like half ideas. Fans of the film may dig playing as Sparrow on the go but anyone looking for a solid game may want to look elsewhere.
Graphics:
The textures in the game are decent with great likeness to the motion picture in terms of design and animation. The environments are detailed for a PSP title and there are some decent effects from time to time. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of collision between characters and objects or walls, and often times you'll be hit for no apparent reason due to a skipped animation. Things get even worse when the framerate drops and the camera makes it borderline impossible to see.
Audio:
Surprisingly despite the lackluster nature found in the rest of this project, the audio fairs quite well. Authentic voice acting and swashbuckling music go a long way to bring you into the game. Sadly there is a lot of repetitive in game voice work and some of the sound effects are incredibly bland.
Conclusion:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is the typical license milking drivel that you see when a hit movie comes out. Aside from the audio in the game, just about everything here screams unpolished and underdeveloped. The adventure itself is fine for what it is but the combat system here is entirely inexcusable thanks to the lack of defense and fight-by-number set up. The puzzles are a little too simple though the multiplayer proves to be a worthwhile diversion. In the end, this is a game that feels like nothing more than an attempt to cash in on the Pirate's namesake and should pretty much be avoided.