Pirates of the Caribbean

Jack's latest adventure on the PS2 is under average, but the presentation is really cool.

Jack Sparrow spins his own imaginative yarn in 7 Studios and Bethesda's latest game based loosely on the popular pirate movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean from Disney and Buena Vista, but the story proves to be more entertaining than the actual gameplay. In this retelling of the events that occurred in the first film, Jack Sparrow, voiced by none other than Johnny Depp, finds himself on the gallows about to be executed. Seeing that he has nothing to lose, he retells the events that occurred in the film and takes great liberties with the details, creating some unique moments not actually attached to the film. Johnny Depp's inclusion in this game is one of only a few saving graces though...

Before we get into the extremely imaginative narrative delivered by Johnny Depp, we should point out that The Legend of Jack Sparrow is a run-of-the-mill action game that doesn't go out of its way to innovate. The game revolves around Jack and AI controlled Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann battling hundreds of movie themed pirates, Black Pearl crew members and other scum in such locales as Port Royale, Fort Charles, underground caverns and more. These locales aren't particularly flashy or exciting and the action itself is average at best.

Playing as Jack you'll have basic moves that you can string together in combos (light and heavy, respectively). As you move forward the game introduces some advanced moves, but simply mashing your X button will expedite the process as well -- if not better -- than wasting your time with combos. There's a basic parry move as well, which you'll mostly ignore as you mash the X button and mow down everything the game throws at you. Jack and company can also dodge and roll by hitting the dodge button and the right analog stick left or right.

Each character also has a projectile attack. For Jack it's bottles of rum (grog) that you light and throw, and for Will and Elizabeth its throwing axes and the occasional fish...

It's a handy skill when you need to attack someone a ways away or who is in an area you can't reach. The game also offers a number of powerful area effect skills that include a flaming sword attack for Jack and a powerful blade barrage for his faithful companions.

Beyond your attacks skills you can also use objects in the environment to quickly kill enemies off by lifting them and throwing them at a target. While this method isn't particularly pretty or graceful it's very effective and delivers instant results.

Jack always has either Elizabeth or Jack in tow, who are controlled by the game's AI with mixed results. For one, the AI isn't very good at what it is supposed to be doing - following Jack and killing things. Luckily you won't pay much heed to what's going on with Will or Elizabeth when you're not directly controlling them because they manage to at least stay alive despite their shortcomings. You can switch to whoever you are with at any time, though most people will find that Jack is the most fun to play.

As you go through this game you'll earn gold by killing enemies or by finding treasure, which you can then use to upgrade your light and heavy attacks. These upgrades do prove to be helpful but by the time you've upgraded your moves it seems like your enemy has gotten stronger too, negating the whole point of upgrading in the first place. Still one can't complain about move variety and the ability to choose what those moves are..

There's also a mini-game involving map pieces that are scattered throughout the various levels in the game that unlock some bonus material and two sword upgrades. While this is a nice diversion, the sword upgrades are completely optional and don't have a significant impact on the gameplay either way. For the perfectionist looking to squeeze some extra content out of the game, it's interesting filler - I just wish the rewards were more substantial.

There's also a number of button sequence mini-games which are novel but not exactly new ground for a PS2 game (God of War comes to mind). Some examples include pressing and holding the X button to open up treasure chests, pushing ladders with the X button or hold the X button and turning the right analog stick to open a gate. The interaction in this regard is interesting but nothing we haven't encountered before.

Finally there's a two-player co-op mode that lets players jump in and out to take control of either Elizabeth or Will at any time (or Jack if you aren't already using him). It was nice of 7 Studios to include this feature, and having a human player handle the second character does have its advantages (the AI just isn't good at moving or fighting to be honest), but it doesn't really change the flow of the game.

Probably the best thing about this game is Johnny Depp's storytelling as Jack. Jack embellishes the events of the first film at every turn, which allows the developers to take poetic license with these events and create whole new missions and scenes that never actually happened. The stories tie in nicely with Jack's charming personality and the injections of the other characters that deny or correct Jack's questionable tales further enhance this wonderful element of the game. This aspect of the game is almost its saving grace - if this Jack Sparrow adventure were just a little bit longer and a little more refined. Even the voice acting for Will and Elizabeth is pretty solid despite the fact that it doesn't feature the talents of either Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley.

In the end 7 Studios' The Legend of Jack Sparrow disappoints the most in the gameplay department. If you strip away the license and the voice acting what's left is a short, uninspired, linear action adventure game that has awkward execution. That's a real shame, because if this game had some inspired gameplay to go along with it's grand presentation it could have been a serious hit. Fans of the films should at least give this game a rental to experience its more positive voice acting and storytelling elements. For the rest a rental before a purchase is a must.

Review by James 'Prophet' Fudge - courtesy of Gameshark.com