Pirates of the Caribbean

"Har har! Like a pirate!"

I have been wanting this game for quite a while, and when it came out, I was really excited, but I was let down. Haha! Just kidding! This game is great.

Story
You are Nathaniel Hawk, and you are the Captain of a ship named the Victory( You can change this name anytime you want). This is an open-ended game, so there is and isn't a storyline. The story is basically that the French have taken over the English town of Oxbay, and you must put a stop to this, and this leads to bigger war, with more colonies involved. But, how you play this game is entirely up to you.

Audio/Visual/Controls
When I first saw the graphics, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't watching television. The graphics in this game are paralyzing. The Sun and Moon both rise and set. They are incredibly beautiful. The moon is the most amazing visual aspect of this game I have seen yet, next to the wondrous Sun setting over the horizon, with the sky ablaze in beautiful palette of colors, and the serene waves silently rolling home to the shore. Overall, the visuals get a smashing 10.

The control takes some time to get used to, being that the Y-axis is inverted. If I am correct, the Y-axis is up and down. But it takes no time at all to get used to it, and seeing that this isn't an FPS, you can take your sweet time looking around. Control simplicity gets an 8.

The audio is somewhat rewarding, and it doesn't get too repetitive. When you talk to NPC's(Non-Player Characters), they say a short dialogue, and you read whatever they have to say. The music out on the Sea is pretty exciting, but I am sure I will get sick of it after a while. The tunes aren't too catchy, but they are good. What do I mean by catchy? I mean you won't be whistling them in your mind over and over while trying to fall asleep. So catchy in this case is a horrible thing. The music after you win a ship battle is pretty stimulating, and it invokes a sense of victory in you. Audio gets a fitting 9.

Gameplay
Ahhh... where shall I begin? I will start with the weapons. You can have a gun, and a blade-type weapon. Unfortunately, there are Russian-made AK-47's, but you can't use them. Just kidding. You get an old fashioned gun, but what do you expect? This is the early 1600's. There are several types of guns, and many types of swords. I won't go into depth because it would be best for you to find them for yourself and be totally surprised. You can block sword attacks, which is extremely crucial if you want to survive early sword battles. You can walk around town with your own two feet, or you can use an option called Fast-Travel, which brings you directly to a Tavern, a Shop, a Shipyard, and other important locales, at your demand. The fast-travel only works in the town that you are in when you want to use it. While many anticipated this game to be like Morrowind, it doesn't have as many options. You cannot pick up anything you see, but you can open chests and take whatever you want, and put whatever you want in it. There is also a banker, or Loan Shark, which lends you money, but you have to pay him back. You can also deposit gold for him to hold on to for you. There are shops in each of the towns that I have been to so far, and you can sell whatever spices or goods you have found or stolen. You can also go to a bar and drink, and gamble. Gambling I think is rigged though, because out of the ten games I have played, I have only won zero. There is a very fair amount of quests in the game, so you won't be disappointed with length. Thought I am not entirely sure how big the world is yet, because I, obviously, have not explored it much.

Now to the best part! Ships! Ships! Ships!! Oh sorry, I get carried away sometimes. You can buy various ships, and the higher level you get, the more that can become available in certain shipyards. To buy a ship is very expensive in the beginning, but once you start trading goods and doing quests you will be all set. There are two modes, realistic, and arcade. When you play with realistic sailing, you will have to depend on the wind to be your friend, because if you are sailing against the wind, you will not be getting anywhere very fast. In arcade mode, the wind has almost no impact on sailing. If you are impatient or just not a good pirate, you can use the map mode, which allows you to sail the seas very quickly. Any time while sailing, you can switch between Sea mode, and map mode. Sea mode is the mode where you see your ship and you sail it. You can encounter storms, and tornadoes, on the seas. But beware, if lightning strikes your ship, it will catch on fire, and you might sink, if your hull has been damaged already by a battle. Tornadoes will rip your ship apart, and you will sink, of course. You can also board enemy ships, and take their ship if you can conquer them. When you board an enemy ship, you must fight the captain in a duel, along with any of their crewmates. But don't worry, some of your crewmates help too. You smuggle illegal goods, and sell them to smugglers. You can also open trade routes, and sell to different colonies. Overall, gameplay gets a 10.

To buy, or not to buy, that is the question
Buy, buy! Buy it twice, just so you can tell everyone that you have two copies of one of the best Xbox games. But seriously, this game is really good, and should be worth at least 70 hours of your time. Though some may seem iffy, if you have played and liked Morrowind, this game will no doubt be your cup of tea. Unless you don't like sailing, or pirates, or gruesome ship battles, with 5 or more ships firing at each other all at once. If you don't like that, this game isn't for you.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/03, Updated 07/04/03