Pirates of the Caribbean

"Sail the high seas!"

Introduction
Since the release of the xbox their has been a serious lack of RPGs. To this point the best thing has been Morrowind. Now Pirates of the Caribbean (to be referred to as PotC from now on) has been released by the same game developer, Bethseda. Overall Pirates of the Caribbean is a good game that suffers from rushed development and glitches. Originally this game was to be called Sea Dogs 2 but Disney bought the title.

Game Play
Game play is truly the heart of most games. The game play in this game is different from others in the way that it is very open ended. In PotC you can choose how to live on the high seas. If you want you can become a merchant, a smuggler, a delivery service and even more. All of these earn you money. In this game money makes the world go round. You will need it to buy new boats and to get officers and crew. The game play is also unique in PotC because you can go between land and sea whenever you want. Your ship will be waiting for you in the harbor and when you are tired of being stuck on land just go to the port and sail off. It makes for a variety in the game. As with most RPGs you have a party with you through most of the game. Because this is a sea game your party are your officers who you hire and they will travel with you. These officers effect your skills so it always helpful to have as many as possible with you. An important aspect is that you travel in-between islands on your quests to try and move through the plot. With so many islands there is a good amount to do and see. Overall the game play is fun and involving.
Score:8/10

Sound
Sound is not what this game is best at. You will eventually just stop listening and not even notice it any more. One thing that is odd about when you talk to people is that they never say anything except for their little phrase that they'll say every time you meet them. Some of the phrases are rather funny and you may enjoy them because their accents are very good. The suspense music in this game is great to. If you go into a dungeon which unfortunately there are few of) you will here this music that will make you feel like something is going to happen. Overall the sound is not the worst but they could have done allot more.
Score:7/10

Story
In a RPG the story always plays an important role. If the story is not good then you will not feel drawn into the game like you should. The story in this game is pretty good. It has a few twists and turns as things progress along. Because this game is open ended you have the choice not to fallow the story at all and just keep doing what you want. Some of the side quests are fun as you sail around. Overall you will not be awed by the story but you will probably say that it was ok.
Score:7/10

Control
Now because in the game you will be in real time combat all of the time it is important to have good controls. In this area they definitely hit the mark. The controls are simple enough to be easy to use but work well in controlling your character. There are 2 sets of controls in PotC. One for land and one for sea. The land controls are very simple with the ability to block, slash and fire your weapon. Though they sound very simple they work well. The sea controls are more complex by using an interface to control you other ships and the ability to sail in first and third person views. What happens is that while you are going in-between the islands your ship looks like a toy on a map. When you are attacked or attack some one else you go to a different screen where you see your ship in a third person perspective and you can steer and raise or lower your sales. You can also order your cannons to fore even though they are not very accurate in this view. You also have the ability to go into first person view where you manually aim you cannons for better accuracy. Great controls help to make up for some of the other weak points in the game.
Score:9/10

Graphics
In the past console RPGs have not been known for great graphics. They are also known for slow down while you play the game. In this game that is different however. The graphics that you will find in this game are very impressive on the sea. All of the ships are highly detailed and the water looks great. On land the graphics aren't as nice but they are still good for a RPG. The storm effects in this game are very impressive as lightning streaks across the sky and rain falls down. Though you will see better graphics on the xbox,/ the graphics in this game are impressive.
Score:8/10

Closing Remarks
So even though PotC is a great game with lots to do and see it suffers from a major problem that causes it to not live up to it's full potential. This is the glitches. In PotC there are more glitches than you can imagine. You can be playing along when all of a sudden the game will just freeze up or go blank. Also sometimes it will corrupt your file which will make that file unusable and you then loose your game on that file. When playing this game you must always have more than one file so that if this happens you will not lose everything that you have done. Though this game suffers from many problems it is still an enjoyable experience and will be remembered for it's open ended game play and great sea battles.

Overall:8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/03, Updated 07/31/03