Pirates of the Caribbean

"Great Game Ruined by Glitches and Bugs"

I like Pirates of the Caribbean and I truly find it enjoyable but there are some very unfortune issues with the game that will cause it to fade to obscurity.

However, first some history on Pirates of the Caribbean. It was originally planned as Sea Dogs 2, the sequel to the bug and glitch riddled original Sea Dogs for the PC. However somewhere along its development schedule Disney got wind of this pirate game Bethesda was making and decided to pay Bethesda to change the name and remove/add some features to it. For starters the choice of being a female character was removed. Also removed was the ability to join alliances with other nations, ally yourself with the pirates or have any sort of different mission path then the one you start with. Thus, what was suppose to be a non-linear game became a very linear game. Added to the game were skeletons, skeleton monkeys, and of course the Black Pearl. Now onto the review:

Graphics 10/10: A very beautiful game with gorgeous water effects and fantastic settings. IT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO GO TO THE CARIBBEAN!! The ship models look great and the cities will make you swear your back in th 17th century.

Sound 7/10: Nothing really fantastic hear. The music is standard fare, and nothing you'd want for a soundtrack. The cannons and hand to hand combat sounds are pretty nice though. Not great, but not horrible.

Gameplay 5/10: Sailing the ships and engaging in combat with other ships works perfectly. However character control on land is very stiff and the way your charcter walks you'd swear he needs to go to the bathroom very soon. However what really kills the game are the massive bugs and glitches that occur for no apparent reason. Here is an abbreviated list of some the bugs you'll encounter: (1)Saves being corrupted. (2)Dirty Disk Errors(remember morrowind?). (3)White screens of death (where your screen go white for no reason and your xbox restarts)(4.) Boarding an enemy ship only to have no one be on board and no way for you to leave thus forcing you to restart. And there are several others that occur for no reason.

Overall 6/10: Pirates is a fun game especially if your a fan of Sea Dogs, Pirate Gold!!, Uncharted Waters, or any other pirate game thats been released. However, you should definetly RENT the game first to make sure you can deal with the bugs and glitches. If you arent a patient person dont even bother with this game because you'll be reseting your system plenty of times on your way through this game. But if you really enjoy pirating, rent it, then buy it. Im happy with the game very much although its just a shadow of what it could've been.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/03