Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the exact video game lunacy you would expect from a PS2 game about these preposterous pirates. Join Captain Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swan, William Turner and Hector Barbossa as they blast around the Caribbean in this larger than life but not quite accurate adaptation of the movie that we all know and love. Get ready and drink up me hearties, yo ho.

Gameplay

I suppose, for all intents and purposes, this is a hack and slash game, not dissimilar to that of the old Devil May Cry games but with a little less movement option, so is closer to the Fight Club game. Your travel from a to b and fight different enemies. A large portion of this is just hacking and blocking with the occasional timed event thrown in for good measure.

Interestingly, the game dares to switch it up a bit in the middle where you must travel around and complete tasks to find and recruit the pirate lords. An interesting change of pace for the player that I really appreciated. A real swashbuckling adventure that is appropriately marketed toward a novice or younger audience. The game allows you to play as the four separate main characters.

Graphics

C’mon. It’s a PlayStation 2 game, you can’t expect it to look fantastic. The characters are a little blocky but with that said, they managed to get the character movement down quite well. Each of the characters that you play and the ones you fight have unique fight sets. Something I really liked was the way Jack wobbles around just like he does in the movie, they got his expressions and body language down to a T. That’s not something they really had to do but they did and I’m glad they did because they nailed it.

Story

The story follows from Dead Men Tell No Tales to At Worlds End, moving through the plot points of the film but with a bunch of new missions and fights thrown in for good measure. It helps fluff the game out in a great way, without changing too much of the story itself. That being said, it is a video game and so a lot of the nuance in from the films is lost and the acting isn’t quite as necessary so many of the events that transpire don’t quite like you may remember them. Annoying to some but I found them to be surprisingly refreshing, this way I don’t have to basically watch the film again to enjoy the story.

Pros:

• Fun and engaging
• Adds more to the world
• Get to play as all major characters
• Combat is great

Cons:

• Could have had a completely original story
• A bit more gameplay diversity would have been nice