Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

A pearl of an adventure upon the PSP...

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Avast! Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has landed on Ferrago's fair shores and we have never seen a finer vessel upon the open seas. Swashbucklers Amaze Entertainment and Beuna Vista Games have delivered a jolly title packed with cut throat adventure, Kraken tangling puzzles and lots of sword daring skirmishes. Based on the up and coming sequel of the original blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow has gotten himself into trouble once again. Now owing a debt to the monstrous Davy Jones, Jack must find a way to wriggle his way out of his word and break the damning curse that now hangs over him.

In the past there have been many games developed based upon films and sadly most of them, if not all, have been atrocious. They are usually rushed to meet the deadline of a film's release, the film plot is always stretched with irrelevant levels and characters that are added to lengthen the game and the gameplay is more often basic and monotonous. Fantastic Four is a terrible example and others such as the original Pirates of the Caribbean also join the list. However, fear not! Dead Man's Chest is the perfect example of how film based games should be developed.

You will take control of the film's notorious Captain Jack Sparrow, an insane pirate with a more than fond affection for Jamaican rum. After escaping from the clutches of Davy Jones, Ruler of the Ocean Depths, you will lead Jack on an adventure to save his soul. Throughout the game Jack will travel to all of the various locations featured in the film from Tortuga across the seas to Tia Dalma's Swamp. Moving location is done by selecting them on a map rather than sailing to them physically. Though it is easier, it might have added more to the game if you could sail within the Black Pearl upon the seas to where you wanted to go.

At every island and location you will have to face different enemies, solve various puzzles and journey your way through dungeons, jungles and swamps. The enemies for each location differ in looks but all act and fight identically to one another. There are three set types of enemies: swift attackers, ones with two weapons and heavy hitters. Each and every one of them need to be attacked in different styles, with differing ways to defeat them. They have small characteristics of their own such as noises and stances but despite the variation of pirates, cannibals, zombies or skeletons, there is no difference.

Thankfully, Jack's attacking combinations and weapons have more to them. Film based games usually become the victim of repetitive attacks and moves and although it may seem this way when you first play Dead Man's Chest, when you receive upgrades and move onto later levels it improves. Using Jack's sword you can perform swift, heavy and special attacks and if that is not enough then you can punch and kick too. The three enemy sets all have certain ways of defeating them. For example, to defeat a swift attacking enemy you will have to return swift attacks until he is off balance and then finish him off with heavy blows, then to defeat a heavy attacking enemy you will need to play "dirty" by punching him in the face and then finish him off with heavy blows and so on. It does not matter when you wish to use your special moves; when your power bar is full you can simply perform your special move to attack any enemies around you. You can also perform "dirty moves" such as head butting or groin kicking and use various items to your advantage too such as pistols, hatchets, throwing knives and grenades. Having all of these various attacks means that you can make your combinations interesting by linking certain moves together. Starting off with a few swift attacks followed by shooting an enemy with a pistol and then performing a special move to kill surrounding enemies looks very impressive and flows together extremely well.

The puzzles throughout the dungeons and locations are fairly similar and simple. Some may leave you thinking for a moment or two on how to progress but they vary from pulling levers in a certain order to rotating blocks into certain positions to open doors and gates. A lot of the time it is just a case of scaling your surroundings in order to find switches and pulleys in a Prince of Persia like fashion. At the heart of this game though is the sense of adventure and exploration of the Pirates of the Caribbean world. Each of the locations have been excellently created and imitated to match the sets and locations of the film itself. They are all very atmospheric in terms of lighting and effects and at times you will want to rotate the camera simply to look around and take it all in. You will have to guide Jack through these places in a number of ways, whether it is walking him along high rope bridges, jumping and swinging on hanging ropes and vines or leaping across fiery pits. As Jack scrapes through all kinds of danger and fights he will come out with various quips and amusing one-liners that will have you chuckling as much as panicking.

Unfortunately, the frame rate can jitter and flow sluggishly within built up areas or if there are a lot of enemies on screen at once. This is one of the few cons about the game but rarely is it very noticeable, causing you to miss your swing or get hit easily by the enemies around you.

Jack is the only character you will take control of, though other major characters from the films will feature within the game to drive the plot or help you in some way or another. Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann and even Captain Norrington aid Jack in his desperate capers.

Amaze Entertainment has also developed some worthwhile, extra modes and features for the game. By collecting various map pieces through the game's levels, it will unlock Treasure Arenas that you can access through the world map. Within these arenas, all designed upon different themes within the film, you will have to combat against waves of enemies using Jack Sparrow and his array of weaponry and savy. In completing these challenges, you will be awarded with sword and special move upgrades that will help you on your adventure. On top of that you will also be given a Kraken Statue and once you have completed all of the Treasure Arenas and acquired all of these statues it will unlock the last level, known as the Final Battle. It is a good idea to once again add more to the game and also a clever tactic to in a sense force players to complete these arenas to entirely complete the game by unlocking the last level.

There is also a multiplayer mode to play against either the CPU or friends via the PSP's wireless link. You can choose from a variety of ships, some taken from the film, to sail within a sea map and then fight against your opponents using basic cannon fire or upgrades that can be found throughout the map. You can also unlock the Black Pearl and Davy Jones' ship known as the Flying Dutchman. There is not much to it though; there is basic steering and repetitive firing and when you are close to a ship that has taken heavy damage you can "board it" which consists of hammering the square button faster than your opponent. However, it is an amusing and fun battle mode nonetheless and it adds to the merry spirit of the entire game.

Apart from the sluggish frame rate on rare occasions, the graphics of Dead Man's Chest are very impressive. Jack Sparrow looks fantastic for one and it is shocking to see that his game imitation looks near identical to the real life Johnny Depp. Amaze Entertainment have also paid close attention to detail by making sure that Jack is in full costume with every feather, tassel and trinket in place. This attention to detail has not only been spent on the model of Jack, but also with all of the enemies too. Although they are simpler, they still look fantastic, even with a few jagged edges here and there. It is a shame that the different enemies such as pirates, cannibals and zombies, etc, all look similar but each different class does have varied looks and design. However, it is the environment - the levels, dungeons, jungles and swamps all depicting the real locations within the film - that presents the PSP's full graphical capabilities. Every area is detailed with rich textures and full 3D objects. For most of the time you follow a linear path but a lot of the areas are open spaces and give you full view of everything around you. The focal point of this title is adventuring through Pirates of the Caribbean and the level design and graphics have been tailored and focused on this to make the experience as rich and evocative of the film as possible.

One of the positive aspects of developing a film-based game is that the developers have access to the musical score, ones that are always of amazing quality and composed by world renowned musicians. Composer Klaus Badelt has produced a sense-tingling score that strikes at the heart of adventure for both of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Due to this excellent score and sound quality of the PSP this same sense of daring and swashbuckling has been captured within the game to produce a fantastic experience. The voice acting - although not performed by Johnny Depp or the other film stars - is very close to that of the real actors and having speech along with the text of the story makes the game even more like the film. It is a shame that for cut scenes actual film footage was not used as is often the case but having great voice actors makes up for that fact and has allowed Amaze Entertainment to fit the game to their needs and plot. The environments are not short of sound either and along with the amazing graphics and lighting effects create a brilliant atmosphere for each and every location.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is one of the few film-based games I have not been able to put down. A love for the films aside, this game is excellent and despite its one or two faults (basic enemies, and occasionally sluggish frame rates) it is certainly one you will have to play. Fans of the films will be pleased with this title after the disappointment of the game of the first film on the Xbox, but Dead Man's Chest is a crowning achievement for Amaze. An adventure you cannot miss...

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By Tobias Rowe