Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (PlayStation Portable)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Craig Harris
A creative swashbuckling brawler that falls flat in technique.
Jun 29th, 2006 - When in doubt, clone Double Dragon. That seems to be one of the mantras for game developers faced with the opportunity to reproduce a high-profile summer blockbuster to a videogame. It's definitely something that could work for a franchise such as Pirates of the Caribbean, a flick that actually focuses on mano-a-mano combat in many of its action sequences. What developers need to do is find a design that isn't just a game where the same move can be used over and over and over to get through to the end - and that's where Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest falls a bit short. The developers poured a whole lot of effort into level design based on the movie and playable characters with a whole lot of moves, but all that becomes lost when all you really have to do is hammer down on the same button repeatedly.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, developed by handheld alumni Amaze Entertainment, is an ambitious brawler-style game that gives players the ability to take control of the three key characters from the film: Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp; Will Turner, played by Orlando Bloom, and Elizabeth Swann, Keira Knightley's role. The game is among the recent trend of hitting the shelves a comfortable distance from the release of the film it's based on, so due to the fact that we haven't seen the flick yet we'll just assume that the game's plot has at least a close tie-in with the movie's script.

Classic examples of the "brawler" genre include games such as Double Dragon and Final Fight, and games such as Dynamite Deka (Die Hard Arcade) have taken the idea to an over-the-top world of 3D. In fact, it seems like Dead Man's Chest's gameplay is very much inspired by Die Hard Arcade's. A lot of the kick-punch-slash gameplay is accompanied by some silly weapon combat where players can pick up anything from hatchets and knives to pistols and parasol umbrellas. The goal in each level is simply to get to the next checkpoint as unscathed as possible, and all that's needed to do this is to simply defeat the set number of enemies that enter the area by taking them out using the player's attacks.

The developer did a fine job coming up with ways to add variety to the gameplay - players have unlockable moves that can be obtained by collecting hidden gems or simply advancing through the different levels. Defeating enemies can net some nice gold, which is used to purchase other unlockable goodies like playable versions of the three characters in the game. And spattered through the game are three different mini challenges that focus on different aspects of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme - a quick-shooting "light gun" style competition, a Simon Says pattern game, and a strange "Missile Command" like action design where players attack each other with cannons. The game's also not a short one, which is surprising for a game of the beat-em-up genre. And the development team made it "handheld friendly" by quick saving progress at the start of every new area.

The problem with Pirates of the Caribbean is that, though the designers had their hearts in the right place, the game falls flat because the action never encourages the use of all the extra moves players have. When all that's needed is to punch, punch, punch in an easy pattern, it doesn't matter how many moves a character has in his arsenal. There's little to no encouragement to do anything but the basic moves, so much of the extras that have been put in place in this game are lost to the players who will quickly learn that doing the most basic button pushes will let them advance through the levels. Enemy attacks are easily recognized and countered, but the game lacks a solid sense of collision to string together attacks successfully. A connecting hit just feels too "mushy" and unsatisfying.

It doesn't help that the mini-games aren't exactly all that compelling, either - the Monkey Shoot challenge is only "challenging" against a human player, and the Missile Command-style one-on-one is a skittery mess with glitchy controls. And a Simon Says mini-game? That's not exactly a creative addition and doesn't make a whole lot of sense in a pirate game. The developers also try to throw in some "puzzle" elements that aren't all that puzzling -- find a torch, find a flame, burn down the brush blocking your path. Not exactly tough when the required elements are in the area you're stuck in.

Dead Man's Chest does look pretty good for a Nintendo DS game - the developers use a solid 3D engine which allows for a decent amount of on-screen characters and some nicely modeled surroundings. The character models do lack detail and have been kept a bit low on the polygon count, and honestly, the animations aren't all that fluid or graceful. The camera system also has a hard time going from one room to another in the same level, and you'll find yourself accidentally running out of an area you just entered because the camera abruptly cut to another perspective without giving players enough time to adjust.

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