Welcome to Modojo, 
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Sunday, July 9, 2006
Fun little mini-games; two player capability; decent presentation.
Gameplay runs short on long-term appeal; sound gets repetitious.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a big license right now. What could've just lived on as a ride in the Walt Disney Land theme park has instead engrossed into one of the better cinematic series, starting with 2003's Curse of the Black Pearl and moving on to the mega-successful Dead Man's Chest, now in theatres. So...can the pirates make a killing on the handheld front with the video game rendition of Chest?
Well, it's off to a better start than most movie licensed games. Instead of just being another side-scrolling effort with limited playability, the game takes strides to instead work its way into 3-D brawling, ala Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks with a hint of Double Dragon. You choose from Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, and Will Turner, all of whom have their own special talents and techniques, and then take off in a series of stages resembling the plot of the film. So, yeah, you'll be fighting pirates and the likes of Davy Jones' monstrous ranks.
The game looks pretty good. It's a bit fuzzy in areas but there's some ambitious level design here, including different areas that show a touch of tropical goodness and even some levels loaded with booby traps. Probably the best exploitation of the graphics come in the form of mini-games, like a shooting game where you blast away at crates as an enemy ship shoots at you. It's a decent use of 3-D for a change, and not just some Silent Scope-esque blastathon. There's also some great music, although there are times it gets a bit repetitive. Sound samples are very seldom, which is a shame. Johnny Depp's little Sparrow quotes would have come in handy here.
The game, however, runs aground in the area that most 3-D brawlers do- it just gets a bit dull in the blade. You'll basically be performing the same kind of moves over and over again as you swat away at enemies, occasionally taking on a stronger enemy in a boss battle and then engaging in some creative (although gimmick-laden) mini-games, like the ship battle I talked about earlier. There is the option to unlock some extra goodies, and it was nice of Buena Vista Games to throw in a second player option so you can fight along a fellow pirate, but the game just runs out of steam after a few hours. You can probably play it a few times as you wait for the movie, but there's very few reasons to go back.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest manages to rise to the occasion in some areas where other DS titles and licensed games just fail to get to, but it fails to keep your attention for longer than a few meager hours. This is too bad, as this license has personality to spare that could've made this a must-own. Still, if you're up for some short-term pirating, give this game a rent and plunder away.
