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Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End Review
Written by Justin Davis on Thursday, June 14, 2007
Lengthy, great-looking adventure. Nice ship-to-ship battles
Platforming elements too sloppy & loose
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End from mDisney and Capybara does a better job of getting the action/platforming genre right on mobile phones than most efforts, but it still succumbs to some of the same pitfalls of its peers, limiting the overall appeal of the title.
The plot loosely follows that of the film - this is no side story, like the console releases - and is told via between-mission text interludes. You'll infiltrate Sao Feng's Singapore stronghold, rescue Jack, make your way to Shipwreck Isle, and eventually battle Davy Jones himself. It's worth noting that all plot points feel more compulsory than anything else - without having seen the film, the game will make no sense. But really, who wants a long explanation of Davy Jones' backstory in a mobile game anyway? The title is clearly intended as fan service, and little more.
At that, it largely succeeds. At its core the game is broken into two segments - the 2D sidescrolling action, which is about half platforming and half combat, and ship-to-ship battle sequences.
These ship battles are the highlight of the game, and not just because they display more innovation and creative use of the Pirates license than the platforming. In these segments, the enemy ship drifts slowly left-to-right on the top half of the screen, firing slow-moving cannonballs out of multiple ports and dropping explosive barrels into the water. You control a single cannon, and remain stationary on the bottom-center. Center button fires your own (much speedier) cannon, left and right aims, and down is used to duck gunshots.
The setup works great. The action is frantic, as you're tasked shooting enemy obstacles out of the air before they can damage your own vessel, as well as dismantling the enemy ship, one section at a time. The setup gives a great sense of systematically taking down a foe that's better armored and better armed than you are.
The platforming and hand-to-hand combat levels don't fare quite as well, but they're still enjoyable. I've commented many times about how difficult the simple act of jumping is in many mobile games - most have separate buttons for jump left, jump up, and jump right. Developer Capybara took steps to prevent this problem, but simultaneously introduced new issues. Jumping is more fluid here than in other games - when you're moving left, you'll actually jump to the left, instead of being required to remember which jump button is called for. This consideration of forward momentum is welcome.
The problem is that this forward momentum is given too much consideration. If you need to jump straight up, your character better be at a dead stop, because if he's even moving very slowly to the right, pressing "jump" will result in a large leap right. One level late in the game requires frequent alternating jumps - to the left, then right, then straight up. It was at this point that I gave up on Pirates in frustration.
Still, this was after 20 full levels of fun. The combat controls are handled more elegantly, and were smartly made context-sensitive. When next to an enemy Down no longer ducks - it's used as a rolling dodge. Additionally, forward no longer makes your character walk forward. Instead it becomes "Attack." The setup works.
Pirates isn't bad, but it isn't great either. It's at its best when giving players ample opportunities to duel rival pirates & the Royal Navy, be it hand-to-hand, or via ship. The platforming frustration hinders the fun factor, but it isn't a deal breaker.
