Game Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

By Erin Bell

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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is a video game tie-in to the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It's Teen-rated for alcohol and violence, the latter prevalent throughout the game. Players will kill hundreds of enemies and get infamy points based on how an enemy is dispatched. There's no blood, but plenty of fighting with swords, pistols, bombs, and miscellaneous projectiles. Finishing moves involve plunging a sword into an enemy's chest with sound-effects. If your kids can handle the subject matter of the movies, they'll probably be fine with the game as well -- in fact, the game actually tones down some of the gross-out scenes and graphic violence. The game's cut-scenes don't do a great job of explaining an already complicated plot, so knowledge of the movies is helpful.

Families can talk about what makes a good movie-based video game. Do you prefer games that follow the movie's events and plots as closely as possible, or do you like it when new storylines and action sequences are created using the same characters?

Common Sense Media Review
Although named after the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, this game actually roughly follows the storylines of both the second and third movies, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End . Gameplay is mostly from the point of view of the pirate Jack Sparrow, whose tipsy swagger is perfectly recreated.

With the help of Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and a few other playable characters, Jack must convince each of the Pirate Lords to take a stand against their enemies: the East India Trading Company and the monstrous Davy Jones, captain of the cursed Flying Dutchman ship.

The plot of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END is even more confusing than the movies and will likely be incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't already seen the films. Suffice it to say, the game contains a whole lot of fighting with swords, pistols, bombs, and miscellaneous projectiles against enemies both monstrous (the Kraken sea monster and Davy Jones' cursed crew) and human (the natives of Isla Cruces, and British redcoats). You'll also get to duel against various bosses one-on-one.

But it's not all fighting. The characters can perform various acrobatic feats that allow them to shimmy along ledges, climb along masts and rigging, and slide down ropes as they explore locales including Port Royal, Tortuga, and Singapore, and sail on the Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman.

The characters bear strong resemblances to their film counterparts both in appearance and movement, with Sparrow and Davy Jones being particularly impressive. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the voice acting, where studio-hired guns impersonate Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, et al., with varying degrees of success. The stirring musical score is taken straight from the movie, so no complaints there.

The weakest part of At World's End is probably the combat. The enemies are all pretty dumb, controls are sluggish, and the limited number of moves at your disposal means gameplay gets repetitive fast. There are no significant differences between the fighting styles of each character, so even though some scenarios let you switch between characters on the fly, it doesn't really change the experience.

Still, in terms of polish and playability, At World's End is a huge improvement over Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow . Anyone considering playing this game should first watch the movies: The Curse of the Black Pearl , Dead Man's Chest , and At World's End . If you want more swashbuckling gameplay, check out the classic Sid Meier's Pirates!