Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 7+ | UK RRP £49.99 | Region PAL | Developer TT Games | Publisher Disney Interactive Studios
LEGO's film-based video game universe continues to expand with the addition of the billion-dollar Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Having recently swashbuckled its way on to all major platforms, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is a colourful – and plasticky – good time that will appeal to gamers young and old.
Players are invited to embark on four adventures adapted from all the films in the series – The Curse of the Black Pearl; Dead Man's Chest; At World's End; On Stranger Tides – in the charming and witty, brick-building world of LEGO. Seeing the movies at least once prior to playing the game is essential for anyone wanting to understand each of the storylines, as, to be quite blunt, the cut-scenes make absolutely no sense, and in a game where there is no dialogue whatsoever and the characters communicate only with grunts and groans, fitting feature-length films into five short chapters each hasn't left much room for storytelling. But that doesn't – and shouldn't – make the game any less enjoyable.
All of your favourite characters make their minifigure debuts as they sail the seven seas, battling sea monsters, a leviathanic alligator and searching for buried treasure. And you may think that it'd be hard to tell these little blocks of virtual plastic apart, but they've been given their own accurate mannerisms and characteristics, which is quite a feat. The brick version of Johnny Depp (or Captain Jack Sparrow) actually sounds – and moves – quite convincingly, even if that deliciously thick pirate brogue has been reduced to mere mumbles and grumbles.
Gameplay largely consists of hack-and-slash action combined with construction (obviously) and puzzle-solving. The problem with these bamboozlers is that they can sometimes be just too obscure to figure out, which may put off younger gamers. Another issue lies in the melee-based combat (swordfights aside, which look fluid and fantastic), as constantly taking apart little yellow men, zombies and the scenery brick by brick, while subsequently collecting colourful coinage, often becomes tedious.
If you are after a clean, family-friendly and fun video game that has been injected with a light-hearted dose of slapstick humour, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is highly recommendable. It's clever, plays well, with the exception of occasional freezing, has superb co-op play, and the graphics are gorgeous.