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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Argh… yargh… arrr… argh… bleah.
It’s just not working. I’m not getting into the mood.
With a month to go before Destiny’s Hand Volume 2, as well as the “sequel” to Pirates vs. Ninjas, we are abit low on motivation to review another pirate title… this one being the dreaded “finale” to the Pirates trilogy from Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End.

Well… almost. One thing did leap out at the start of it all… what the hell happened to Buena Vista Games? Last year’s Dead Man’s Hand was cranked out by BVG, but this year it looks like Disney Interactive is handling the release of the third and final Pirates game… but is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

Cloned ad nauseum throughout all remaining present gen slash handhelds (except the GBA) and Wii consoles, all you have to do is pick a console (any console) and play. Yes, if you have a Wii AND a XBox360 or PS3 then two copies would do (since the version for the XBox360 and PS3 look like completely different beasts than the Wii/PS2 versions) if you have a Wii/PS2 and PSP then you only need one copy. This is the Wii review, but I also have a PSP review coming to you.

Starting off back in Dead Man’s Hand (I guess which had to be done since the only game last year which focused on that was Dead Man’s Hand for the PSP) you play through half of the game set in the 2nd movie, with flavors of the 3rd. Yes, while you are looking for the key to open Davey Jones’ chest to secure his heart you are also gathering the Pirate Lords for the enclave in At World’s End (something you didn’t fuss with during Dead Man’s Hand in the PSP version from last year).

At the halfway point lone female lead (not voiced by you-know-who) performs a little bondage on Jack Sparrow and he’s dragged down with his ship and seemingly dead… don’t worry, he gets better in At World’s End where you end up having to find Jack, the Black Pearl, and make it to the Pirate Lord Enclave to assemble the forces of Pirate-dom for one final battle against the forces of authority and evil.

Basically the game is just a basic light lift of the movie, and you’ll spoil yourself a wee bit by playing the game before watching the movie (though the game is light on details as you’ll have to see the movie to learn everything, like the fate of the Kraken for instance), but is it a good game?

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to come up with a new phrase for games that is unique for the Wii alone.
After years and years of button mashers (which live on in the PS3, XBox360, and certain Wii games like Avatar : The Last Airbender (which crashes when you try to save the game)) we need a new term for games that require more limb waving (with your Wiimote and nunchuk firm in hands) than button mashing. This is one of those games. A game where you have thrown away tactics and actual thought (ala the intelligent design of Wii game to beat Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess) for Wiimote flailing… I got it.

Pirates of the Caribbean is a standard Wiimote Waver, having you chucking your arms up and down to perform your attacks… attacks that are not always the most accurate as (without a lockon feature) you’ll find yourself jumping here and there flaying away like crazy at enemies which doesn’t always work (get turned about and you’ll find yourself flaying away at air instead of actual “enemies”). Also while the game does offer some sort of combo system you’ll find the same endless Wiimote Waving patterns will do the job over and over again (you just need to memorize about… hmm… 3 patterns which covers all your bases for the most part on this game).

There is abit of explorative element in the game, which has you take on side-missions and all, but once you figure out the patterns of these you’ll nail them everytime (there is no randomizer to make the challenge unique each time you play). Also some things like hit combo “side mission” or the Jack-inisim (specific moments which require precise Wiimote Waving/button tapping to pass) are either hard to pass or near impossible (Jack-inisims) as the slightest miswave can cause instant failure.
Then there’s two gambling “sims” which are side-missions themselves, requiring you to win at dice and poker… though for the life of me I don’t remember the time when the Pirates of the Caribbean originated the ancient card-game of Texas Hold Em… though on the bright side if your playing the PSP version then you have a far superior Texas Hold Em sim than the much maligned Stacked.

Otherwise Pirates : At World’s End is a game that’ll either build muscles on your arm… or inflict Wiiitis as you’ll find that the game requires you to constantly wave your arms in order to engage enemies, which quickly becomes a pain in the arms. Of course if you are used to constant Wiimote Waving then Pirates will be another game for your arm exercise regiment of Wiimote/nunchuk waving exercises.
If you just want a game to play then get the PSP version, less arm waving.

As for the rest of the game?
There are extras but they are all focused on the game. For a game based on a movie there is (once again) zero content from said movie. I don’t know but what is the point of making these movie games if none of them contain any useful bonus content from said movies?
The extras are nice, which include unlocking a wide range of freeplay scenarios for Pirate Poker (and probably Pirate Dice), including an unlockable variant of Pirate Poker which is kinda ridiculous to say the least (you’ll see when you play it) but still without any movie related content it is abit disappointing.
Oh, wait, that’s only available on the PSP version! The Wii version has “Challenge” mode which isn’t as fun as a customizable unlockable gambling mode, but deepens the game abit all the same.

As for the voice acting? It seems only Spider-Man 3 bothered gathering the original cast together for the game as, once again, this is another game lacking the voices you expect. Sure, last year Johnny Depp found the time to star in Pirates of the Caribbean : Legend of Jack Sparrow, but he couldn’t find the time to be in this game? The last game of the franchise? Are you kidding me?

Long story short the game is a standard Wiimote Waver that will pass a dozen or so hours, but provide little replay value short of challenging the challenge modes and just because you want one more piece of the Pirates lore in your collection to remember the movies.
Otherwise Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End is an average game that offers average fun but not much to keep you playing once you did everything the game has to offer.
At World’s End, thus, gets three bowls of Kraken Noodles out of 5.

Nintendo Wii - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Nintendo Wii Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Reviews

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