Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Review

Pirates of the Caribbean started as a ride at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A couple years ago, they transformed it into a major motion picture. This past summer, the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean arrived in the United States to the best box office opening ever. Better than Titanic, better than Star Wars, and better than The Matrix movies. With such a hot property on their hands, it is no wonder why they chose to release a game across multiple platforms.

Buena Vista Games is the video game arm of Disney. They have released games like Kim Possible, Chicken Little and Nightmare Before Christmas, among others, that are all Disney properties. Disney entrusted in Buena Vista the rights to Pirates of the Caribbean across all platforms. On the PlayStation Portable, BVG came out with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, a 3D action game that follows the trail of Jack Sparrow.

As a PlayStation Portable title, I wasn’t expecting much from Dead Man’s Chest. The system has, by and large, failed to impress me as far as the scope of its games are concerned. Dead Man’s Chest does not buck the trend in this respect, as you will find yourself designated in a very straight-forward path without much room to deviate or explore. I thought that this restrictive gameplay would be less common on PSP, but it’s only been more common as time has gone by.

Essentially, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a hack ‘n slash action game. There is no depth to speak of, other than a few special moves and the weapons that you will collect (bottles, guns, etc.) that can incapacitate your enemies in one hit. The basic gameplay comes down to repetitive, sequential button presses until an enemy is killed off and you move on to the next one.

You will be amazed at how fast you will sail through Pirates of the Caribbean. Just beating a single level will show that you have completed 10% of the game. Granted, the levels are relatively long, but you are talking about maybe five hours of total gameplay in the single-player, maximum. The box does say that there is up to four player Ad Hoc multiplayer, allowing gamers to battle on the high seas. I do not have the ability to try it, so I can not comment on it though.

Pressing’s x three times and square does not take much effort, nor does it offer much enjoyment. The result: a shallow, short and disappointing experience that could easily have been improved with a better combat system and a little exploration. What kind of pirate doesn’t survey the places that they visit anyway? Buena Vista Games did a good job with the graphics engine, despite the slowdown and long load times, but the game overall is just not up to snuff.