Yar! Pirates gameplay vids off the port bow!

by Richard Mitchell { May 2nd 2007 at 1:45PM }

Pirates and videogames have been friends for a long time. Movies and videogames ... not so much. With the upcoming release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, we are faced with a conundrum. You see, Pirates is a game that is (naturally) filled with pirates. Sounds good, right? However, said game is also based on a film, which typically means bad mojo for any game.

With the release of four new clips from the game, our hopes were high. Unfortunately, upon actually watching the new videos, we're thoroughly unimpressed. On the outside everything looks all right. In fact, the character models and animations are top notch. The combat, on the other hand, looks bland at best and awful at worst. It's clear that Disney Interactive Studios is attempting to borrow a few tricks from games like God of War and Prince of Persia, but the results are hardly convincing. From the "one guy at a time" AI to the lack luster swordplay, Pirates doesn't look too promising. There's also a distinct lack of sound. The Pirates movies are very loud and raucous, which isn't evident in these clips at all. Check out the videos after the break.

Why aren't there any clever quips from Jack Sparrow?

It looks like you can switch characters during large battles.

The exploration looks decent.

What say you fanboys? Is there any hope for Pirates, or should it walk the plank?

Tags: disney interactive, disney interactive studios, DisneyInteractive, DisneyInteractiveStudios, pirates, pirates of the caribbean, pirates of the caribbean at worlds end, PiratesOfTheCaribbean, PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Liqwid @ May 2nd 2007 1:58PM

Is this using the Euphoria Engine (ILM does Pirates of the Caribbean's animation so LucasArts could have put their engine in the game), because the game looks great.

russny @ May 2nd 2007 2:08PM

Wow! It actually does look pretty impressive! Those are some of the most fluid and realistic animations I've seen in a video game.

konajinx @ May 2nd 2007 2:11PM

Hopefully it's better than the last game based on this movie franchise. I had to review that one when it came out for the PS2 and it was just terrible. One of those broken as hell games that was rush released to capitalize on the second movie's release.

Leathersoup @ May 2nd 2007 2:35PM

@Liqwid

That would be awesome if it were true. Unfortunately Lucas Arts is not involved with the game itself. It's being developed by Eurocom and published by Disney Interactive Studios. As far as I can tell the first game that will feature the Euphoria engine will be Indiana Jones which is rumored to be released sometime in 2007.

Ed @ May 2nd 2007 3:47PM

Looks good, but I agree that the combat seems like it will get repetitive and stale rather quickly.

h0mi @ May 2nd 2007 3:09PM

I'd prefer a 360 port of Sid Meier's Pirates please.

Dirk Dorkelson @ May 2nd 2007 3:12PM

You guys keep throwing me off thinking this is the Sid Meier game. Then I click on the link from Joystiq and find out it's some licensed game. Boo!

THA1icarus @ May 2nd 2007 4:21PM

Come on peeps it's a disney production like all you die hards have to like this game.
You'll still play it for the easy 1000 gamer point, so how cares that it's a kid game.

Actualy the Wii version is the best one cuz the grafix isn't the best thing in the game, it's the wiimote... But I don't know if that will wear off after a while...

Johnny @ May 3rd 2007 7:07AM

I could actually see myself enjoying it.

its a Disney game so its not going to have packs of ninjas jump out at you and a gory battle to the bloody death while you try to decap them or blow them up with incendiary darts.

the biggest flaw I see with it from the vids is that the put all the info right in your face in the middle of the screen and it gets in the way of the action.

and they seem to give you points for everything.